The Frighteners Should Get a Remake, and a Prequel

credit: The Frighteners

Admittedly, some folks might need to be reminded about The Frighteners since when a lot of individuals think of Michael J. Fox they might think of Back to the Future and little else. But despite not being a well-received or even remembered movie, this entry into Fox’s list of movies was amusing and was even one of those that could be called a memorable and enjoyable story.

The overall story is that of Frank Bannister, a paranormal expert that is reviled within the town he resides even though he can see ghosts and interact with them. The trouble is that no one else can see what he can, and Frank does use two of the ghosts he associates with to hustle a living as he sends them to ‘haunt’ a home before showing up to rid the house of the unwanted spirits.

When people, healthy and otherwise, start dropping dead in his town of apparent heart attacks, Frank begins to see ghostly numbers carved into the foreheads of various individuals, though he has no idea what they mean until an unwitting customer appears to him as a recently deceased spirit. With his ghost companions, Stuart and Cyrus, he has to figure out who’s killing people. 

credit: The Frighteners

Seeing brief origin stories for the most interesting characters might be a lot of fun

There are a few characters that might be made even better than they already are by revealing their origins, even if it’s brief and not necessarily in-depth. Stuart, Cyrus, the Judge, Frank, Dammers, those types of characters might be fun to place in a prequel for further discovery, especially since it could show how they all came together and how Dammers became such a nutcase as he’s seen to be in the movie.

A story that would briefly show how each person came to be in the position they’re in would be interesting since it would give a little more structure to the original movie and make a lot of people happy since the fact is that the first movie did kind of just slam each character into their position without a lot of explanation as to how they came to be where they are. Some people can let that go and just enjoy the story, but others want to know as much as they can. 

A remake would be great since it’s easy to think that the special effects would be even better. 

To be real, the effects in this movie weren’t that bad back in the 90s since the look of the reaper was actually kind of terrifying, and the ghosts were a little dodgy, but not so bad that one could say that they ruined the movie. But thinking of how things have changed since the 90s makes it easy to guess that a remake would be amazing if it was given the kind of attention that it needs to come back to life.

The reaper was one of the most terrifying aspects of this movie, at least until it became the ghost that had been masquerading as it for most of the time. Once that happened, the threat level was still very real, but the mystery was lost just a little. But still, if that effect could be replicated, it would be a lot of fun to watch. 

credit: The Frighteners

A new cast would be needed, but it might be fun to see a few cameos

It’s unknown whether any of the original cast would want to come back, but it would be fun to see at least a few of those who might be up for returning if they’re still able to do so. After all, the movie did come out in 1996, so it’s easy to think that some of them might have put this movie in their rearview and decided to never think of it again.

Several of the actors have such a long list of cinematic accomplishments to their names that it’s very easy to think that might not even recall this movie, at least not at first. There are also a couple of individuals who have passed away since that time, so it’s easy to state that not everyone would be able to make it. 

The story could be altered just enough to make it less of a family movie and more of a true horror movie, but that’s up for debate 

It wouldn’t take too much to turn this into less of a comedy and more of a true horror movie, but whether or not that should happen is debatable since keeping the comedic parts of this movie intact might be a better plan.

At the end of the day, it was the comedy along with the horror that managed to make this movie memorable, so it might not be that wise to separate the two. But if anyone had the kind of ambition that was needed, it would be fun to see this idea return.