Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox) use to be an architect. Five years ago he was in a car accident that killed his wife Debra (Angela Bloomfield). In the same accident Frank had a near death experience. Since then, he can see ghosts. Due to the loss of his wife Frank basically checked out of life. He abandoned the dream house he was building and no longer earns his living as an architect.
Frank became friends with three ghosts, Cyrus, (Chi McBride), a hood from the seventies, Stuart (Jim Fyfe), a nerd from the fifties and a gunslinger from the Old West that goes by the name of The Judge (John Astin). With his team of ghosts Frank now ekes out a living as a con man ghostbuster. His latest con was at the home of Ray Lynskey (Peter Dobson) and his wife Lucy (Trini Alvarado). During his visit to the Lynskey home Frank sees the number 37 etched on Ray’s forehead. Not long after that Ray dies.
Frank begins to see numbers etched into the foreheads of other people who soon die at the hands of a specter that looks like the grim reaper. Frank becomes a suspect since he is around when some of them die. Sheriff Perry (Troy Evans) tries to give Frank the benefit of the doubt, but FBI agent Milton Dammers (Jeffrey Combs) enters the case. Dammers has a few screws loose and pursues Frank believing he is a serial killer.
The real serial killer is the spirit of Johnny Bartlett (Jake Busey) who, with his teenage girlfriend Patricia Bradley (Dee Wallace), killed twelve people before he was executed in 1964. Now his evil spirit has continued the killing and Lucy has been marked by the grim reaper as his next target. In order to save her Frank needs to go into the spirit world and fight Bartlett but Dammers is determined to take Frank down.
“The Frighteners” was released in 1996 and was directed by Peter Jackson. It is a horror comedy fantasy film. Between the impressive cast, the music of Danny Elfman, make-up by Rick Baker and directing by Peter Jackson, there is a lot to like about this sometimes-forgotten movie. The special effects are really cool. The acting is spot on, especially Michael J. Fox. The movie is fast paced. It’s a fun and wild ride that tosses in a few homages here and there.
If you need an insane person to play a demented serial killer in your movie, get a Busey. Jake Busey’s full name is William Jacob Busey. He is the son of Gary Busey. Peter Jackson has a cameo as a guy with piercings. Jackson’s three-month-old son, Billy plays one of the levitated babies.
Busey’s character, Johnny Bartlett wants to be the world’s most prolific serial killer. He often compares himself to Charles Starkweather. Starkweather was a real-life serial killer who, with his fourteen-year-old girlfriend, killed eleven people during a two-month killing spree in Nebraska and Wyoming. Starkweather was caught and convicted. He was sentenced to death and executed in the electric chair June 1959. His girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, was sentenced to life in prison. She served seventeen years before she was paroled in 1976.