The Michael J. Fox Database :: DVD Review :: The Frighteneres (Initial Release)

Text on Back of Package

In the sleepy little town of Fairwater, a monstrous evil has awankened...an evil so poerful, its reach extends beyond the grave. Director Peter Jackson and Executive Producer Robert Zemeckis unleash a riveting thriller with the most spectacular special effects this side of the hereafter.

For Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox), death is a great way to make a living: ridding haunted houses of their unwelcome "guests." But he's in cahoots with the very ghosts he promises to evict! It's the perfect scam...until Frank finds himself at the center of a dark mystery. A diabolical spirit is on a murderous rampage, and the whole town believes Frank is behind it.

Bosting music by Danny Elfman and co-starring Trini Alvarado, Jeffrey Combs and John Astin, this supernatural chiller is so fiendishly entertaining, it's scary!

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HOME :: DVD REVIEWS :: THE FRIGHTENERS (INITIAL RELEASE - DIRECTOR'S CUT COMING SOON)

GENERAL DISC INFORMATION

DISTRIBUTOR :: Universal
CASE TYPE :: Amray
BOOKLET :: 4 page booklet with chapter selections
RUNNING TIME :: 1 hour 50 minutes
ASPECT RATIO :: 2:35:1 - Anamorphic Widescreen
SOUND MIX :: Dolby Digital, 5.1 Surround, Dolby Surround
SPOKEN LANGUAGES :: English, Spanish and French
CAPTIONS/SUB-TITLES :: English and French
MENUS :: Film Stills
NAVIGATION :: Simple
PICTURE QUALITY :: Very Good

SPECIAL FEATURES

PRODUCTION NOTES (9 PAGES)
CAST AND FILMMAKERS
--Michael J. Fox as Frank Bannister (4 pages)
--Trini Alvarado as Lucy Lynskey (4 pages)
--Peter Dobson as Ray Lynskey (3 pages)
--John Astin as The Judge (6 pages)
--Dee Wallace Stone as Patricia Bradley (3 pages)
--Jeffrey Combs as Milton Dammers (3 pages)
--Jake Busey as Johnny Bartlett (4 pages)
--Chi McBride as Cyrus (2 pages)
--Directed by Peter Jackson (5 pages)
THEATRICAL TRAILER

WEBMASTER'S REVIEW :: WARNING -- POSSIBLE SPOILERS

The Frighteners is another one of those movies that gets continually overlooked by the general public. Unfortunately, Universal seems to have overlooked it in it's DVD production as well. A Special Edition of this film was released on LaserDisc with 15 extra minutes of footage and many other extra features. Universal decided to release the 'bare bones' version of the film on DVD.

I can only hope that they did so, planning to release the Special Edition later. I do have high hopes that this will happen since Peter Jackson is very much in the public eye now because of his success with The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

NOTE: The Director's Cut has now been released to DVD. Review coming soon!

ORDER THE FRIGHTENERS: DIRECTOR'S CUT Directed by Peter Jackson

But, for now, we're stuck with this version of the film. Fortunately, the print is nearly flawless, it's in widescreen and it's anamorphic. And it's still a great movie with or without extra features.

The features that it does have are all textual except for the theatrical trailer. The information contained is not extensive at all and basically boils down to watered-down filmographies of the main players and the director.

I hate to write such a negative DVD review of such a good movie. This is my personal favorite Michael J. Fox movie. Just remember that this review is of the DVD, not the movie. The movie is great and I recommend that everyone see it, especially Michael J. Fox, Peter Jackson and Jeffrey Combs fans. (That's me on all three counts.)