The Frighteners (1996)

Michael J. Fox was well known for his comedies like "Back to the Future" and "The Secret of my Success" as well as his role on the series "Family Ties". He is an actor that you would never consider starring in a horror film ("Teen Wolf" doesn't count) but here he is, starring in Peter Jackson's "The Frighteners". The film does have plenty of comedic moments but the horror elements outnumber them pretty quickly. Michael J. Fox delivers a great performance and has plenty of help with horror veterans Jeffery Combs and Dee Wallace. This would turn out to be Fox's last major starring role in a movie before he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

It's crazy to imagine the fact that if Peter Jackson had not wrote and directed his ghost story "The Frigheners", he most likely would have never gone on to direct "The Lord of the Rings"! This is because he bought and used so many new computers in order to create the special effects and CGI that appear in "The Frighteners" that he had to figure out what the next project could be that would require just as many effects; a few years later he secured the rights to "The Lord of the Rings" and the rest is history.


Frank Banister is able to see and communicate with the dead spirits around him, those spirits that have not gone through the "Great White Light". He uses this ability to scam the locals of the town he lives in; his two ghost friends go to a house and start "haunting" it and he comes along and exorcises the "bad spirits" away for a hefty fee. He has his fair share of critics, including Ray, one of his most recent customers. But Frank is stunned when he sees a number scratched on Ray's forehead; Ray soon dies of a heart attack. After a rash of unexplained deaths in town, a disturbed occult expert working in the FBI comes to town and investigates Bannister, believing he is the one responsible. The agent connects the death of Bannister's wife and a series or numbers as his main proof. The real killer turns out to be the disembodied spirit of a teenage serial killer named Johnny Charles Bartlett, who has taken the guise of the Grim Reaper and is intent on becoming the most famous killer ever! Only Bannister and Ray's wife Lucy can stop the renegade spirit while trying to deal with the insane FBI agent....