FRIGHTENERS, THE - HD DVD review

Peter Jackson's 1995 film "The Frighteners" was the director's cutting teeth on computer generated effects. His visual effects studio WETA began production on the film with one film dedicated to CGI technology. When the film's special effects were at the pinnacle of their production, WETA had over thirty dedicated machines for the film's computer effects. The director had made a name for himself with the low-budget horror films "Bad Taste" and "Braindead." Those campy classics found a solid cult following, but "The Frighteners" paved the way for Jackson's follow-ups, the three "Lord of the Rings" films and his remake of "King Kong." Before "The Frighteners," Jackson had made all of his effects the old-fashioned way and he was more Ray Harryhausen than he was George Lucas. His films were cheesy and they were gory. "The Frighteners" was more visual splendor and comedy and a definite class promotion in the school of big budget filmmaking.

Starring Michael J. Fox, "The Frighteners" was also Peter Jackson's first film with a major Hollywood star. Fox was still a big name around town and although he was more than five years removed from the successful "Back to the Future" films, the actor still had a dedicated following. Supporting Fox in the film was R. Lee Ermey, John Astin and Jake Busey. Not the most familiar cast and the supporting cast certainly did not help Fox out much by providing additional star power, but Peter Jackson's storytelling and direction step to the forefront and the fun and entertaining little film rises just above the levels of abysmal and morose. "The Frighteners" is a lesser "Ghostbusters" and "Casper" rolled into one mixture of film. The jokes are there and some of them easily incite laughter. Michael J. Fox and his spiritual friends can't command the screen like Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murry could, but his spiritual detective benefits from Fox's charm and job experience as Alex P. Keaton.

Fox is Frank Bannister, a former architect who suffered a horrible accident and lost his beloved wife after a heated argument. The accident left Fox a depressed life and a half-finished house that is slowly dismantled as firewood. It has also left him an ability to see into the spiritual world and interact with the dead. He makes a living by having three ghosts pose as poltergeists and then Bannister charges the unsuspecting victims of his con and removes the poltergeists from the targeted homes. Cyrus (Chi McBride), Stuart (Jim Fyfe) and the Judge (John Astin) are slowly eroding into ectoplasmic goo, but they spend their haunting time on Earth as Bannister's unhappy business partners. They want Bannister to finish the house, so they do not have to live in the exterior elements and want other improved living conditions, as they refuse to wholly accept the fact they are dead.

When Bannister is called to the home of Ray (Peter Dobson) and Lucy Lynskey (Trini Alvarado) to remove the poltergeists from their home, Bannister's hokey performance does not impress Ray, but Bannister sees an image of a number on Ray's forehead. The town has seen a great number of unnatural heart attacks over the years and the number 37 that appears on Ray's head is the first indication to Bannister that something spiritual is behind the string of deaths. The town had previously been the site of murder when Johnny Bartlett (Jake Busey) and Patricia Bradley (Dee Wallace) murdered twelve people in a hospital. Now, they are seeing people fall over at an increasing rate with crushed hearts and arteries. Bannister comes into contact with the evil spirit and he and his band of poltergeists must redirect their energies into solving the case and stopping the ghost that has earned the nickname of "Death."

The film moves along nicely and Peter Jackson's unusual sense of humor and visual stylings are readily apparent throughout the film. Having formerly seen "Braindead (Dead Alive)" and "Bad Taste," this film is a great departure from Jackson's early horror films. However, his knack for weaving a twisted and unusual story in a calm little New Zealand town is just as apparent in "The Frighteners" as it was when aliens attacked in "Bad Taste" and when zombies attacked in "Braindead." With CGI, Jackson had a new palette to work with and the ghastly effects, especially those that create the Judge, look good enough for a primitive CGI film. The physical effects provided a lot of the campiness of the two earlier films and to a degree, that campiness is lost with "The Frighteners." In a way, this can be considered a more mature effort by the director. In another way, this could be called a lesser attempt because of the inclusion of CGI.

I personally prefer "Bad Taste" and "Braindead" over "The Frighteners." There is no priest that kicks ass for the lord and there is no green soup feasting aliens hanging headfirst over a cliff. "The Frighteners" is far more serious than the elder pictures, but Peter Jackson had made his name by creating horribly fun films with garage made special effects and pinkish blood. However, if it were not for "The Frighteners," Peter Jackson would maybe never have been offered the directorial job for the three "Lord of the Rings" films and that would have been a travesty. This is a fun little film where Michael J. Fox stands alone as a star. The laughs aren't as thick and prevalent as Jackson's older films, but the fun factor is there. Fans of Peter Jackson are going to want to gobble this baby right up. This is a peculiar film that will be appreciated the most by the director's fans, although this movie has a better chance of securing a new audience than anything previously done by Peter Jackson.

Video:
"The Frighteners" is mastered using the VC-1 codec at the full 1080p resolution and with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The film is a very clean presentation of this dozen-year-old picture and although the level of detail is not as stunning as Universal's best efforts, "The Frighteners" is a very good offering from the studio. The picture features strong colors that hold up throughout the film's running time. The level of detail is consistently strong and numerous scenes have a slight three dimensional feel to them. There are a couple of scenes where the picture jitters for a few seconds, but aside from these rare instances, the picture is rock steady. The film is riddled with moments of film grain and a few flaws in the source materials can also be found by keen eyes. The CGI effects and ghostly images contained in the film hold up well under high definition. The haunted walls that exist in the film look very good as well. A number of older films have had their effects betrayed by the higher resolution, but "The Frighteners" has thus far stood the test of time.

Sound:
A very effective English Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 soundtrack is provided on the HD-DVD disc. With a number of very aggressive and enveloping sequences throughout the film, "The Frighteners" can be very pleasing with its potent Dolby mix. Highs and lows are both captured nicely by the transfer and perfectly rendered to the audience. The bass is never overly heavy, but when the .1 LFE channel is called upon, it does the job notably. Imaging across all channels is done very nicely. When Bannister and company must battle Death, the evil spectre can be heard moving across all channels and it is easy to look over your shoulder in the direction of the sound effects more than once throughout the film. Dialogue is clear throughout the film and easily intelligible, except for one or two high action moments where strong audible effects compete with vocals. They are not completely drowned out, but the aggressive soundtrack does make a couple lines a little more difficult to hear.

Extras:
"The Frighteners" on HD-DVD is a port of the 2005 standard definition DVD release. The disc contains fourteen minutes of footage that was not seen theatrically. Some of these films are minor, such as a moving chicken and Peter Jackson's cameo, but a number of longer scenes build characters with a little more depth. The film begins with A special introduction by director Peter Jackson. Jackson offers some historical facts on the making of the film and details why this film is of importance to him as a director and how the making of this film was beneficial for his large Hollywood productions. The director also takes part in an In-depth feature commentary. This was Peter Jackson's first running commentary and the director does a very good job. Interesting was Jackson's purposeful attempts at providing details that were not covered in the rather long documentary on the making of the film. Jackson is chatty and entertaining. As the inserted scenes appear, Jackson points them out and discusses their original removal. He also adds nice anecdotes on the making of the film.

The packaging lists only three supplemental materials. I had fully intended to post this review a day earlier, but I was not prepared for the sheer size of The Making of "The Frighteners" (3:45:35) documentary. Jackson had created this documentary for the LaserDisc market and had set out to create a grand documentary for LaserDiscs and had done so a couple of years before DVDs were available on market. This near four hour monster is just enormous. And, I am the kind of person that finds myself sitting through these making of documentaries in their entirety if they are good. This is easily one of the finest making of productions ever created. The film's executive director, Michael J. Fox and other stars and Peter Jackson routinely appear in the feature, which was filmed during production. This features an introduction by Peter Jackson and is presented in 4:3 full frame. Every topic under the sun is covered in this making of feature and after sitting down to this four hour film, a very true sense of knowing all there is to know about Peter Jackson's "The Frighteners" is had. Finally, the Theatrical Trailer ends the short, but very lengthy list of extras.

Closing Comments:
The biggest surprise for me was the massive making of documentary that is contained on this HD-DVD port of the 1995 standard definition DVD release. At four hours in length, this is chocked full of tidbits and details that adds value to the film itself. As for the film, "The Frighteners" is a fun-filled paranormal detective film starring Michael J. Fox. This is not ‘old school' Peter Jackson with insane amounts of campy gore and violence, but the director's trademark can be seen throughout the film. Michael J. Fox and the supporting cast are all good in the film and while this isn't one of the director's Academy Award winning films, it is not a dreadful experience, but pleasantly entertaining. The HD-DVD features a strong picture and sound. I place this film third behind "Bad Taste" and "Braindead," and it is a far cry from the more serious Hollywood epics that Jackson has made for the previous number of years. As mentioned before, the documentary contained on this disc is just awesome. That alone would be worth purchasing. This is a nice little package, although the film may not be for everybody. "The Frighteners" has Jackson's peculiar sense of humor, but lacks the cheesy fun of his older films.