The Frighteners (1996)
Bless your heart Michael J. Fox. You've done so much and even after becoming ill you continue the fight and we love you.
This one is the only horror movie I know of that Michael appears in. He plays a former architect who, after a fatal car crash that takes the life of his wife, gains the ability to 'see ghosts'.
Depressed, broke, and unable to design anything anymore he decides on a new career: Assemble some willing ghosts together, have them 'haunt' people, then be hired to show up and get rid of them, using various fake gear that supposed detects their presence.
All goes.... well, miserably for Frank Bannister (Michael) until after conning yet another couple to 'exorcise' their poltergeists, he notices a number on the forehead of the husband. Not knowing what it could mean, he gets his 'ghosts', his money, and leaves.
The husband dies shortly after. As do other people on whose foreheads Frank again notices numbers - each one an increase from the last.
It is discovered that the ghost of a mass murderer Johnny Charles Bartlett (played with silliness by Jake Busey who you can't help but have fun watching) has come back because he has learned his murder 'record' has been broken and wants to be the one with the most bodies. His former girlfriend, Patricia, who was only 14 when she helped him and so was committed to a mental institution then house arrest (played demurely by Dee Wallace), seems at first to be tortured by his ghost and also to become one of his victims but things soon turn.
Frank also then learns it was actually Johnny who 'murdered' his wife - the car wreck didn't kill her. This Michael finally starts to remember, having been unable to remember anything about the accident before. Sure enough, his wife also had a number on her forehead as she died. The numbers on the foreheads of the victims are put there by Johnny as he keeps track of his 'kills'.
An FBI agent who is a supposed expert on cults (and a totally insane freak, sporting tattoos, scars of satanic symbols and other whacko stuff on his body) follows Frank around, hoping to expose him. This was the first movie I'd seen both Jake Busey and Jeffrey Combs (the FBI agent Milton Dammer) and have watched for both of them since then.
With terrific performances by the above, plus a role by John Astin as a very geriatric ghost, this movie tries to scare (it may to others, not me) and does have some very tense moments. The humor, however, is just as good and makes this a good choice for viewing.
An FBI agent who is a supposed expert on cults (and a totally insane freak, sporting tattoos, scars of satanic symbols and other whacko stuff on his body) follows Frank around, hoping to expose him. This was the first movie I'd seen both Jake Busey and Jeffrey Combs (the FBI agent Milton Dammer) and have watched for both of them since then.With terrific performances by the above, plus a role by John Astin as a very geriatric ghost, this movie tries to scare (it may to others, not me) and does have some very tense moments. The humor, however, is just as good and makes this a good choice for viewing.
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