Viking Night: The Frighteners
By Bruce Hall
August 13, 2013
BoxOfficeProphets.com
This movie literally can't sit still and it wants to try everything.
All that energy makes repeat viewings a lot of fun, but it doesn't take long for the seams to show. For example, I've never quite found Michael J. Fox to be an ideal fit as psychic shyster Frank Bannister. It's not that he doesn't have the chops to carry the film, because he certainly does. The problem is that while I find him easy to accept as the man Bannister becomes by the end of the film, it’s hard to buy Fox as the cynical, emotionally barren huckster he's playing at the beginning. Maybe that's the point, and maybe it's just a matter of personal taste. I just can't see Fox as a cheater. But a cheater is exactly what Frank is. After a deadly car accident claims his wife, he (inexplicably) develops an ability to commune with the dead, and takes to using a bumbling trio of restless spirits (John Astin, Chi McBride, Jim Fyfe) to swindle the recently bereaved by posing as a paranormal investigator.
It makes for a funny setup, with the real ghosts entering homes in advance and wreaking madcap havoc before Bannister shows up and pretends to “exorcise" them - for a nominal fee. Don't stop to think about it or you'll start to wonder how someone who really can communicate with ghosts well enough to go into business with them couldn't make a hell of a lot more money legitimately. Especially once an intrepid newspaper reporter (Elizabeth Hawthorne) exposes Bannister for the semi-fraud he is. It's a small town, so it doesn't take long for business to dry up - but not before Frank manages to earn the trust of the recently widowed Dr. Lucy Lynskey (Trini Alvarado). Frank does indeed communicate with Lucy's dead husband (Peter Dobson), and Lucy - because she's the love interest here - does indeed buy into it. Not 15 minutes into the movie, she's given this obvious con man her full and uninhibited trust. Before her husband’s body is even cold, she’s agreed to go out to dinner with the guy.
Good thing this is a comedy.
Speaking of funny, things take an ominous turn when Frank becomes mixed up in an ongoing string of unexplained deaths, connected to a mysterious cloaked figure that only he can see. Frank is even able to predict who the victims will be, thanks to a mysterious sequential number that appears on their foreheads just prior death – which once again, only Frank can see. The sadder coincidence is that as he begins his first legitimate investigation, Frank inadvertently makes himself the number one suspect by managing to be in the room every time someone drops dead. But that's not even the best part. That would be the spooky connection that develops between Frank, Lucy, one of Lucy’s patients (Dee Wallace-Stone), a stone cold crazy old lady (Julianna McCarthy) and a long dead serial killer (Jake Busey). So, armed with only his mutant abilities, an offbeat paranormal posse and the undying devotion of a woman who's known him for a couple of days at best, Frank has a lot of ground to cover and not much time to do it before the deaths start hitting close to home.
It sounds like – and is - complete insanity. But holding it all together is the great Peter Jackson. His sweeping camera work, meticulously staged scenes and relentless attention to detail mean you could watch this film ten times and still not see everything. The script is witty, the premise makes a good campfire yarn and the digital effects are so good they remain immersive almost two decades later. But flip the coin and the list of liabilities reads pretty much the same. Jackson crams so much visual activity into each scene that it's hard to actually absorb much of it. The rules of that govern the world of the dead and their interactions with the living are murky and confusing. All too often, this takes you out of the movie as you find yourself wondering why certain dead people seem to have abilities that others don’t, and only when the plot requires them to. At times the dialogue is so dense and baffling that you just kind of tune out. And there are so many rapid fire changes in tone that it's hard to know how you're supposed to feel from moment to moment.
Still, the package is pleasing and the cast is appealing, with solid performances all around. Of particular note is Fox, who is endearing as always, despite his uncharacteristically weather beaten appearance. If you’ve never seen Trini Alvarado before, just imagine Andie MacDowell if she could act. Aston, McBride and Fyfe are almost always amusing as Bannister’s trio of ghostly helpers. Jake Busey doesn’t get a ton of screen time here but like his dad, the man was born to play crazy. Jeffrey Combs successfully imitates Crispin Glover in his role as a twitchy FBI agent who has a bone to pick with Bannister. In fact I could go on, but I’d just end up talking about how there are way too many characters in this film, and then you might start to think that I don’t enjoy it.
Despite its many, many shortcomings, The Frighteners somehow manages to tie everything back together by the end, when it becomes a simple story about certain people finding redemption, and certain other people…well…not so much. If you can, I suggest you shut down the logic center of your brain and just laugh when you’re supposed to laugh, and jump when you’re supposed to jump. Yes, the story may be a little clumsy – in fact, a beautifully staged and shot climax is almost derailed as it trips all over itself, desperately running away from all forms of logic and common sense. But it still means well, it’s still a lot of fun, and it rarely slows down long enough for you to figure out what’s wrong with it anyway. The Frighteners is far from perfect, but it’s a satisfying way to spend a couple of hours entertaining yourself and that special someone on a cold, rainy night under a warm blanket with a bowl of popcorn and a set of severely lowered expectations.