Overrated and overhyped

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

'The Frighteners (1996)' balances its comedic and horrific elements well, with the picture getting surprisingly dark towards its final act and the mystery that propels its plot forward being a rather interesting and occasionally enigmatic one. There's a number of moments where the CGI doesn't hold up so well, but for the most part the piece still looks remarkably good. It also helps that the world is a uniquely off-kilter one filled with odd-ball characters that are a joy to watch. Michael J. Fox gives his best performance outside of his iconic 'Marty McFly' role, with a turn that's incredibly unique and wholly believable. The infrequent, almost slapstick inspired gory moments add a gritty and darkly funny punch to the flick, too. It does sometimes seem to get a bit too dark for its own good, likely a result of the numerous clashes with the MPAA that resulted in Jackson stopping aiming for the 'PG-13' and going straight for the 'R', but becomes a more distinct and compelling picture for it. 7/10

Following a car accident Frank Bannister (Michael J Fox) develops psychic abilities which allows him to see and communicate with the dead. In order to make himself a quick and easy buck he gets a small team of ghosts to scare residents into believing that their homes are haunted. However, when performing an exorcism at one house he discovers a demon that isn't part of the act and Bannister soon discovers that this demon is killing both the living and the dead. Bannister finds himself having to use his psychic abilities for a good cause and with the help of Dr Lucy Lynskey (Trini Alvarado) and his ghost friends he sets out to try and stop the demon.The Frighteners is certainly a film that I fully expected to enjoy - at least that's what I thought after watching the first 5 minutes. It looked like the sort of film that might have been a daft bit of fun, but for me sadly the sense of fun only came in very short bursts.Initially, the story presents itself as merely a slight re-working of Ghost (only presumably a more fun version), but it expands slightly on this concept as the story progresses. I was unsure when watching this film whether it was intended as a satire or as a comedy horror. Whatever it was trying to achieve it mostly failed as it wasn't well-observed enough to work as a satire, nor was it funny enough or scary enough to work as a comedy horror. The script itself generally lacked any sort of wit and I didn't think that the film flowed all that well - it probably didn't help that I also didn't find the story all that involving. I also didn't think Bannister's ghosts were that funny and to be honest I found them irritating more than anything else.The final third of the film was silly, over the top and utterly ridiculous, but to be fair it did seem to at least bring some fun and excitement to the table which seemed to be lacking for the bulk of the film. Adopting this tone throughout the film wouldn't have necessarily made it a particularly good film or even a memorable one, but it would have at least been an enjoyable one.The only positives about this film are the special effects which were great for their time. R Lee Ermey's cameo in this film is brief but it was easily the funniest and most memorable thing about this film. Michael J Fox is pretty good here and does try to bring some energy to the film, but with so much working against him this always seemed like a lost cause. All in all it's a disappointing film considering its credentials.

Overblown and noisy, but a clever comedy ghost story with a serial killer element.The cast plays it well, with Fox nice and laid back, and the direction keeps the pace and plot bubbling over. One flaw I guess is that the scary reaper is defeated and replaced with a lesser menace well before the final conflict - I'd reserve the best till last. Also the FBI guy is a bit of a plot convenience.The effects are very good, but one thing that annoyed me is almost every minute is filled with dramatic music. I suppose it was the last fling for '80s cheese so no way to avoid it.Overall it's a bit long and busy, but amusing and entertaining all the same.

Accused of murder, a small-town psychic charlatan learns that his skills in dealing with the deceased are put to the test for real when the murder spree continues despite everything he can do to stop it and must keep the spirit from harming his friends.This here turned out to be quite an infuriating and quite troubling if somewhat interesting effort. Most of this is due to the fact that the film is far more of a fantasy effort that a straight-forward horror effort which is strange considering the subject matter at hand. This is mainly found in the finale at the hospital about the subject being sent into a heavenly arena and all the different after-effects on the body being adjusted to life back on Earth, all this just makes for a rather confusing time being that the main purpose is to stop the rampage of the ghostly figure throughout the town that only he can see and believe, so the sudden influx of mystical elements that this does at the very end makes for a confusing time. As well, the fact that these scenes force the film along far longer than it really should as the lengthy running time here really kills this one in that last section, not only with the sudden influx of fantasy but the mindless need to pay off far more plot- threads than it needed. Overall, this really could've used a few minutes shaved off here by deciding to abandon a few of these plots. That said, there's a lot to like here especially the scenes of the hooded ghostly menace in action, most notably the kinetic sequence in the holding cell where the good ghosts go fight the hooded ghost and take the fight between the walls and they good barreling through the different sections of the room as the humans watch and wait for them to appear and disappear, as well as a couple stellar attacks on a moving car that look absolutely amazing, an ambush in a graveyard and finally the hospital confrontation that makes for a lot of fun, so as an action film and horror film it definitely works wonders. As well, the CGI used is actually well-done and doesn't look cheap or fake at all, and gives the ghosts a fluidity that actually comes off nicely and makes up for some of the other flaws.Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.