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The Frighteners
This movie was my first introduction to Peter Jackson, back before he was that Lord of the Rings guy, and Vera and I wanted to see what we thought of the movie now that we'd seen a few other of his movies. I seem to remember it being a quirky little trifle of a film, and in retrospect I was right.
(An amusing aside: my second introduction to a Peter Jackson film was purely an accident. We were renting a bunch of videos for Halloween one year with some friends back in San Francisco, and we decided to grab a copy of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, along with a few other films. We decided to save this classic for last, so we were definitely feeling the alcohol when we opened up the case and saw that the wrong movie was inside. The movie was called Dead Alive (Braindead for you folks in the rest of the world) and frankly it was late enough we didn't care. We popped it in and revelled in just how much of a total over-the-top gorefest it was. Definitely made for a fun end to the evening!)
The Frighteners has a lot going for it. Michael J. Fox plays the main character, a loser who can talk to the dead and exploits them to freak out folks so that he can come in and save the day. There are some great supporting roles from Dee Wallace Stone and Jake Busey as psychopathic killers — or are they? The spirits are not only great special effects but also great comic relief.
But I guess in the end, the movie just comes off as pretty darn fluffy. It's a lighthearted horror/comedy, and nothing that happens feels particularly meaningful in the big scheme of things. The main character isn't quite sympathetic enough to win you over in the end, and the rest of the characters aren't substantial enough to generate much feeling one way or the other.
Overall, it was fun to look at, and worth a second viewing, but only just barely. 2.5/4 stars.