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The Frighteners

1996

Peter Jackson

Michael J. Fox, Trini Alvarado, Jeffrey Combs, Dee Wallace ...

6.1

18,780

Comedy. Fantasy After a car accident in which his wife, Debra, was killed and he was injured, Frank Bannister develops psychic abilities allowing him to see, hear, and communicate with ghosts. After losing his wife, he then gave up his job as an architect, letting his unfinished "dream house" sit incomplete for years, and put these skills to use by befriending a few ghosts and getting them to haunt houses in the area to drum up work for his ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Janet Maslin The New York Times	"A technically impressive horror-comedy-romance in desperate need of a story editor or a cold shower."	NEU
United States	Roger Ebert rogerebert.com	"Last year, I reviewed a nine-hour documentary about the lives of Mongolian yak herdsmen, and I would rather see it again than sit through 'The Frighteners' (…) Rating: ★ (out of 4)"	NEG
United Kingdom	Time Out	"At times the relentless special effects and tangled plotting veer towards visual and narrative overkill, but the final tonal swerve is shocking and effective."	NEU
United Kingdom	Adam Smith Empire	"Huge ghostly fun, and a fine achievement from the early days of CGI (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Charles Cassady Jr. Common Sense Media	"There are a few scenes (...) when the madcap action pace and the macabre seem to hit the right note. Otherwise it's noisy and not quite as much fun as it's supposed to be (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"	NEU
United States	Edward Guthmann SFGATE	"[It] starts off with a simple idea (...) but smothers whatever merits it may have had in a rush of bells, whistles, bombast and smoke."	NEG
United States	James Berardinelli ReelViews	"[It] isn't a bad film, but it is a disappointment (…) Rating: ★★½ (out of 4)"	NEU

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