The Frighteners Synopsis & Summary

Synopsis

Charlatan Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox) has genuine psychic powers, but he doesn't use them to help people. Rather, he generates cases for his supernatural private-eye firm by harassing a group of hapless ghosts (including a dearly departed Wild West outlaw and an undead judge played by John Astin) into staging hauntings and poltergeists in the homes of likely marks. Bannister's world turns on its head when he starts noticing real hauntings around town -- ghostly assassinations that seem to be tied to the execution 20 years earlier of a brutal serial killer. Lucy Lunskey (Trini Alvarado), the wife of one unlucky victim, teams up with Bannister to get to the bottom of the killings and find out what shut-in Patricia Bradley (Dee Wallace Stone) and her witchy mother (Julia McCarthy) have to do with the sinister spree. - Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Movie Info

Starring:
Michael J. Fox, Trini Alvarado, Peter Dobson, John Astin, Jeffrey Combs
Theatrical Release Date:
07/19/1996
DVD Release Date:
08/18/1998
Rating:
R
MPAA Reasons:
for terror/violence.
Run Time:
109 min.
Director(s):
Peter Jackson
Genre(s):
Comedy, Horror
Themes:
Haunted By the Past, Unlikely Heroes, Cons and Scams, Psychic Abilities, Ghosts
Tone:
Gruesome, Eerie, Goofy, Atmospheric, Whimsical, Stylized
Keywords:
ESP (Extra Sensory Perception), afterlife, con/scam, death, ghost, haunted, investigator, killing-spree, mass-murder, paranormal, poltergeist, psychic, serial-killer, supernatural, supernatural-forces
Language:
English
Status:
DVD

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