The Frighteners

Lord of the Rings would not have happened without The Frighteners.

In Peter Jackson's introduction to this DVD release, he notes how many computers and hard drives WETA ended up with after post-production on The Frighteners — going from just one machine to something like 35.  What to do with all that technology?

That set WETA up to be one of the few digital effects houses in the world that could handle something like the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  When they finished The Frighteners, that's what they were thinking, too.

This film marks Michael J. Fox's last starring role in a live-action motion picture.  Although he went on to lead voice-acting roles in the Stuart Little pictures and supporting roles in a couple films and various television shows, this is pretty much the end of Michael J. Fox's career as a bankable lead actor.  There's a certain peace to be found in watching this film.  Like the Back to the Future trilogy, he's forever young(er) here.

Peter Jackson's career was a blind spot for me prior to film school.  My old roommate Justin sat me down in the summer of 2000 and made me watch Dead-Alive and The Frighteners.  I remember noting distinct stylistic similarities between the two films.  We might have watched them on separate days — I can't recall.  Justin was always making me watch a movie, and even though we eventually lost touch, I owe a lot to that guy for pushing me into unfamiliar movies.

I pushed myself into watching this one again today.

Here's a film that depicts a spectral serial killer who kills the living by inflicting heart attacks — squeezing the life out of his victims.  When characters die, we see a light tunnel open above them, and their spectral selves emerge from their bodies, and they ascend.

Yeah, that's a little hard to watch right now.  Pretty much anything about death is hard to watch since losing Mom, but I'm going ahead anyway.  What's harder is not getting back to normal things, like spending a Sunday afternoon watching a silly movie and writing.