AuthorGreedo Where to watch:
HBO; a haunted hospital Impression: The original idea for SMD was to provide short on words, long on context reviews for older (mature) movies. Movies you could easily avoid at this point in their life-cycles. Movies that, unless you're friends with Greedo or Kuato, would not come up in conversation at the Mos Eisley or Last Resort. Movies that, sadly, lack consciousness and thus fail to impart their joyful essence to an audience that isn't aware of their existence. The execution has mostly been an exercise in confirmation bias. I have highlighted movies I enjoyed as a kid and have confirmed those movies were entertaining and worthy of the time of a wider audience. I have (so far) not grumbled about things being better "in my day". Here's another one! The Frighteners came out in 1996 without much fanfare. Michael J. Fox (MJF) was past his audience drawing prime and slowly heading back towards (excellent) television (Spin City). Peter Jackson directed his fifth and biggest budget movie after a Best Screenplay nom for his previous film, Heavenly Creatures. Robert Zemeckis "introduced" the movie and his fingerprints are evident in the frames, characters and snappy editing. I recall the movie being a genre-bending mix of comedy, horror and thriller and being a delighted 11-year-old boy after seeing it. Reaction: The Frighteners is a strange brew of genre and tone. The characters are tragic but their circumstances are comic. The movie draws inexorably to a twist that neatly ties all of the various threads of plot. It's contrived but not one of those plot devices that will ruin a rewatching. MJF plays a psychic ghostbuster who we quickly discover is running a con on his customers. Due to his tragic past, he can see and interact with ghosts. The logic of the Frighteners universe serves the plot more than any overarching world building ambitions. As the plot progresses, the Frightener universe bends without breaking credulity. It's a fine line to toe but Peter Jackson shows a great deal of ambition in concocting this strange tail of good and evil, fate and freedom. The CGI effects are quite dated, but if you don't mind slumming through the early efforts of a team that would soon bring the world the Lord of the Rings movies, there are plenty of fun ghostly moments. Favorite Scene: The opening scene MJF drives his car straight down a windy rode. I don't know why he does this. More fun trivia: While set in an American town, the film was shot entirely in New Zealand. Conclusion: A flawed movie that gets more interesting as it ages, although not necessarily better. There are better examples of the genre comedy-horror, but this was my first experience, and I still like it. Arbitrary rating: Seven tickets to purgatory. Bring your friends!
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AuthorsContinuing the tradition of reviews nobody asked for. Archives
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