The Frighteners (R)
Bloody Disgusting; IMDb; Rotten Tomatoes; TV Tropes; Universal; Wikia; Wikipedia
streaming sites: Amazon; Google Play; Movies Anywhere; Vudu; YouTube

Directed and co-written by Peter Jackson, with music by Danny Elfman. It came out in 1996, and I'm sure I saw it sometime, most likely in the late 90s. But I didn't remember anything specific about it by the time I watched it on Blu-ray in 2024. It's generally considered a comedy horror film, but I personally don't think of it as a comedy, because the plot is too heavy on the supernatural horror elements. There's definitely comedy in the movie, but I don't think there's enough to consider that a fundamental genre. I also liked it less than I did the horror aspects.

So, there's this guy named Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox), who was in a car accident five years ago, and ever since then he's been able to see and communicate with ghosts. He had been an architect, but for some reason he gave up on that career and became a con man. He works with a few ghosts, Cyrus (Chi McBride), Stuart, and the Judge (John Astin). They haunt people, and he gets rid of them. One day, Frank is driving and crashes through the fence of a guy named Ray Lynskey (Peter Dobson). To get out of paying for repairs, Frank sends his associates to haunt Ray and his wife, Lucy (Trini Alvarado). While there, Frank sees the number 37 glowing on Ray's forehead. After he leaves, another ghost comes and kills Ray.

At some point in the movie, we learn about a serial killer named Johnny Bartlett, who had killed 12 people before being caught and sent to the electric chair. He had a supposed accomplice named Patricia Bradley (Dee Wallace Stone), who now lives with her elderly mother, who seems to be abusive. Lucy, who is a doctor, goes to their house to treat wounds Patricia had suffered, and becomes concerned about her. She wants to get Patricia away from her mother, but that seems impossible.

Meanwhile, the police, led by Sheriff Walt Perry, are investigating a recent rash of murders in the area. The victims all appear to have had heart attacks, but there's medical evidence that that's not the case. The investigation is taken over by FBI agent Milton Dammers (Jeffrey Combs), who at first I thought seemed moderately autistic. But as the film goes on, he becomes increasingly obsessive and unhinged, and I found the character pretty problematic, as an over-the-top depiction of mental illness. He believes Frank killed his (Frank's) wife after the car accident five years ago, and blames him for the current series of murders. But Frank begins seeing a mysterious ghost who is the real killer, and tries to stop him. He gets help from Lucy, who believes in his abilities. The identity of the ghost is eventually revealed, and I thought it was entirely predictable, but it really wouldn't have made sense for it to be anyone else, so that's okay. There is another twist that I thought was slightly less predictable, but still not surprising.

The movie has a happy ending, but beyond that I don't want to spoil any more details of the plot. I think I liked the movie more this time than I did when I first watched it. I still don't love it, but I think the comedy aspects are okay (mostly), and the supernatural aspects are suitably frightening. All in all, I think it's a pretty decent horror movie.