THE FRIGHTENERS [1996 / 2011] [15th Anniversary Edition] [Blu-ray] [USA Release] Death Is No Way To Make A Living!
From Academy Award®-winning director Peter Jackson [‘King Kong’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’] comes this wicked comedy-thriller.
Michael J. Fox stars as Frank Bannister, a small-town "ghostbuster" in league with the very spirits he's supposed to be exorcising. The scam works well until a powerful spirit goes on a murderous rampage, forcing Frank Bannister to find a way to stop the diabolical ghoul in this special-effects-packed supernatural chiller that's so fiendishly entertaining, it's frightening!
Includes 2 Versions of the Film – Peter Jackson’s Director Cut including 14 minutes of additional footage and the Theatrical Version.
FIM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 1996 Sitges – Catalonian International Film Festival: Win: Best Special Effects for Richard Taylor. Nominated: Best Film for Peter Jackson. 1997 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA: Nominated: Saturn Award for Best Horror Film. Nominated: Saturn Award for Best Actor for Michael J. Fox. Nominated: Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for Jeffrey Combs. Nominated: Saturn Award for Best Director for Peter Jackson. Nominated: Saturn Award for Best Writer for Fran Walsh and Peter Jackson. Nominated: Saturn Award for Best Music for Danny Elfman. Nominated: Saturn Award for Best Make-Up FX for Richard Taylor and Rick Baker. Nominated: Saturn Award for Best Special Effects for Charlie McClellan, Richard Taylorand Wes Takahashi. 1997 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards: Win: Best Supporting Actor for Jeffrey Combs. Win: Best Score for Danny Elfman. Nominated: Best Wide-Release Film. Nominated: Best Actor for Michael J. Fox. Nominated: Best Actress for Trini Alvarado. Nominated: Best Supporting Actress for Dee Wallace Stone. Nominated: Best Screenplay for Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh. Nominated: Best Make-Up FX for Richard Taylor and Rick Baker. 1997 International Horror Guild: Nominated: IHG Award for Best Movie.
FILM FACT No.2: Peter Jackson and co-writer Fran Walsh conceived the idea for The Frighteners in 1992, during the script-writing phase of Heavenly Creatures. Together, they wrote a three-page film treatment and sent it to their talent agent in Hollywood. Robert Zemeckis viewed their treatment with the intention of directing ‘THE FRIGHTENERS’ as a spin-off film of the television series. Peter Jackson decided to film The Frighteners entirely in New Zealand. Robert Zemeckis and Universal agreed on the condition that Peter Jackson made New Zealand look similar to the Midwestern United States. Principal photography began on the 14th May, 1995 and lasted until the 16th November, 1995 which is one of the longest shooting schedules ever approved by Universal Pictures. Peter Jackson’s WETA Workshop created the visual effects, which included computer-generated imagery, as well as scale models which were necessary to make Lyttelton, New Zealand look American, and prosthetic make-up and practical effects with help from WETA Workshop. Visual effects supervisor Richard Taylor explained that effects work on ‘THE FRIGHTENERS’ was complex due to WETA Workshop's inexperience with computer technology in the mid-1990s.
Cast: Michael J. Fox, Trini Alvarado, Peter Dobson, John Astin, Jeffrey Combs, Dee Wallace Stone, Jake Busey, Chi McBride, Jim Fyfe, Troy Evans, Julianna McCarthy, R. Lee Ermey, Elizabeth Hawthorne, Angela Bloomfield, Desmond Kelly, Jonathan Blick, Todd Rippon, John Sumner, Michael Robinson, Jim McLarty, Anthony Ray Parker, Paul Yates, Melanie Lynskey, John Leigh, Nicola Cliff, Ken Blackburn, Stuart Devenie, Genevieve Westcott, K.C. Kelly, Leslie Wing, Frank Edwards, Alan O'Leary, Danny Lineham, Charlie McClellan, William Pomeroy, George Port, Billy Jackson, Sophie Watkins, Taea Hartwell, Max Grover, George Grover, Tony Hopkins, Lewis Martin, Clay Nelson, Matthew Chamberlain, Vivienne Kaplan, Liz Mullane, Grant Aldridge (uncredited), Michael Elsworth (uncredited), Peter Jackson (uncredited), Rhys Jordan (uncredited), Isaac Lucas (uncredited), Grant Major (uncredited), Bryce McCawe (uncredited), Nicolas Pegg (uncredited), April Phillips (uncredited) and Jeff Slaven (uncredited)
Director: Peter Jackson
Producers: Fran Walsh, Jamie Selkirk, Peter Jackson, Robert Zemeckis, and Tim Sanders
Screenplay: Fran Walsh and Peter Jackson
Composer: Danny Elfman
Cinematography: Alun Bollinger (Director of Photography) and John Blick (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 (Panavision)
Audio: English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
French: 5.1 DTS Surround Sound
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Audio
Subtitles: English SDH, French and Spanish
Running Time: Director’s Cut: 122 minutes and Theatrical Cut: 109 minutes
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Universal Pictures
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘THE FRIGHTENERS’ [1996] finds Michael J. Fox stars as Frank Bannister, a psychic con-man exploiting dead to make a living. After a tragic car accident kills his wife, Frank Bannister discovers he can communicate with the dead to con people. However, when a demonic spirit appears, he may be the only one who can stop it from killing the living and the dead. Frank Bannister uses a couple of friendly ghosts to pull a scam where he has the ghosts freak out a family so he can swoop in and offer his pricey services as a psychic “investigator.” Then Frank Bannister stumbles across an entity that resembles the stereotypical image of Death, and this spirit is killing the residents of the community.
Frank Bannister is not very well liked around town seeing as how everyone except the Sheriff Perry [Troy Evans] thinks Frank Bannister murdered his wife, but that doesn’t stop him from playing his pseudo ghost busting trade with his dead pals Cyrus [Chi McBride], Stuart [Jim Fyfe], and The Judge [John Astin]. But aside from a few ghost problems, the city of Fairwater, California is a pretty nice place, even considering the large number of sudden, inexplicable deaths that appear to be heart attacks.
Frank Bannister’s past soon comes back to haunt him once he starts seeing phantom ascending numbers carved into people’s foreheads right before a large, cloaked apparition resembling Death himself appears to claim the souls of the living. This makes things personal for Frank Bannister, because when his wife’s body was discovered she was also found with a number carved into her head. With the bodies piling up, and more suspicion turned towards Frank Bannister, can he save the town and himself before it’s too late?
‘THE FRIGHTENERS’ is an all-round fun film, but “fun” doesn’t always mean “good.” When it works it’s firing on all cylinders that ‘Ghostbusters’ does, and the quirky fun of other early Peter Jackson films is readily apparent. Sadly, ‘THE FRIGHTENERS’ has a little bit of an identity crisis. At times, it doesn’t know if it wants to be a horror film or a comedy, and I think committing more one way or another would have made it a much stronger film overall, but despite this it is a really great rollercoaster film with lots of up’s and some down’s of spooky fun and ghoulish humour.
However, if you’re a Jeffrey Combs fan, his performance as FBI agent Milton Dammers is one of the best character performance of his career, and that’s saying something. As an expert on occult phenomenon, he exudes a creepy menace that manages to toe the line between comedy and horror. Not many actors can rock the Hitler haircut as well as this actor. In short, ‘THE FRIGHTENERS’ is a great little spooky film that many fans of director Peter Jackson's later work may have missed when it first came around. The performances from all the actors are really excellent, the comedy is a lot of fun, and the chills are equally well creepy. If you have never seen the film ‘THE FRIGHTENERS,’ well I highly recommend watching it!
THE FRIGHTENERS MUSIC TRACK LIST
DON’T FEAR THE REAPER (Written by Donald Roeser) [Performed by The Mutton Birds]
SUPERSTAR (Written by Bonnie Bramlett and Leon Russell) [Performed by Sonic Youth]
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Blu-ray Image Quality – Universal Pictures presents us the film ‘THE FRIGHTENERS’ on this Blu-ray is a top notch 1080p image and equally enhanced with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio and really shows off this film brilliantly. Some older films suffer from the Blu-ray treatment when it comes to special effects, but thankfully that isn’t the case here. It’s the debut film from Peter Jackson’s WETA Workshop, and they really knock it out of the park. The ghosts look totally fantastic on this Blu-ray, and every bit of slimy ectoplasm dripping off them is on full display while still maintaining an ethereal look about them. Even the few green screen shots have aged well, which not many films from this era can boast. The transfer of the film itself really stands out as well, with no compression artefacts and solid, separate blacks that are crucial to the transitions in the final act of the film. The level of detail the transfer provides even gives the film a clean look, which is an interesting contrast to the horror elements presented. Shame it was not released in 3D, then the ghost effects would have been even more spectacular.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Universal Pictures brings us the film ‘THE FRIGHTENERS’ with a wonderful 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio experience. The audio presentation is nice and beefy, with bass heavy score by Danny Elfman that will punish your subwoofer, but does not overpower the dialogue during crucial scenes. I only had to turn the volume down once, and that’s quite a compliment. ‘THE FRIGHTENERS’ on this Blu-ray could be used as a home theatre audio demo disc material.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: Peter Jackson’s 10th Anniversary Introduction via the Director’s Cut only [2005] [1080p] [1.78:1 / 2.35:1] [2:40] This introduction by a much younger Peter Jackson and was recorded in 2005 and only plays before the director's cut of ‘THE FRIGHTENERS.’ Here Peter Jackson welcomes us to this 10th Anniversary Introduction before the Director’s Cut of ‘THE FRIGHTENERS’ film, that he informs was originally on the inferior DVD release, and informs us he made the film in New Zealand in 1995, and of course long before he started directing ‘The Lord Of The Rings’ film franchise, and ‘King Kong’ and feels ‘THE FRIGHTENERS’ was a very important for him personally, and especially as he was given a big budget to direct ‘THE FRIGHTENERS’ film. Peter Jackson says the film was a new experience, as the CGI process was in its early stages and a totally new adventure, and especially as they got to use 35 computers and there were well over 500 CGI special effects and when he had finished the film, he wondered what am I going to do with all of those 35 computers, and of course ‘The Lord Of The Rings’ appeared on the horizon and so those 35 computers came in very handy and did not go to waste. We also get to view some of the CGI special effects in their rough stages. On top of all that, Peter Jackson says that the Director’s Cut of the film is actually 14 minutes longer in length and not 13 minutes as stated on the back of the Blu-ray cover. So again Peter Jackson is pleased to introduce his Director’s Cut of ‘THE FRIGHTENERS’ and says, “So sit back and enjoy the extended cut of ‘THE FRIGHTENERS’ film.
Audio Commentary with Director/Writer/Producer Peter Jackson [Director's Cut only): Here Peter Jackson introduces himself and he informs us that he recorded this audio commentary in his living room in Wellington in New Zealand and looking forward to doing this audio commentary for ‘THE FRIGHTENERS’ film, which has not done an audio commentary before and will be talking throughout the length of the Director's Cut of the film, and he feels it is going to be a bit daunting and it was completed during the unexpected hiatus that occurred in the late Nineties when Universal Pictures initially shelved his remake of the film ‘King Kong.’ It's lively, entertaining and benefits from being done just a few years after the film were made, so that Peter Jackson's memory is still fresh. When at the start of the film the camera pans down the evil house, this house was actually built for the film and they had a lot of technical problems with the camera when shooting that scene and a lot of the initial shots of the transition from outside into the inside of the house was done via the computer, and when we see the apparition chasing a scared Patricia and grabbing her, Peter Jackson informs us that this was just a game with what turns out to be her evil murderous boyfriend Johnny Bartlett, and wanted you to think Patricia was the actual victim. When we get to chapter 4, where we go into the black-and-white sequences, which can only be viewed in the Director’s Cut of the film, which they had a fun days filming and the extras you see were members of his film crew, where the killing spree happened in the Fairwater Sanatorium, and because it is a very grainy image, it was in fact a copy of a working print. When we see the evil poltergeist invades the house of Lucy Lynskey [Trini Alvarado] and Ray Lynskey [Peter Dobson], when you see the plates circling around Ray Lynskey this was created using a computer. When Frank Bannister [Michael J. Fox] pulls out the old radio to capture the evil spirit of the poltergeist, which of course is a con, the old radio was built by one of Peter Jackson’s special effect’s guy, and when Frank Bannister puts on his rubber gloves, this was suggested by Michael J. Fox. When Frank Bannister drives up to his unfinished house and the two ghosts Cyrus [Chi McBride] and Stuart [Jim Fyfe] climb out of the car boot, when inside the house, and start talking to Frank Bannister, well Peter Jackson informs us that this was of course done with trick photography, because the two ghosts were filmed separately to Frank Bannister to make it look like they were talking to each other at the same time and of course this was all combined when they finally finished the film. A lot of the scenes in Frank Bannister’s house with the two ghosts were cut out for the theatrical release. When Frank Bannister turns up at the big house where the here babies were being manipulated by the two ghosts around the room, well the inside of that room is an actual building and it is in fact the inside of an officers mess on a military base that was close to where Peter Jackson’s studio is located. When you get to meet the ghost of the drill sergeant in the graveyard, Peter Jackson says people assumed the character was a tribute to the film ‘Full Metal Jacket,’ and he wanted the drill sergeant to keep all the other ghosts in line with a bit of discipline. When you see Frank Bannister in the restaurant with Lucy Lynskey the female doctor and you see her partner Ray Lynskey is a ghost, well they did this particular filming because Michael J. Fox in a certain scene late on in the film when he runs through the graveyard, slipped and broke a couple of bones in his foot and was in pain sitting at the table and they is why they changed the schedule filming to do this scene in the restaurant and the actor Peter Dobson was sitting off camera so the two actors could act out the scene, because Peter Dobson would be later on added in the scene as a ghost. Peter Jackson informs us that the haunted house we see at the start of the film where the nasty evil mother lives with Patricia, and where the evil ghost of Johnny Bartlett was chasing Patricia, well the house was actually built on a spare flat piece of ground they found when scouting for a specific locations. Peter Jackson feels the actress Dee Wallace Stone who plays Patricia Bradley, feels the actress really played the character really well and gives the impression that she is the victim of the situation, and we are supposed to feel sympathy for her character, but of course later on the film we find her character is totally the opposite. Peter Jackson also feels the actress Julianna McCarthy as Old Lady Bradley, is totally wonderful with an air of menace. Peter Jackson talks about the filming of the cell scene with Frank Bannister and Lucy Lynskey and he says the filming was a total nightmare in such a confined space and the filming went on for many days and was a very soul destroying experience, but despite this, he was still very happy with the result, but for me personally watching this very frightening scene with the ghosts and the grim reaper worked really well. When we get to see the scene where Frank Bannister is put in to deep freeze by Lucy Lynskey and Frank Bannister’s ghost comes out of his body, but at the same time Lucy Lynskey is abducted by Milton Dammers the eccentric FBI agent and drives off in the police car and then Frank Bannister’s ghost chases after them both and floats over the roof tops of the houses, which were in fact model houses. When we see Frank Bannister, Patricia Bradley and Johnny Bartlett going towards the light, Peter Jackson informs us that he wanted the ‘THE FRIGHTENERS’ film to be released on time so it got a Halloween release, but dues to circumstances it instead got a summer release and felt very disappointed it did not get the Halloween release, because that was his original goal, as he feels the film is so ideal for that time of the year, especially in America because Halloween is so big in that country. When Frank Bannister meets Angela Bloomfield who plays Frank Bannister's deceased wife in Heaven, the two actors were not filmed at the same time, but separately, and Peter Jackson gives high praise of Michael J. Fox’s performance. When you see the demolition of Frank Bannister’s house, it was done for real and the day afterwards they set fire to it, which you will see a glow in the background with the night time shoot of the grave yard scene and if you cannot remember, then go back to the part of the film and you will actually see a red glow behind the actors, especially Trini Alvarado. Peter Jackson goes to great length in painstaking pointing out the restored footage, and Peter Jackson is clear that the theatrical version was released with his full approval. Most cuts were made for pacing and overall running time, although a few were either requested by the studio or made in response to preview feedback. Peter Jackson ranges over a wide array of topics and, unlike many audio commentaries; much of what Peter Jackson says supplements rather than simply repeating what was said in the documentary. This is particularly so where he has the opportunity to point out cameos, including a rare one by Fran Walsh, and recalls the circumstances during the day(s) when a specific sequence was shot, or recounts the evolution of a plot point as it unfolds on screen. This is a wonderfully verbose audio commentary track from director Peter Jackson attached to the Director’s Cut of the film (which should be the norm for this film as it is wonderful). Peter Jackson’s poetic waxing and waning of his film mechanics brings a rich understanding to the quality found in his features. When we finally get to the end credits as they roll up the screen, Peter Jackson talks about the song being played, that is by The Mutton Birds, who are a massively popular in New Zealand and felt it was a nice way to end the film with a Kiwi Band. As we are getting near to the end of the credits, Peter Jackson says, “So I’m gonna have to say goodbye to everyone and have not got a lot to say about the end credits, so I hope you enjoyed the audio commentary and if you haven’t seen the documentary yet, I hope you enjoy it, and I had a great deal of fun making it, and the reason the documentary is 225:54 long, actually was it was meant to be one hour long, and I was supposed to be making it very quickly, but got heavily involved in the remake of the film ‘King Kong,’ and because Universal Pictures to shelve it because of other films of the same genre were coming out, so suddenly I had nothing to do, so I decided to pour all my energy into the documentary and it just seem to grow and grow and got a bit out of control, and that is why it ended up as a 225:54 long epic, and I decided it was really meant for the fans of the film and that’s who I really made I for and nobody else, and I am really happy that Universal Pictures gave me the opportunity to be allowed to make the 225:54 length documentary, especially for the NTSC LaserDisc and I am very grateful for that and I hope you enjoy it, and look forward to doing this again one day, and so bye bye. And so ends this marathon audio commentary by director Peter Jackson for the Director’s Cut of the film and although I enjoyed some of it, I felt personally it was far too long and would of much proffered an audio commentary for the Theatrical release of the film, still with the extra footage I suppose Peter Jackson want to inform us about all the extra scenes that were shot and the reason why he wanted to do the Director’s Cut, as he felt the Theatrical release was oaky, but the longer length of the film was a way to expand the story line and that is why we now have the Director’s Cut of ‘THE FRIGHTENERS’ film. Still for the fans of this film, It’s a great track; a little something for everyone, so well worth a listen, despite the very long length of this audio commentary. So enjoy.
Special Feature: The Making of ‘THE FRIGHTENERS’ [1998] [1080p / 480i] [1.78:1 / 1.37:1] [225:54] Here once again we have Peter Jackson and this time introducing the supplementary material for The Making of ‘THE FRIGHTENERS’ and the detail account of the making of the Peter Jackson film, and while filming, Peter Jackson wanted to capture as much as possible of what went on behind-the-scene and of course had a video crew capturing as much material as possible, and at the time of filming, these supplementary material was not much in demand to view such material, especially owners of DVD’s, but with the advent of the NTSC LaserDiscs in America, such supplementary material was much in demand from film buffs and especially Peter Jackson, as he was a massive fan of Special Edition NTSC LaserDiscs, and Peter Jackson is totally thrilled, that you can now sit down and enjoy this mammoth glimpse into The Making of ‘THE FRIGHTENERS.’ So Peter Jackson decided to create a Special Edition NTSC LaserDisc version of the film ‘THE FRIGHTENERS’ and especially the supplementary material for The Making of ‘THE FRIGHTENERS’ because he had a lot of time between this film and the ‘Lord Of The Rings,’ Peter Jackson turned what was supposed to be a one hour documentary, but instead it ended up at just under 4 hours. But this length of time does not get wasted, practically everything anyone would want to know about the film is in this documentary and you get to view bloopers, deleted scenes, special effects, miniatures, on the set, and really, everything else that made the movie what it was. There is also a great number of interviews with many of the stars of the film as well as Danny Elfman and a whole lot of Peter Jackson and actually tells a story in which he saw a ghost and it really seemed very freaky. Overall, this really was something amazing to watch and complemented the film in a way few documentaries do. If you have the time, and love the fil, then watch this ultra-special feature and you'll be glad you did. Here you get to view 30 chapter headings and they are: Peter Jackson Intro, Ghost Stories, Script Development, Michael J. Fox & Trini Alvarado, Jim Fyfe, Chi McBride & John Astin, Rehearsing, Lyttleton as Fairwater, Introduction to WETA, Scene 28, Ghost Effects, Motion Control and Bluescreen, The Jackson Boys, Peter's Cameo & Billy Jackson, Stunts, On the Set, The Reaper, Rustler, The Gatekeeper, Jeffrey Combs, Miniatures, Dee Wallace Stone & Jake Busey, Trini's Bruises, Slimeface & Blobman, Wallpaperman & Portraitman, Acceleration, The Worm, The Gatekeeper, the Judge & Other Deleted Stories, Music, Bloopers, Ratings and Final Thoughts, and Credits. This was A Wing Nut Films Production. Contributors include: Peter Jackson [Director], Robert Zemeckis [Executive Producer], Jim Fyfe [Stuart], Trini Alvarado [Lucy], Michael J. Fox [Frank], Chi McBride [Cyrus], John Austin [The Judge], Jon Labrie [WETA Systems Administrator], Matt Aitken [CGI Supervisor], John Sheils [CGI Supervisor], Wes Takahashi [Visual Effects Supervisor], Wayne Stables [CGI Supervisor], Gray Horsfield [CGI Supervisor], Jake Busey [Johnny], Christian Rivers [Character Animator], Richard Taylor [Creature Effects Designer], Kyle Balda [Character Animator], Jeffrey Combs [Agent Dammers], Dee Wallace Stone [Patricia], Danny Elfman [Composer], Stephen Regelous [CGI Supervisor] and Charlie McClellan [Digital Effects Producer].
Special Feature: Storyboarding [1996] [480i] [1.37:1] [45:39] With this special feature, we again are introduced to Peter Jackson and starts explaining in all aspects of how he went about with the storyboarding which he worked alongside Christian Rivers [Storyboard Artist] who we see doing his rough storyboard pencil drawings, which he would do 100 a day, which of course would be used before going ahead with shooting the film ‘THE FRIGHTENERS,’ but Peter Jackson says is only used as a rough guide. We also get to view behind-the-scene filming of the shootout with the two policemen. Peter Jackson goes into great deal about the storyboard process and presents us with a sort of running animated sequences of the storyboard drawings of the whole film as envisaged by Peter Jackson, with the Danny Elfman composed music score in the background. But of course what you view I would say half of the drawings are not what you get to view in the actual film, due to Peter Jackson feeling some of the storyboard drawings would not work in the film. Peter Jackson informs us that, despite not using some of the storyboard drawings for the film, Peter Jackson felt it might be more suitable and interesting to have the whole of the storyboard drawings could work much better as an animated film, still we will never know as I suspect it will never happen.
Theatrical Trailer [1996] [480i] [1.37:1] [2:03] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film THE FRIGHTENERS,’ which sadly is not in the right aspect ratio and is of slightly poor quality, which I suspecy was copied from the inferior DVD release.
My Scenes: Here you get the choice to Bookmark your favourite scenes, but this feature is only available while the film is playing.
D-BOX: This Blu-ray is enabled with a D-BOX MOTION CODE, but can only be accessed to the integrated motion system if your Blu-ray player is equipped with this item.
Finally, ‘THE FRIGHTENERS’ is great blend of subtle humour, as well as a sub-horror scary film. Michael J Fox finds his inner pseudo angst-ridden come maniacally OTT performance as psychic con-man Frank Bannister who really can see the dead. While working with ghosts to scam local residents Frank Bannister stumbles upon a dark death-like apparition which is killing people left, right and centre. Can Frank Bannister and his ghostly chums save the town, the girl and yes, there is a love sub-plot. It is an entertaining romp, and the CGI ghosts work very well. All in all this is a classic 1990’s film from a great director starring a relatable leading actor and some well-cast cameos. It has been given new life by this Blu-ray transfer and the added Peter Jackson insights add real value. A good film for families with older children. A great film for friends with some drinks and nibbles, and especially with the Peter Jackson’s Director Cut. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
