This week: Dannis reviews The Frighteners

D: Peter Jackson. Michael J. Fox, Trini Alvarado, Peter Dobson, John 
Astin, Dee Wallace Stone, Jeffrey Combs, Jake Busey, Chi McBride. 
1996. MCA Universal. Rated R. 

I have to deal with all sorts of people in my life: the phoney 
psychics, the insurance salesmen, Kiril... Worst of all, though, are 
the ghosts. They whine all the time about how horrible it is to be dead. 
They never give you five minutes peace. It's enough to drive a man 
insane.
Such is the case of Frank Bannister (Fox) in The Frighteners, my 
personal choice for best picture 1996. Does it have a chance of 
actually getting an Oscar? Best special effects, maybe. I don't 
think they'd ever let a horror movie walk away with anything else.
In Frighteners, Fox is a young con man who earns his living by 
convincing people that their houses are haunted and ridding them of
the ghosts. What he doesn't bother to mention is that the ghosts 
were sent there by him in the first place.
Then things begin to get ugly for Frank. His clients, people he has 
problems with, they start turning up dead of crushed hearts, with
no visible entry wounds. It's up to Frank to figure out how this is 
happening and why these people are bothering him.
This is a film which is both genuinely scary and very funny. I 
recommend it highly.

Body Count: 42. (This is in chronological order, not the order in 
which they died in the movie). Twelve killed in the hospital massacre,
Johnny Bartlett (electric chair), Deb Bannister (if I told you that, 
it would spoil the surprise), 23 people we don't really know about, 
four more people, all of whom Bannister saw killed, the annoying FBI 
agent (shotgun in the head), and Patricia (soul pulled from her body).

Survivors who actually saw the monster: Frank, and maybe Lucy, but 
we can't be sure.

Classic Quote: Frank: You're dead. You can't smoke cigars.
Ghost: So you smoke the cigars and blow the smoke in my face.
Frank: If I smoked the cigars I'd blow my lunch in your face.

Overall Rating: 4.5 Blood Purity. All I can say is, Death to Garden 
Gnomes!!!

Well, that's The Frighteners. Until next week, this is Dannis Ken 
saying, "Sorry this has taken so long, but what a movie!"