Michael J. Fox was one of the biggest Hollywood stars in the 80s and 90s. Due to suffering with Parkinson’s disease, today he mostly lends his voice to animated movies and TV shows. Before he took a step back from acting, he teamed up with Peter Jackson for a horror comedy movie that deserves way more credit than it has received.
The Frighteners came a few years before Peter Jackson became known to the masses with The Lord of the Rings. But what many don’t realize is that his creative journey began in the horror realm. Here’s why The Frighteners is not only Jackson’s best horror movie, but a underrated gem that deserves a second look. What went so wrong?
What Is The Frighteners About?
The Frighteners follows the exploits of Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox), a man who can interact with the afterlife. After a terrible accident that killed his wife, he falls into a deep depression and loses community respect and his job. To dig himself out of his pit, he uses his newfound gift to con the residents of his town. His scheme: enlisting dead people to haunt houses so he can sweep in as a so-called exorcist. However, his morals are tested when a demonic force begins killing people all across the town, and he may be the only person with the skillset to stop it.
Jackson managed to wrangle together an impressive cast, including Jake Busey, Jeffrey Combs, Dee Wallace, Trini Alvarado, each bringing their own unique vibe to match Michael J. Fox’s eclecticism. A standout role comes from R. Lee Ermey, who channels a ghostly version of his iconic character from Full Metal Jacket. The part started out as a parody, but Jackson was so impressed by Ermey that he extrapolated the role, and it became one of the most iconic parts of the film. So, while The Frighteners may have a loyal cult following today, why did it go so wrong commercially back in 1996?
The Frighteners Flop & Cult Resurgence
Peter Jackson and co-writer Fran Walsh began scribing The Frighteners during the filming of Jackson’s movie Heavenly Creatures. They sent a three-page treatment to their talent agent and it quickly landed in the lap of Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future), who had high hopes to direct the material as a spin-off of his popular TV series, Tales from the Crypt. As Jackson wasn’t quite an A-list filmmaker yet, this got some serious momentum behind the story and he finished the screenplay. Zemeckis was so impressed by the script he felt it could be its own stand-alone movie and convinced Jackson to helm the director’s chair while he stayed on board as an executive producer.
The Frighteners seemed poised for box office triumph. It was made on a $26 million budget, it had an emerging filmmaker behind the lens, an iconic filmmaker producing, and an A-list star (Michael J. Fox) leading the stacked ensemble. However, it only brought in $29.3 million, making it a huge flop. The first thing that thwarted the film’s success was its release date. Jackson and Zemeckis felt that the weekend of Halloween 1996 would be the perfect release date, given that it is a horror comedy. However, Universal had other plans and scheduled the release for summer.
Then there’s the movie’s R-rating. Until this point, Jackson was known for over-the-top and grotesque gore as seen in his movies Bad Taste and Braindead. Aiming for a PG-13 rating this time around, Jackson dumbed down his body horror but was still slapped with a hard R. So, he made significant cuts, but The Frighteners was still confined to the R-rating category. This eliminated the possibility of teenage fans of Michael J. Fox flocking to the movie. While you’d think underground fans of Jackson’s earlier body horror works would rush to see the film, it seemed many thought he had sold out and gone commercial. Nevertheless, The Frighteners did pick up steam once it hit VHS, but it is still an underrated comedy horror and an overlooked role from Michael J. Fox.
Michael J. Fox & Innovative Visual Effects Elevate
By 1996, Michael J. Fox had fell into a comfortable niche in Hollywood, frequently portraying likable heroes – Marty McFly, Alex P. Keaton, characters audiences could easily root for and get a comedic kick out of. The Frighteners asked for something more from him, and us. As a con artist exploiting grief for profit, it’s a brilliant inversion of his established persona, and Fox commands the role with nuance. He doesn’t play Frank as purely unlikable or easily redeemed, but as a man aware of his own moral decay yet seemingly powerless to stop it. Watch his early scenes – there’s a weariness beneath the charm, a self-loathing that reveals someone running from grief so long he’s forgotten who he was.
Peter Jackson’s direction refuses simple redemption. As supernatural murders plague the town, Frank confronts both external evil and his internal rot. Fox charts this journey with subtlety, gradually shedding cynicism as he recognizes he’s become unrecognizable to himself. The ground-breaking visual effects from Weta Digital externalize his fractured state. Technically, this was a great feat. Each ghost scene was filmed twice; once on location and once against a green screen. The two shots were then merged together to make it look like a ghost was actually in the room. Meanwhile, Danny Elfman‘s score weaves sinister charm with melancholy, supporting Fox’s performance without overwhelming it. Ultimately, what makes The Frighteners underrated is its willingness to take a beloved actor into deeply uncomfortable territory. Fox revealed depths that deserved a larger audience, reminding us that even our most charming heroes can lose their way.
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