12 Facts About The Frighteners

1.

The Frighteners is a 1996 supernatural comedy horror film directed by Peter Jackson and co-written with Fran Walsh.

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2.

The Frighteners tells the story of Frank Bannister, an architect who practices necromancy, developing psychic abilities allowing him to see, hear, and communicate with ghosts after his wife's murder.

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3.

The Frighteners initially uses his new abilities to befriend ghosts, whom he sends to haunt people so that he can charge them handsome fees for "exorcising" the ghosts.

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4.

This, plus the fact that The Frighteners required more digital effects shots than almost any movie made until that time, resulted in the eighteen-month period for effects work by Weta Digital being largely stressed.

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5.

The Frighteners's is attacked while visiting Frank in jail; but they escape with the help of Cyrus and Stuart, who are both dissolved in the process.

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6.

Visual effects supervisor Richard Taylor explained that effects work on The Frighteners was complex due to Weta's inexperience with computer technology in the mid-1990s.

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7.

The Frighteners ended up being a box office disappointment, mostly due to competition from Independence Day; in interviews conducted years after The Frighteners release, Jackson commented he was disappointed by Universal's ubiquitous marketing campaign, including a poster which "didn't tell you anything about the picture", which he believed was the primary reason the film was not a financial success.

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8.

The Frighteners is not immune to overkill, even though most of its characters are already dead.

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9.

The Frighteners received mixed reviews from critics from Jackson's native country, New Zealand.

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10.

Edward Guthmann of the San Francisco Chronicle stated that "instead of moving the horror genre in new directions, The Frighteners simply falls apart from its barrage of visual effects and the overmixed onslaught of Danny Elfman's music score".

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11.

The Frighteners was nominated for Best Horror Film, and for its Special Effects, Make-up and Music .

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12.

The Frighteners was first released on DVD in August 1998, but included no special features.

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