The Frighteners

Ghost busting may be a dying business, but somebody has to do it. Or at least that would appear to be the grimly sardonic attitude of the con artist hero in Peter Jackson's The Frighteners. Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox) really is able to see the ghosts and demonic shades populating the "other side." But he mostly uses his unique abilities as a quick means to turn a few miserable dollars.

From the get go, The Frighteners has enough cynicism to easily qualify as a Nineties movie. The film's basic tone is a wired mix of black humor and jaded sensibilities. Even Fox has finally managed to successfully bury his usual boyish looks beneath a five o'clock stubble and a slack jawed face. Through most of The Frighteners, Fox's self-employed psychic investigator has the battered appearance of a drunk who has gone through too many morning afters.

But Bannister's real problem is that he may have to find a new town in which he can work his scam. Though Bannister is able to see and communicate with ghosts, the real work is done by his partners (Chi McBride and Jim Fyfe). They actually are ghosts, which means that they have a good ability at scaring up business. All Bannister has to do is go to the site of their prearranged haunting. Once he whips out a photographic spot meter and a dilapidated machine that looks like a cross between a radio and a toaster, he is able to convince the customer that the poltergeists have been removed.

However, the perfect racket is headed for some problems when an exceeding nasty spirit begins slaughtering a sizable chunk of the local population. Even worse, the powerful fiend is somehow linked to Bannister who keeps seeing numbers flashing on the forehead of the next victim. As each person's number comes due, Bannister becomes the prime suspect on the constabulary's otherwise limited list.

All of which means that The Frighteners has some good potential as a satiric horror tale. But the movie's strongest emphasis is on grimness. From beginning to end, the film is imbued in a fatalistic twilight that is almost as grey as the cloudy skyline that perpetually hovers over the town. Even the jokes are as dank and dark as the local cemetery where Bannister routinely shops for potential clients. The Frighteners is less a comedy and more of a horror film with a calculated attitude problem.

The one stock comic figure in The Frighteners is Milton Dammers(Jeffrey Combs), an FBI agent who specializes in cases concerning the paranormal. With his Hitler haircut and twitching body, Dammers is the guy who was obviously too crazy for even the X-Files Department. But as played by Combs, the character is too firmly rooted in sadistic pathology as Dammers' personal sense of derangement kicks into high gear the moment he first appears.

Likewise, the romantic charm of Lucy Lynskey (Trini Alvarado) plays more like an expedient plot point rather than a passionate spark. She is a psychologist who becomes convinced that Bannister is truly gifted, especially after her boorish husband succeeds in changing her marital status to widow. Alvarado creates a sympathetic heroine, but she also projects a perkiness that seems strangely inappropriate to the rest of the proceedings. Besides, her character seems more daft than smitten as she continual defends Bannister despite his own peculiar skill at appearing overwhelmingly guilty.

Only McBride and Fyfe as the deceased business partners have any luck with doing comedy. Occasionally aided by the Judge (John Astin in a barely recognizable appearance), they are reluctant ghouls who whine after every sting about the petty nature of their second rate after life.

What The Frighteners mostly suggest is that director Peter Jackson is still straddling a borderline between shock theatre and the art house. The movie often displays Jackson's singularly striking visual skills. It also suggests an interesting talent that is uncomfortable with sly humor. Jackson lacks a light touch, which is what The Frighteners most desperately needed.

The movie's extensive special effects are often fantastic and there are a few genuine chills. But mostly, The Frighteners is a moody morality play that never quite articulates a clear point beyond its own grittiness. Unless that is the point, in which case The Frighteners is a major statement piece.