The Frighteners
The Frighteners is a 1996 New Zealand-American comedy horror film directed by Peter Jackson and co-written with his wife, Fran Walsh. The film stars Michael J. Fox, Trini Alvarado, Peter Dobson, John Astin, Dee Wallace Stone, Jeffrey Combs, and Jake Busey.
The Frighteners tells the story of Frank Bannister, an architect who develops psychic abilities allowing him to see, hear, and communicate with ghosts after his wife's murder. He initially uses his new abilities to work with various spirits to cheat money out of customers for his "ghosthunting" business. However, the spirit of a mass murderer comes back from Hell, able to attack the living and the dead, as the ghost of the Grim Reaper, prompting Frank to investigate the supernatural presence. Jackson and Walsh conceived the idea for
The Frighteners during the script-writing phase of
Heavenly Creatures. Robert Zemeckis hired the duo to write the script, with the original intention of Zemeckis directing
The Frighteners as a spin-off film of the television series,
Tales from the Crypt.