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The Frighteners
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Directed by Peter Jackson.
Charlatan Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox) has genuine psychic powers, but he doesn't use them to help people. Rather, he generates cases for his supernatural private-eye firm by harassing a group of hapless ghosts (including a dearly departed Wild West outlaw and an undead judge played by John Astin) into staging hauntings and poltergeists in the homes of likely marks. Bannister's world turns on its head when he starts noticing real hauntings around town -- ghostly assassinations that seem to be tied to the execution 20 years earlier of a brutal serial killer. Lucy Lunskey (Trini Alvarado), the wife of one unlucky victim, teams up with Bannister to get to the bottom of the killings and find out what shut-in Patricia Bradley (Dee Wallace Stone) and her witchy mother (Julia McCarthy) have to do with the sinister spree. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
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CinemaRianCinemaRian The Frighteners (1996, USA, Pet ...
by CinemaRian in CinemaRian Blog
hasn't rated it.
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"The Frighteners is the only film by Peter Jackson that is unsucessful and I can't reccamend. Does it fail? Yes, but it fails because it has too many ideas and too much enthusiam, which is the best way to make a bad film. Set in the fictional Californian town of Fairwater, the film opens as ghost-hunter Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox) is called to exorcise the ghosts from a haunted house. He does-seemingly. It turns out that Frank is a sort of metaphysical con man. After a near fatal car accident, he could see and make friends with ghosts, who help him out by haunting places that he turn "clears"-for a fee, of course. The problem is that a real, malevant ghost of serial killer Johnny (Jake Busey) has escaped from Hell and is on track to break the world record for serial killing. His next target is Frank's love interest (Trini Alvarado). On top of that, the police think Frank might be the real killer. So while he tries to stop Johnny, he is also pursued by an insane CIA age ... " [More]
PuhnnerPuhnner Re:Top 31 Horror films of the p ...
by Puhnner in HORROR MOVIES 101
loved it.
"Here is my list, although it is a bit different in that the list allows only one Film from each of the 31 years, which believe me, limits the choices; for instance 1986: The FlyFrom BeyondHenry: Portrait of a Serial KillerThe HitcherInvaders from MarsManhunterNomadsVamp1987 is just as hardI am working on another one, which is just my 31 favorites regardless of how many a year. These choices listed, fit my definition of horror. They are horrifying and extremely unsettling, but may not be, in the strictest sense, horror. but well, here it is. Oh, I also did not not include the Alien films which although 'monster goes boo!', even though I love every one of them, fall somewhere in the realm of Science Fiction to me...enough gibberish, here it is:By the way, I want 'Mommie Dearest' to be No. 1, but that is another story.Years 1976 through 2007 ( the Spout year listings are a bit different than Wikipedia's which I used ) 31. 1984 A Nightmare on ... " [More]
Dr_GorDr_Gor Re:Re:Re:Re: Total Film's Great ...
by Dr_Gor in Directors
liked it.
"Ok. Here I am, late to the party as usuall! I was pleasantly surprised by this 'Total Films' list. I was pleased to see ALMOST all of my favorite Horror Movie directors represented! Carpenter, DePalma, Romero, Kubrick, Raimi, HITCHCOCK, Hawks, Siegel, Tarantino, Freidkin et al. I like all the films of Shyamalan, most notably 'Signs', and I think his spot on the list is well deserved. Most noteably missing are Wes Craven and Tobe Hooper.... but then what else would you expect coming from me? .... Anyhow, I was VERY pleasantly surprised to see Peter Jackson at number 9! This is a well deserved honor for this underestimated little director from New Zealand! I thought 'King Kong' was a failure but I saw that coming a mile away! You can NOT remake a 'masterpiece' and expect it to be better than the original! When will these guys figure this out? And if you dismiss his earlier, splattery 'gore-fests', or exploitat ... " [More]
El_AaronEl_Aaron Very Funny!
by El_Aaron in El_Aaron Blog
liked it.
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"A very funny film directed by Peter Jackson! Hilarious cameo from Lee Ermy (the drill sargent from Full Metal Jacket). " [More]
 



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