Film review – Kelly – 9/1/97
Peter Jackson’s latest film is an entertaining, fast-paced special effects romp which is very enjoyable unless you are expecting the quality and depth of Jackson’s previous feature “Heavenly Creatures”. The plot of “The Frighteners” gets a bit convoluted and the characterisation is minimal but the film’s energy and visual impact make it worth ignoring these flaws and just enjoying the ride.
While the style is very different to “Heavenly Creatures”, the subject isn’t totally removed; Jackson sticks to his specialty topic of ghoulish murder. Michael J. Fox plays Frank Bannister, a likeable con man and ‘Psychic Investigator’ who is genuinely able to see the supernatural but spends most of his time performing bogus exorcisms. Things get complicated when a series of mysterious deaths occur in the town, and only Frank Bannister knows what/who is responsible.
“The Frighteners” blends fairly basic comedy with scary suspense, and sometimes this combination doesn’t really gel. One particularly slapstick scene, during which the old-timer ghost has a gunfight with the grim reaper inside the Egyptian exhibit of a museum, is reminiscent of a fairly racy “Scooby Doo” episode. In contrast, the scene where central characters Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox) and his inevitable ‘love interest’ Dr. Lucy Lynskey (Trini Alvarado) are stalked through a deserted hospital is incredibly tense and uses a sequence of flashbacks in a sophisticated and effective way. The mixture of comic and serious incidents creates an uneven tone to the film, but it doesn’t really make it less watchable. Jackson seems to be having fun with the whole ghost/horror movie genre by alluding subtly and not so subtly to several other famous movies in “The Frighteners” – “Natural Born Killers” and “Ghost Busters” among them.
Although “The Frighteners” has a Hollywood producer (Robert Zemeckis of “Back to the Future” fame), and features some reasonably well known American actors, it still looks like a New Zealand film. The audience can play Spot the Shortland Street Character very successfully (there’s Julia Thornton, and Rachel, and Bruce Warner…), and there are lots of panoramic shots of Lyttelton Harbour masquerading quite convincingly as the fictitious American town of “Fairwater”. The New Zealand influence makes it interesting for locals to watch, but the plot is dominated by Hollywood formula and there is a disappointingly traditional Heaven and Hell in the film.
It’s tempting to
wonder whether “The Frighteners” would have been less mundane if there hadn’t been big-budget expectations. The film also risks losing its focus sometimes, perhaps because Jackson indulges himself in too many baddies; with the grim reaper, serial killers, and a crazed FBI man involved, things get a bit chaotic. But the special effects are excellent and “The Frighteners” is definitely fun to watch as long as you’re in the mood for a thriller and you don’t feel like thinking too hard.
