Peter Jackson’s Wildly Irreverent Horror Comedy Starring Michael J. Fox Will Haunt Audiences on a New Streaming Platform

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If you think of director Peter Jackson and actor Michael J. Fox, two major movie series likely spring to mind. The Lord of the Rings and Back to the Future are the defining works of these two Hollywood icons. However, both of them also collaborated on one of the strangest and most entertaining horror comedies ever created. That film is the ’90s classic The Frighteners, and it will soon be available to watch on Peacock.

Peacock is getting into the Halloween spirit with a new batch of horror movies this October! Starting October 1, you can stream The Frighteners, along with other spooky favorites. The streaming service is also adding the entire Leprechaun series, The Ring, From Dusk Till Dawn, and the original three Scream films to its selection.

In The Frighteners, actor Peter Fox plays a deceptive character. Frank Bannister used to be a thriving professional, but a deeply upsetting experience involving his wife left him with psychic powers-the ability to communicate with and see ghosts. Instead of utilizing these abilities for good, Frank chooses to trick unsuspecting people. He persuades ghosts to terrorize vulnerable individuals, then offers his services to remove them. However, a new, dangerous spirit has arrived in town and is killing both the living and the dead, and Frank is powerless to stop it. According to Rotten Tomatoes:

Frank Bannister, formerly an architect (played by Michael J. Fox), now pretends to be an exorcist, ridding the world of evil spirits. He maintains this deceptive act by telling people his ability comes from a car crash that tragically took his wife’s life. However, his carefully constructed lie begins to unravel when a series of unexpected deaths occur in his town. While investigating the supernatural cause of these killings, Frank finds himself falling for the wife (Trini Alvarado) of one of the victims, all while navigating the interference of an eccentric FBI agent (Jeffrey Combs).

The Frighteners didn’t do well in theaters, earning just over $29 million despite costing $26 million to make. Reviews weren’t great either, with a critics’ score of 66% on Rotten Tomatoes. Viewers seemed to enjoy it a bit more, giving it a score of 71%.

‘The Frighteners’ Was Weta Digital’s Presentation Before ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Franchise


Universal Pictures

The Frighteners premiered in cinemas in 1996. It was released during the summer, around the same time as big movies like Independence Day, Mission: Impossible, and Twister. While it didn’t perform as well as Universal Pictures initially hoped, The Frighteners was a relatively small film that stood out against some of the year’s biggest hits in one key way: its innovative visual effects, which still impress viewers today and were uncommon for a horror movie at the time.

However, making these effects wasn’t simple. The project was incredibly ambitious from the start, as Jackson was determined that the visual effects could be handled by Weta Digital-his visual effects company in New Zealand-even though it hadn’t yet worked on a large-scale film. Executive producer Robert Zemeckis recognized the difficulties and ultimately asked Wes Takahashi, a legend at Industrial Light & Magic, for assistance. Takahashi was actually leaving ILM and beginning a new role at Weta with Jackson at the time.

The Frighteners presented some challenges during its production. Universal Pictures moved up the release date, which meant Peter Jackson needed extra help from visual effects artists beyond his usual team at Weta to finish the film on schedule. This was definitely a valuable learning experience for both the director and his VFX company, and the lessons learned would prove crucial when they later worked on The Lord of the Rings films.

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2025-09-30 03:39