‘The Frighteners’ at 30: The Cast on a Cult Classic That Refused to Die [Video]

Most fans know Peter Jackson from his Lord of the Rings and Hobbit film fame, but I’m here as a massive fan of his early, outrageously gory horror film roots. That’s right, I’m talking about Jackson’s forgotten, wildly underappreciated horror comedy, The Frighteners, which just so happens to be celebrating its 30th anniversary, so let’s dig in!

The Frighteners tells the story of Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox), a widowed architect who gains the ability to see and communicate with ghosts. Teaming up with his spectral pals, The Judge (John Astin), Cyrus (Chi McBride), and Stuart (Jim Fyfe), he runs a phony exorcism business—until a deadly supernatural force emerges, threatening both him and his town.

Hot off their success with critically acclaimed subversive thriller Heavenly Creatures, husband-and-wife power team Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh wrote a story treatment that eventually made its way to mega director/producer Robert Zemeckis’s desk. Impressed, Zemeckis hired the couple to write a script as a potential spin-off for HBO’s popular Tales from the Crypt series.

When Zemeckis read the script, he thought The Frighteners‘ broad ideas and extensive visual effects had enough legs to stand as a stand-alone feature rather than as part of an anthology. Zemeckis stepped aside to produce, and Jackson jumped into the director’s chair.

At this point, Jackson had built a successful career in New Zealand, writing and directing low-budget indie gore-tastic horror films such as Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles, and Dead Alive. Jackson had cultivated a dedicated local crew working at his small effects company, Wētā Workshop, which focused on practical makeup and creature effects, and Wētā Digital (now known as Wētā FX), which handled VFX.

Against Universal Studios’ wishes, Jackson shot The Frighteners in New Zealand with his trusted local team rather than in the States, although he used American actors and found “American-looking” locations. His plan proved gold as it kept Hollywood’s pesky studio set visits and idiotic notes at a distance– which, according to Jackson, was also greatly helped by producer Zemeckis, who shielded them from interference during their grueling 26-week production marathon, plagued by on-set emergencies like the DP getting in a major car crash and star Michael J. Fox seriously injuring his foot in a forest night shoot.