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The Frighteners: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''"Death ain't no way to make a livin'!"''|'''The Judge'''}}
A ''brilliant'' [[The Nineties|1996]] horror/comedy film from [[Peter Jackson]], director of ''[[The Lord of the Rings (
[[Michael J. Fox]] is Frank Bannister, a fraudulent [[Who You Gonna Call?|freelance exorcist]] who's not ''quite'' as fraudulent as he appears. Having acquired the ability to [[I See Dead People|see and communicate with the dead]] after a tragic car accident that killed his wife years ago, Frank sends his three ghostly accomplices -- white n' nerdy Stuart, black swinger Cyrus and cowboy corpse The Judge -- to wreak paranormal havoc at the homes of wealthy clients-to-be. These people call Frank, he shows up to perform a phony exorcism, then leaves with the cash. He's the world's greatest con man...until dozens of perfectly healthy people in his hometown of Fairwater, Maine start dropping dead from cardiac arrest -- the very ''same'' people who suddenly acquired numbered tattoos on their foreheads that only Frank can see.
Soon after one of these victims, Ray Lynskey (Peter Dobson), becomes a ghost and pleads Frank to help him find his way toward [[Go Into the Light|The Light]], Frank and his undead buddies discover the cause of the phenomenon: A malicious spirit in the form of [[The Grim Reaper]] ([[Sinister Scythe|scythe]] and all) has gone on a mad killing spree, literally squeezing the life from his victims' hearts. And not only that, it appears he has the ability to [[Deader Than Dead|even kill ghosts]] by forcing them to move on to the next world. Frank and Dr. [[Love Interest|Lucy Lynskey]] (Trini Alvarado), Ray's widow, hatch a radical plan to put an end to the murders, but along the way, they must deal with Milton Dammers ([[Jeffrey Combs]]), a maniacal FBI agent (basically a cross between [[The X
{{tropelist}}
* [[Abandoned Hospital]]: The finale, {{spoiler|the site of the killers' original rampage}}.
* [[Adam Westing]]: [[R. Lee Ermey]] as himself.
* [[Adrenaline Makeover]]
* [[Agent Mulder]]: Dammers is somehow convinced that Frank is using his powers to kill people by stopping their hearts and then summons an image of [[The Grim Reaper]] to absolve himself of guilt.
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* [[Arbitrary Skepticism]]: The rich lady who's Frank's second attempted on-screen con. Despite having witnessed, first-hand and not ten minutes before, things flying through the air (including her child) with no explanation, she immediately disbelieves the moment she sees a newspaper headline calling Frank a fraud.
** Exactly. Calling ''Frank'' a fraud. She likely still believes her house is haunted but doesn't believe that ''this'' guy can help her.
* [[Ascend to
* [[Ashes to Crashes]]: {{spoiler|[[Defective Detective|Dammers]] dumps out Bartlett's ashes on purpose to get Frank's goat, not realizing he just let the [[Big Bad]] out to play}}.
* [[Asshole Victim]]: Madga Rees-Jones, the reporter that seems to have it out for Frank. If she hadn't been so eager to believe the absolute worst of him (and to get shrill and aggressive about it), she might have survived. Well, at least a little longer. Her desire to be a bitch is such that even as she realizes she's dead and is [[Ascend to
* [[Ax Crazy]]: Dammers, {{spoiler|Patricia and Bartlett}}.
* [[Back From the Dead]]: {{spoiler|Frank}}, twice throughout the film.
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* [[Body Count Competition]]: {{spoiler|Barlett's motive, one he feels about so strongly that he [[Ghostly Goals|came back from the dead to continue]].}}
* [[Body Horror]]: Happens to ghosts the longer they stay on the physical plane. Ray had only been dead a day or so before his skin started to decay. The Judge has been a ghost so long his ghostly body is literally falling apart and he's gone slightly insane. It's generally played for laughs.
* [[By the Eyes of
* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: {{spoiler|Frank's utility knife}}.
* [[Creator Cameo]]: In a director's cut scene, Frank bumps into a random hoodlum played by [[Peter Jackson]].
* [[Creepy Doll]]
* [[Cursed
* [[Dead Ex Machina]]
* [[Deader Than Dead]]: The "[[The Grim Reaper|Grim Reaper]]" can kill people down to their souls, though all this does is force them to move on.
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* [[Go Into the Light]]: {{spoiler|When Frank meets up with his wife in [[Heaven]], he considers staying but his wife convinces him to continue living}}.
* [[The Grim Reaper]]: The ghostly murderer {{spoiler|who is actually [[Serial Killer]] Johnny Bartlett, implied to be abusing his newfound powers in the role for the [[For the Evulz|sole pleasure of killing people]] and [[Body Count Competition|scoring a bigger body count]]}}.
* [[Guns Akimbo]]: {{spoiler|Frank, in his ghostly form, wields two assault rifles to fight the Grim Reaper with (which had previously belonged to a ghostly [[R. Lee Ermey]])}}.
* [[The Gunslinger]]: The Judge.
* [[Happily Ever After]]: {{spoiler|Frank and Lucy get together in the end}}.
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* [[Jacob Marley Apparel]]: [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] and lamented by Cyrus, who is stuck in horrible clothes he [[Incredibly Lame Pun|wouldn't be caught dead in]]. But {{spoiler|after being killed by the "[[The Grim Reaper|Grim Reaper]]" and going to [[Heaven]], he gets some nifty new threads}}.
* [[Jerk Jock]]: Ray.
* [[Jerk
* [[Karmic Death]]: {{spoiler|Dammers, who had been hounding Frank throughout the film,}} gets blasted in the gut with {{spoiler|Patricia's}} shotgun. Several takes of his death were made, including one in which [[Boom! Headshot!|his head]] [[Your Head Asplode|is blown off]].
** {{spoiler|Bartlett and Patricia}} meet a gruesome "end" when they {{spoiler|take the ''express'' bus to Hell}}.
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** {{spoiler|The souls of good people can still go to [[Heaven]] even if they're "killed" by Bartlett}}.
* [[Scare Chord]]
* [[Sealed Evil in
* [[Sinister Scythe]]: To match the [[The Grim Reaper|Grim Reaper]] getup.
* [[Those Two Guys]]: Cyrus and Stuart.
* [[Trauma-Induced Amnesia]]: After his wife's death, Frank was found wandering around in the woods with no memory of what happened.
* [[What Could Have Been]]: The movie was originally going to be a ''[[Tales
** A whole character, the gatekeeper, was deleted from the movie. He was supposed to be a 6 foot cherub and function as a sidekick to R. Lee Ermey, but all remnants of him was removed completely from the movie, when it was realised that his character, besides being superfluous, didn't really make a lick of sense, within the universe of the movie.
* [[What Happened to
* [[Who You Gonna Call?]]: Frank Bannister, "freelance exorcist"!
* [[Worm Sign]]
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