The Frighteners (1996)

Episode 441, 2 Guys and a Chainsaw Horror Movie Review Podcast

Todd: Hello and welcome to another episode of Two Guys in a Chainsaw. I’m Todd.

Craig: And I’m Craig.

Todd: Well, we’re going back into the past this week for the gosh fourth installment now on our horror comedy month. This time, uh, you dug out, uh, one I had kind of forgotten about the Frighteners 1996 movie by Peter Jackson.

I was surprised to be reminded that this was the same year that Scream came out. Can you believe it? Oh, this and Scream in the same year. Wow. They, I know this came out in the summer. I don’t remember if Scream was a summer movie or not, but uh, I don’t remember either. But this is also Peter Jackson.

Before Peter Jackson was getting way in over his head on things I, I wouldn’t even say over his head. I mean, he pulled it off, but gosh, the Lord of the Rings took years off that guy’s life. 

Craig: Uhhuh. Oh yeah. But it also. Made him bazillions of dollars. Yeah. Right. Why so? 

Todd: Why does the guy bother making movies anymore?

Right? Like, uh, gosh, I remember, you know, when he was doing that, he was shooting all three movies at once and while he was shooting the second one, I think he was editing the first one and they were doing script rights on the third. And, uh, all this, you know, somebody’s interviewing him while he’s on a plane doing all this, and he is like, I would not recommend doing this.

Like, yeah, never again am I gonna try to shoot three gigantic movies all at once. 

Craig: Well, that was crazy. I mean, it was, I think that it was brilliant. I think that it was the way to do it. You get everybody committed, you go and you just get it all done. I, I, I think that it was, but I, I. Can’t begin to imagine how taxing that was for everybody involved.

Yeah. And Michael J. Fox, the star of this movie. This movie I believe was also filmed in New Zealand. This is the movie that made Michael J. Fox say, no, I’m not doing this. I’m done. I’m not, I’m not gonna be away from my family for these extended periods of time. So he went back to TV and had. Great success.

Yeah. But you know, it’s, it’s, it’s fun that he’s in this it, Peter Jackson, you know, I picked this movie ’cause I was trying to think of horror comedies that I liked or that I didn’t remember very well and wanted to return to. And this was kind of one of those, I, a big draw for me was D Wallace. I love her.

And we don’t talk about her enough, in my opinion. I, well, we 

Todd: talk about her an awful lot too.

You tried to get her on the show once. 

Craig: It was a big, it was a big draw for me. We’ve never really talked about Michael J. Fox, I don’t think. 

Clip: No. 

Craig: And he’s great. And such kind of like a cultural touchstone of our generation. So that was a draw to, frankly, I had forgotten that Peter Jackson directed it until you reminded me.

Hmm. And, and going back and looking at it again. I think that it’s. It’s obvious. It’s very Peter Jackson. Yeah. For 

Todd: Peter 

Craig: Jackson. But this is before the whole Lord of the Ring Saga. And then I haven’t watched the Hobbit movies. I’ve heard they’re not as good. Oh God. But that makes sense ’cause they had to film them kind of quickly.

And it, correct me if I’m wrong, I’ll feel really stupid. But he also did the King Kong remake. Yep. Correct. Yep, he did. 

Todd: Mm-hmm. 

Craig: I loved that movie. I think it has its critics. I absolutely loved it. I saw it in the theater and it was the end when King Kong is up on the Empire State Building or whatever, like I, I was dizzy and scared and I, and I knew it was going to happen, but.

That final scene between that computer generated ape and Naomi Watts, I was fucking weeping. Wow. Wow. Like I was 

Clip: just 

Craig: bawling and I thought that that movie was beautiful and really super well made. And so I love that. But this is before all that, and honestly, my favorite Peter Jackson movie is Heavenly Creatures.

Mm. Have you seen it? You know what? Oddly enough I have not. Oh my God, Todd. It is so good. It’s like a true crime story, right? Uhhuh. It stars Melanie Linsky and Kate Winsley. Mm. As these two teenage girls, and it’s a true crime movie about something that happened in New Zealand, I believe, where these two teenage girls, I don’t know how much of it was fictionalized or sensationalized, but they form a very, very close friendship that kind of develops into a little bit more than a friendship, and then they conspire in the murder of one of their mothers.

It was the first time I had ever seen Melanie Linsky, who has gone on to be. A prolific and very successful actress who I am, a huge, huge fan of, and of course, Kate Winslet pre Titanic. Yeah, and it’s understated and I’m sure it was shot on a low budget and it’s dark and, and so well acted and so compelling.

The Frighteners is great. And I really like it, and I’m gonna say good things about it, though I do have some conflicting feelings, but I super, super recommend Heavenly Creatures. It’s not a horror film, but it’s dark and I think you’ll really like it. 

Todd: Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody says great things about Heavenly Creatures, and I think Heavenly Creatures is the movie that really turned a lot of Hollywood people onto Peter Jackson.

And you know, when you read about it, it seems like a lot of people agreed to work on this movie because they admired Heavenly Creatures so much. I may be wrong in my recollection, but wasn’t it at least nominated for some Academy Awards? I 

Craig: don’t kno