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When the Behind the Scenes Pic of the Day’s jawbone drops off it’s time to reassess the situation.
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with today’s Behind the Scenes Pic!
I have very fond memories of seeing The Frighteners in the theater… actually, those fond memories reach back pre-release when that sweet poster was released. The Hobbit isn’t the first time a Peter Jackson movie got a cool lenticular poster. In theater lobbies The Frighteners poster had the face appear to push through the wallpaper.
While the CG in the movie is terribly dated that doesn’t distract much from the fantastic dark humor that permeates that film. Jeffrey Combs in particular is on another level in this film. It was also one of Michael J. Fox’s last hurrahs before he quasi-retired and announced his Parkinson’s. Fox’s personality is something I miss on the big screen and The Frighteners marks one of his last starring roles.
So, here’s Peter Jackson standing in front of the Frighteners house. Thanks once again to Pat Barnett.
If you have a behind the scenes shot you’d like to submit to this column, you can email me at quint@aintitcool.com.
Tomorrow’s pic shall not be named.
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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Click here to visit the complete compilation of previous Behind the Scenes images, Page Two
Readers Talkback
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First!
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I remember a field trip to the netherlands back in 1996 and I saw in a lobby of a movie theatre the trailer playing. I so wanted to watch it! But it just never got a release in Germany until suddenly sometime around 1998 one local theatre played a subtitled version of it. Apparently the movie got a VERY limited release over here. They didn't even bother with dubbing it. Anyway, despite suffering from a broken foot, I got on the bus during one of the hottest day of summer and fucking watched it. Man, I instantly loved that movie and told all my friends about it. I think it took another year, until it finally got its VHS release. I watched the shit out of it. Jake Busey is also one scary motherfucker in that movie!
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...the the version that I saw in theatres wasn't even dubbed! They just dumped the original version into a handful of German theatres back then!
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The Frighteners is an underrated movie. It has flaws but Fox's performance holds it together. The main problem it had was it never quite settled on it's tone - horror or comedy so it doesn't quite gel. It must've been pretty difficult to market as a result.
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...it was technically Universal's fault, that the CGI FX were so subpar, because they LOVED the movie too much! Originally it was supposed to start on Halloween, but after an early screening, they were sure that they had a summer blockbuster on their hands, so in the last minute they decided to release the movie during summer and Jackson had to rush some of the more complicated FX jobs to get ready in time.
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July 23, 2012, 4:41 a.m. CST
It's weird that over 15 years later...
by The_Guy_Who_Invented_Coca_Cola
...Jackson actually looks younger. <P> Anyway, I think the Frighteners is the only PJ film that I just don't "get." It's not in the splatstick class like Braindead, not epic like LotR, not drama like Heavenly Creatures. It's just... sort of there.
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Watched on VHS a lot here in the Netherlands, and was SO dissapointed when the DVD turned out to be the UK censored version only. Why can't we get any good older Jackson stuff on DVD here? The DVD of Braindead, my all-time favourite movie was so bad I had to return it to the shop. The picture quality was on par with my VideoCD, which is bad enough in itself, the sound was like a stretched cassette tape! Actually worse than the VCD! I have no shame in downloading proper versions when they make it impossible to buy the good stuff, but even the HD Braindead I found turned out to be the Dead Alive cut, and that's just not the movie I saw 25+ times.
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...were cutting edge for the time. Like most things that have been cutting edge, that edge blunts fairly quickly. The effects in The Frighteners still hold up rather well these days - there are other CG-laden films from the same era that have effects works worse than what is seen here. The work in The Frighteners paved the way for Jackson to make the Lord of the Rings saga, as money was paid out for a large bank of computers and Jackson wanted to put them to good use and make an FX-heavy fantasy. Whilst The Frighteners may seemt to be something of an oddity at that point in Jackson's career, it can be looked upon as a natural stepping stone between his earlier films and the big-budget blockbusters he makes now.
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July 23, 2012, 6:24 a.m. CST
A whole lot better than his godawful giant monkey movie.
by Simon Butler
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well, his first movie starring a hobbit
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Words to live by my friends, words to live by! And it was brilliant, one of the last films that had a sweet putrid smell of Braindead off of it, especially the setting, as it was also filmed in small town New Zealand. But it was/is a kick ass film, I saw it in the cinema back in the day and it rocked.
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July 23, 2012, 7:08 a.m. CST
Liked it when it came out, rewatched recently and though it was lame.
by Buck_Futt
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And I saw Event Horizon.
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July 23, 2012, 7:33 a.m. CST
Yeah, saw it in theatres opening day but this movie does not hold up.
by Autodidact
I tried to rent it like ten years ago and couldn't get through it.
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When you get older, you grow dead inside. There's no other explanation for people who no longer like this movie. It's such a fun, fast-paced film. What's wrong with you guys?
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July 23, 2012, 8:32 a.m. CST
I just watched it a few weeks agao and I didn;t think the effects aged that badly. i think it goes to show...
by JediRob
...if you have an entertaining movie stuff like that starts to fall to the wayside. Also, the effects are surreal and goofy. They didn't need to look REALLY real, so in the context they work.
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...who is Pat Barnett. He/She provides loads of BTS pics?
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...who is Pat Barnett. He/She provides loads of BTS pics?
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July 23, 2012, 8:36 a.m. CST
the glowing ghost effects were hokey to begin with, but the reaper and wall stuff hold up.
by zom-bot.com
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IT REMINDS ME OF HOW AWESOME MJ FOX WOULD HAVE CONTINUED TO BE AS A FILM ACTOR.
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July 23, 2012, 9:19 a.m. CST
Terrific film. Skilfully mixes the scares with the chuckles. Nice story too.
by Mr Nicholas
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Jake Busey is one scary mo-fo in it. Love the R Lee Ermy cameo as well. Great little flick.
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One of his underrated gifts as an actor was his flair for physical comedy, so it's deeply, bitterly ironic that he became afflicted with a disease that specifically robbed him of the precise physical control that he used to brilliant effect in movies like the Back To The Future trilogy or The Frighteners. Were it not for the Parkinson's, I could imagine that Fox would still be pretty spy to this day.
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July 23, 2012, 9:41 a.m. CST
From the headline i thought this was gonna be a pic from BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS
by Robert Evans
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July 23, 2012, 9:47 a.m. CST
When the behind the scenes pic of the day eats through his stomach staples it's time too..
by UltraTron
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- tonally it's all over the place, and Combs (though great) feels like he wandered in from a different film altogether, but all in all a very entertaining movie. And it's a career high for Jake Busey (which doesn't say much, but still...)
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talking about they couldn't 'get through' the movie. Buncha bitches in here. I like when Jawbone Ghost fucks the mummy and shoots up the joint with his ghost pistols. If you don't like that, fuck you.
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the only CG i think looks bad is when the ghost is in the wall and things, its why people bashed the Nightmare remake for its "wall scene" because it didn't look any better. but when its in the "reaper" form it still looks great. especially that shot when it comes through the mirror, the water effect there looks great. as for Parkinsons, this movie came a few years before he made that announcement. he said he was just tired of always being in other cities or countries making movies and not being near his family. so thats why he took the tv job, it let him still work while staying home. the show was meant to be filmed in LA but he told them do it in NYC or i'm out and they listened. ironically the same happened when Charlie Sheen took over, he said move it to LA or he's out. and thats why half the cast didn't return when he took over, they didn't wanna move. but yeah this is a great movie, i too saw it in theaters. that first 20-ish mins makes you worry with all the typical ghost shenanigans down to the usual VFX, it seems stupid but once it really kicks in, its great until the end.
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July 23, 2012, 11:10 a.m. CST
J. Fox has done well in television with two Emmy nominations, including a great role on Rescue Me.
by openthepodbaydoorshal
AND he's up for TWO more this year. So, yea, careerwise he's really hurting...
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What's the latest on The Haunted Mansion? Everything still cool with Peter and the mouse?
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THE FRIGHTENERS marked the beginning of Jackson's love affair with CGI, but it's pretty easy to forget that, before this, he executed a pretty crafty all-practical zombie flick with DEAD ALIVE, or, before that, made a movie entirely with Muppets with MEET THE FEEBLES. However, his most impressive achievement remains BAD TASTE, where, for about the same cost as hiring Sean Astin for FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, he managed to make a fairly awesome and original sci-fi splatter comedy where a HOUSE rolls up its front lawn and shoots off into space at the end, all without CGI or probably even blue-screen work.
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I really don't care for the first half of The Frighteners - the jokey tone seems forced, and Danny Elfman's music is far too cartoony. But as the film progresses the horror elements become much more prominent, and then it really takes off. And as many people mention, Combs is just fantastic, probably his best role. So anyone who feels like bailing on the film early, please be patient - it gets better.
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Too many good ideas and cool moments to dismiss, but the comedy doesn't really work and it doesn't quite all cohere. But the CGI was pretty damn good for its day, and let's not forget that the technical sophistication of this indigenous production no doubt went a long way toward convincing New Line just a few years later that this kooky director and his motley crew were capable of delivering The Lord of the Rings. (Fellowship is my favorite movie of all time).
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July 23, 2012, 3:22 p.m. CST
I remember being stunned at how empty the theatre was on opening weekend. No one saw this when it came out.
by skelly
I thought it was great then but it does not hold up as well as his other movies and I'm not sure why. Still, better than his King Kong.
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It does hearken back to the great old Peter Jackson, who made original movies with great characters and humor. I hope he gets to do more of that in the future. I love "Lord of the Rings" and am absolutely excited to see "The Hobbit", but I definitely miss old-school PJ. "Bad Taste", "Brain Dead/Dead Alive", and "The Frighteners" were all movies that felt like peeks into the creators' heads. It's not so much that I want him to return to horror (though that would be AWESOME) as much as that I would love to see some more stuff that feels like Peter Jackson just sat down and tapped out a script directly from his imagination.
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Loved this movie then, love it now and the lobby poster was fucking awesome! However the ending needed...more cowbell! ;)
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I tried to like it. I really tried, even broke a vein in my forehead and crapped my pants trying, but I failed.
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July 23, 2012, 9:03 p.m. CST
The gunslinger ghost was played by the original Gomez Adams, who happened to be the father of Sean Astin, the future Samwise Gamgee.
by Arcadian Del Sol
So even if you hate this film, it established a relationship that ultimately led to the perfect Samwise.
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...and the Director's Cut is what we saw in New Zealand. A lot of the film's zany-ness makes a lot more sense with the added 14 minutes of character development, back-story explanation and other stuff. Anyone who's seen the Extended Editions of LOTR can pretty much confirm that Jackson's writing suffers badly when its cut down for theatrical release: his creative decisions require a lot of explanations in the plot and he puts it in there (and then cuts it out). I think his director's cut of THE FRIGHTENERS, along with HEAVENLY CREATURES and his extended edition of FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING are easily his pedigree films.
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July 24, 2012, 8:14 p.m. CST
It amazes me that PJ made basically four movies to get the LOTR job.
by Autodidact
Brain Dead (DEAD ALIVE) Meet The Feebles Heavenly Creatures (1994) The Frighteners (1996) Apart from some obscure TV thing the next thing he directed was Fellowship of the Ring in 2001. Really amazing trajectory he set for himself considering the low profile.
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