The Frighteners (1996) First Time Watching! Movie Reaction!

[@afroahmed3989]

This movie is the definition of "Underrated" .

[@Tylerdavasel]

This comment right here.

[@Bensonders]

Totally agree! And its not only underrated, hardly anyone even knows of it! I've shown this movie to so many people and basically everyone liked it and wondered why they had never heard of it.

[@zmarko]

100%!!

[@hadoken95]

yea it's a really good one, and the only reason I knew Peter Jackson before LOTR

[@thereviewartistrrp5493]

Hell yeah. No one ever talks about it.

[@wormskull2454]

The FBI guy is Jeffery Combs, an iconic actor from many amazing horror movies: Re-Animator, From Beyond, Castle Freak, etc.

[@Bfdidc]

He’s like a deranged Fox Mulder.

[@andrewmize823]

Combs is great at playing weirdos.

[@TheMarcHicks]

He was also a staple of Star Teek: Deep Space Nine.

[@abramsullivan7764]

Jeffrey Combs also voice Jonathan Crane aka Scarecrow in The New Adventure Of Batman.

[@rocketdave719]

​@@abramsullivan7764 He also voiced The Question in JLU.

[@JonathanStein-kr6qd]

This movie really is criminally underrated

[@ModernCowboy78]

Damn straight!

[@iceman10129]

Especially in the Michael conversation. Certainly one of his best films that never gets brought up.

[@LBullockPW]

Honestly you two were laughing a lot considering you don’t think it’s a comedy. 😂

[@elcorado83]

sadly i suspect its the youtube disease of pretending you didnt laugh at non-woke things or jokes that are seen as 'risque' today....!

[@Cadinho93]

When Peter Jackson started making this he knew the CGI needed for the ghost was going to be important, so he sunk a lot of time and effort into building the group to do it, that group is now known as Weta Digital and have done work on everything, "The Lord of the Rings" to the "Marvel" movies and considered to be one of the best groups in the business. Also, this movie is criminally underrated. It's a great mix of thrills and laughs.

[@MatthewMortensen1]

The FBI agent is Jeffrey Combs. He's old school horror royalty. Re-animator, From Beyond, Castle Freak. He also played multiple characters in multiple Star Trek shows.

[@44excalibur]

The Frighteners was Peter Jackson's first major Hollywood production, filmed on location is his native New Zealand, and the film that led to him directing The Lord of the Rings.

[@gothnate]

Stir of Echoes is a really good one from this era, too!

[@susanalexander6721]

Love it!

[@annmariemills1554]

"The Secret of My Success" is one of my favorite Michael J. Fox movies. Not only does it have MJF it has a killer soundtrack💕💕

[@t.r.a.pterminatorrobocopal6885]

"The Secret of My Success" ?.......really? it's ok but Really!

[@mosulmosel]

I really like The Secret of My Success. My favorite after the Back to the Future Movies.

Walking on Sunshine...

[@isitafox]

One of my favourites too, I'm a sucker for a proper cheesy 80's movie

[@robertstuart480]

This movie rules! Glad y'all are watching it.

[@santiagohardy2728]

I must say, Dee Wallace really convinced me she was a menacing psycho. She absolutely NAILED that performance.

[@anthonymunn8633]

She did,considering her husband died of a heart attack midway through the filming.

[@anubis66678]

She was SO GOOD! I saw this during its theatrical release, and SO many times from DVD to Blu-ray to 4K, and I only *just* learned/noticed it was Dee Wallace!

[@augustcanyon3438]

Dee is amazing and an underrated actress.

[@santiagohardy2728]

@@anthonymunn8633 Woah. I had no idea.

[@santiagohardy2728]

@@augustcanyon3438 🎯100%.

[@DrTedNelson]

30:56 "oh noooo" - when I saw this opening weekend in the theater, the entire audience basically shouted the same thing at that part. Such a great movie!

[@briantology_reacts]

First watched this on VHS the day it was available for rental. Proudly own the Blu-ray. Love this movie!

[@xtheregulator42x]

so the judge is played by John Astin, who was the first to play Gomez Addams in the Addams Family (tv series) in the 60s and hes also the only one from that cast still alive today

[@geoffreyfyfe2248]

Also the father of Sean Astin, who Jackson would later cast as Sam in the LOTR trilogy.

[@rhysthomas5811]

Also Staring R Lee Ermey Jake Busey Melanie Lynskey

[@mrfomo217]

@@geoffreyfyfe2248 Adoptive father, if one wants to be nit-picky.

[@gustonzimasheen]

17:18: I love that you kept this in the edit. Mishearing a "4 inch slab of concrete" to become a "4 foot Basketball court". You guys crack me up so much I love it!!

[@totallytomanimation]

The Judge is played by John Astin, father of Sean Astin who played Sam Wise in LOTR, also directed by Jackson.

[@devodavis6747]

Also Gomez Addams!

[@juliangrant9718]

Not by blood. It was just recently revealed who his real father is. I never thought he looked like John Astin. Sean looks like his real father.

[@totallytomanimation]

@@juliangrant9718 But Sean will tell you that John is his dad.

[@juliangrant9718]

@@totallytomanimation for sure

[@DanielSSilva-616-]

Nice to see so many reactors (re)discovering this gem. A lot of what Peter Jackson would use in the LOTR he tried in this movie first, especially with the Nazgul. This too has one of the best bloopers in movies where Michael J. Fox would constantly yell "Doc!" instead of the actual character's name.

[@TheJohhnyE]

You can also see how the ghosts are done similar to the ghosts in Return of the King.

[@kennethwilliams7731]

If you watch yourselves in playback,you both did laugh several times! I really enjoyed this film. If you watch early Peter Jackson,this type of violence,gore and comedy is his forte.

[@FilthTribeFTP]

They don't need to, lol... Did you not finish the movie recap after the reaction? They literally acknowledge this and mention that while they did indeed laugh quite a few times, they still didn't consider it a "comedy" first.

[@Whitebrowpriest]

9:40 - The actor who plays this ghost (Judge) is John Astin, who also played the character 'Gomez' in the original TV series, "The Addams Family" (1964-1966).

[@beerboybrews]

And is also Sean Astin's stepfather!

[@paulpolpiboon9535]

Since TBR and Samantha are big fans of Bruce Campbell in Army of Darkness, they outghta watch the Tv series of Bruce Campbell called "Brisco County Jr.", a few episodes John Astin plays a re occurring character. He was cool in there too

[@revengeneutral8164]

"What the F*** did we watch?" There's The Frighteners reaction. I remember turning to my brother in the theater back in '96 and asking the very same question.

[@vandalfinnicus1507]

Forgotten Michael J. Fox mvie from 1991, The Hard Way. It's a really entertaining buddy cop movie, that's also part parody of the genre.

[@t.r.a.pterminatorrobocopal6885]

The Hard way Part Parody? Hummmmm not sure bout that?!!!

[@Just-Saiyan]

"Greedy" & "Doc Hollywood" are pretty good Michael J. Fox movies.

[@t.r.a.pterminatorrobocopal6885]

Both Great movie's but "the Hard way" kills it!

[@Yoda_81843]

How dare you not mention Teen Wolf!

[@devynjohnson317]

Greedy and Teen Wolf are my favorites

[@susanliltz3875]

The woman that was “too young “and the house was trying to get her, she’s the mom in the movie.”E.T.”, she’s also in the movie “Cujo” .

[@d0gu67]

And 'The Howling'

[@patrickflanagan3762]

Dammers was a lunatic, but he genuinely thought that Bannister had killed all of Bartlett's victims. He was trying to stop what he thought was a psychic serial killer, he just didn't care who else got in the way. I think the ghosts helping Bannister were just bored. Following Frank around let them leave the cemetery apparently.

[@davidpumpkinsjr.5108]

I always figured that the ghost CAN leave the cemetery, but R. Lee Ermey's character keeps them from wandering off.

[@Averagedrum]

In Spain they branded this as a children movie and translated the tittle to “catch me those ghosts”. I will never forget the faces of the parents pulling his terrorized kids from the cinema 😂😂 I love this movie.

[@umbrellacorp5562]

So, interesting fact about the Judge. In the theatrical version, he's taken out in the museum. However, in the novelization, as well as the deleted scenes on the special edition dvd/blu ray, he appears just after getting cut in half, to help Frank, as well as in the cemetery later on to help once more. Then again in the ending scene, after everything has gone down. I really wish they had kept him in longer, but their reason for not showing those in the rest of the movie are because they thought the Judge having that kind of handicap didn't contrast well with the rest of the action, and the special effect/technical aspects of having a half ghost was challenging. Still, it is very much worth getting a copy of the special edition to watch those scenes.

[@susanliltz3875]

Dee Wallace Stone was the mom in the movie “E.T. The extra terrestrial “ She’s also in the movie “CUJO”based on a Steven King story!!

[@susanalexander6721]

Don forget The Howling!

[@tarafied7322]

Always loved this movie. Glad you guys got around to it this spooky season.

[@Nay-kp6uu]

I love this movie. No one talks about, rarely. But it always stuck with me

[@nightking0130]

Jeffrey Combs as milton was great in this. He plays a villain so well

[@earnestmb2]

Combs is always fun.

[@benrositas8068]

I wouldn't say he's a _villain,_ since the reaper ghost and his gf are the baddies in the story. Dammers is just an a hole! 🤣

[@nightking0130]

@@benrositas8068 yeah just a douche is more like it.

[@sugarymushroom]

I can't tell you how long I've been waiting for my favorite movie reaction channel to finally watch this movie. It's one of my favorite movies of all time.

[@atroll109]

A couple of fun facts about this movie. This film was the second to last live action film that Michael J. Fox starred in. The other fact was that Peter Jackson had brought on quite a few computers in order to sufficiently make the CGI effects used in The Frighteners. However, he did not use quite a few of them. So he then decided to do the Lord of the Rings franchise in order to make use of those computers.

[@ronnievenema5495]

By far, one of my favorites! So glad you're watching this underrated gem!

[@ghettomerman_01]

"Fun" Fact: When the killer is coming out of court, he shouts something like "I got one more than Starkweather." Referring to Charles Starkweather...A mass murderer who inspired movies like Natural Born Killers. I know the Starkweather family and when to high school with his niece. Crazy.

[@knowledge-girl]

Johnny Bartlett and Patricia were inspired by Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate.

[@Protoman85]

and the foreigner who did 50+ must have been Chikatilo?

[@ryanmuaddib]

Yay!! Love The Frighteners.

[@Milosh111]

"That was some crazy shit." And for the more of that you should try the rest of the Peter Jackson great filmography before The Frighteners...

[@slugerama]

This movie was banned in Tasmania at time of release. It was released about 1 year after the Port Arthur massacre that saw 35 people murdered and around 20 plus injured by a lone gunman. The killer is rotting in jail and looks eerilie similar to the killer in this movie.

[@benrositas8068]

I'm going ti look into that. If true... wow!

[@michaelwardle7633]

I like all the connections in the production design to Braindead/Dead Alive, which I consider to be Jackson’s crowning achievement.

[@oneopinion6806]

Really enjoy this movie. Given the age their use of CGI is pretty limited in textures, but the hospital transition scenes still hold up quite well!

[@blakemeads9225]

Jeffery Combs’ performance alone makes this movie worth watching. He’s completely unhinged 😂

[@MrBoz1968]

This is such a great movie. So full of great ideas and really well developed and delivered. Love it.

[@misterkite]

I've been waiting years for people to react to this, and this year all of a sudden several did.. yay.

[@tkopp10976]

LOOOOOVE this movie. Jeffrey Combs just kills it. His "I knew Charlie" scene makes you really understand why he is so weird, unfortunately that's in the directors cut. R. Lee Ermey was a great get as well.

[@NerdChronic]

Great pick for this month. This was one of my first horror films I loved growing up. Looking back, I think it's a little too intense for an entry level horror film lol.

[@simonfrederiksen104]

21:57 Those random chills is when ghosts are near you - Happens a lot with The Frighteners (1996) - Ghosts love that movie - There are probably 3 or 4 behind and beside you watching the flick

[@-M0LE]

I’ve had them though out this reaction and live in a house built in 17xx

[@doctorvondoom5797]

Fun Fact: this movie and from dusk till dawn were originally supposed to be Tales From The Crypt movies

[@stsolomon618]

This is such a fun movie.

[@cocosinha]

Grat reaction as always!! Thank you!! Apologies to all that have come before me and stated thusly regarding Michael J. Fox movie suggestions - my personal favourites: - Secret of My Success - Doc Hollywood - The Hard Way - Bright Lights Big City - Teen Wolf

[@user-yf3oz3rn5b]

You should watch Heavenly Creatures, the film that got Peter Jackson noticed internationally and basically kick-started Kate Winslet's career. Danny Elfman wanted to work with Jackson because of this film as well.

[@gregwodzynski941]

And Melanie lynskey

[@soulstealer82]

this is one of my all time favs. another fav michael j fox movie ii liked was The Hard Way

[@troy34bronze]

To think someone saw this movie and said to themselves “Peter Jackson could do Lord of the Rings”

[@adrianonhilton]

It was Meet the Feebles, and Braindead that convinced them

[@MrFox-wn5jt]

@@adrianonhilton Lol, really!? Meet the Feebles convinced New Line that Peter Jackson should direct Lord of the Rings? That is one HELL of a leap lol.

[@adrianonhilton]

@@MrFox-wn5jt Of course. Meet the Feebles is a cinematic work of art.

[@MrFox-wn5jt]

@@adrianonhilton It's definitely... something. I think it's great, but going from an LSD-induced psychotic muppet-musical to three cinematic masterpieces is... mind-blowing, lol.

[@godzillaprime]

@MrFox-wn5jt are you like okay?

[@MaxArch]

this movie was a blast back than, I remember watching it on vhs tape. + the lead female actor Trini alvarado with her curly hair, gorgeous ! one of my childhood crush. 😄

[@agarven1]

A very underrated movie for Michael J Fox is called The Hardway. You both would love that film and James Woods is in it. He is very funny in the film

[@t.r.a.pterminatorrobocopal6885]

The Hard way ROCKS!!!!

[@agarven1]

@@t.r.a.pterminatorrobocopal6885 it does and I just watched it about a month ago

[@agarven1]

@@t.r.a.pterminatorrobocopal6885 The Hard way does Rock and i agree. I watched it about a month ago in years since I seen it. James Woods is so funny in the film

[@auckalukaum]

This is the movie that got LotR made. Peter Jackson had been a low budget horror director in New Zealand. You should check out some of that stuff if you think this is weird. New Line Cinema backed him with studio money to make this movie, the first time he was given a full budget movie. New Line was pleased enough by The Frighteners that they hired Jackson to adapt Lord of the Rings.

[@DVDNewsFlash]

Jeffrey Combs played Agent Milton Dammers. He's famous in horror movie circles for playing mad scientist Herbert West in RE-ANIMATOR (1985), BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR (1990) and BEYOND RE-ANIMATOR (2003). He was also in FROM BEYOND (1986), but he wasn't Herbert West in that flick, it's just a different adaptation of another story by H.P. Lovecraft, which the RE-ANIMATOR flicks are also based on.

[@-M0LE]

Oh I’m so glad you guys did this too I’ve been bugging people so much for reaction to this Sfx still looks great

[@maingate7672]

''The Judge'' is played by John Astin, father of Sean Astin and the original ''Gomez Addams''!

[@stevenmoules4955]

Idle hands (1999) starring devon sawa is worth checking out!

[@t.r.a.pterminatorrobocopal6885]

No it's not.

[@stevenmoules4955]

Yes it is

[@StardustandMadness]

Wow! Kudos to you two, you’re the only reactors so far who have caught that Jake’s character killed 12 people and carved the numbers in their foreheads, and that he was the one who was killing people now, continuing his ‘work’! I love love love this movie!! Jake Busey is terrifying and hilarious at the same time. The supporting cast is excellent too - Chi McBride, John Astin, R. Lee Emmy, Jim Fyfe, Jeffrey Combs, Dee Wallace Stone, AND if you blink you’ll miss her, but Melanie Lynskey, one of Peter Jackson’s original darlings, is one of the deputies.

[@Whitebrowpriest]

16:19 - That creepy guy is legendary horror film actor, Jeffrey Combs. He's in some great horror flicks including, "The Re-Animator", "From Beyond", "Beyond Re-Animator".

[@Whitebrowpriest]

I used to love watching this movie! One of my favorite horror/comedies.

[@umbrellacorp5562]

One of the reasons the tone of the movie is all over the map is because it was originally written as an episode of Tales From the Crypt, but a producer thought it would work better as unrelated movie.

[@rosanajaquez3274]

It’s so great to see reactors rediscovering this gem of a film. I saw it when it originally came out and have been a Jackson fan ever since. In terms of great Michael J. Fox movies, “Secret of my Success”, “Bright Lights, Big City” and “Light of Day” are all great. Thanks for another great reaction! ❤❤

[@matthewhogan180]

Monster Squad getting that few votes is criminal

[@cbobwhite5768]

I know a fun horror/comedy you've never heard of. It stars Bruce Campbell. It's, "Bubba Ho-Tep".

[@Rocket1377]

Great movie. Way better than the Frighteners.

[@xtremejay2000]

"I can lube my own crankshaft!"

[@Yoda_81843]

I LOVE this film!! I was so excited when you mentioned this in your community post! Nobody reacts to this underrated film. Well done you two! 👍🏼

[@xtremejay2000]

They didn't before. this is the Third channel I have seen react to it this month.

[@scottythedawg]

This is one of my favourite light hearted ghost movies. All the actors playing villains were great, Jeff Combs especially. Totally underrated and deserves more plays.

[@6sKi6z6]

Special Agent Danvers steals the show in this movie. Jeffrey Combs always plays eccentric characters, but this is especially over the top in the best way possible.

[@SFOlson]

I think that his movie is so much fun, and it is connected to An American Werewolf in London through Rick Baker, the makeup effects artist, who did the physical makeup effects in both movies. Another movie that he did the makeup effects on that I think you should check out sometime, is Harry and the Hendersons. 11:19 To date, you are the first reactor that I’ve seen who recognized Peter Jackson.

[@vidarsmestad9143]

Should've watched Braindead / Dead Alive instead. That one is most def a horror comedy. Its THE horror comedy. Come ON patreons!

[@Daveyboy100880]

I live in hope that someday, someone will do a reaction to it! It’s peak Jackson and has one of the greatest scripts in history 😁

[@filmschoolslave3794]

How can Killer Klowns From Outer Space be ranked so low!?!? Who cares where it came in on the poll - you need to watch that - ridiculous fun.

[@Rocket1377]

Very underrated movie. Fantastic theme song, too.

[@kevinstull8552]

​@@Rocket1377Sung by The Dickies. Maybe the best name for a band ever.

[@Yoda_81843]

I agree. This poll was a good one. People Under the Stairs, Killer Klowns, Creepshow. All should be watched.

[@greymatter33]

I recommend watching The Burbs (older comedy/horror) and Color Out of Space (newer/modern take on Lovecraftian horror)

[@metalmugen]

Man I wish Peter Jackson still made movies like this, love LOTR but this os just brimming with heart and creativity

[@Billinois78]

Who the heck told you it was a comedy? Sure, it's got some comedic elements, like the funny non-evil ghosts, but it would be misleading for anyone to say it's a comedy. It's mainly a supernatural drama with elements of horror and comedy. With that said, you both laughed a lot while watching it. I like this movie. It's my favorite Michael J. Fox movie that doesn't include the word gigawatt.

[@Flesharrower]

Maybe not one for the channel but I can't recommend highly enough Michael J Fox's fairly recent documentary "Still". For anyone who grew up with him everywhere on TV and film like me, it's a weirdly hopeful/heart-breaking film about his life with Parkinsons.

[@marcbloom7462]

In the commentary to the Fellowship of the Ring, Sean Astin said he wanted to work with Peter Jackson and his wife after hearing his father John talk about working with them on this movie. Of course, John Astin was used to the scary and the ookie.

[@t.r.a.pterminatorrobocopal6885]

Another Michael J. Fox Movie is "the hard way" from 1991. AWESOME movie. Death Becomes Her from 1992 by Robert Zemeckis,

[@davidpumpkinsjr.5108]

This movie originally started out as a Tales from the Crypt project. A lot of the hallmarks of TftC are present: Robert Zemekis, Danny Elfman, horror themes mixed with dark comedy, actors (Fox and Wallace in particular) playing against type. I doubt releasing it under the TftC banner would have helped The Frighteners at the box office. TftC was already past its prime in popularity; the show had ended, Demon Knight was only a moderate success and Bordello of Blood was set to be released only a few weeks after The Frighteners, and it basically ended TftC as a viable franchise.

[@Henrik_Holst]

The intent was to make a spooky pg-13 comedy but the MPAA refused to give them anything but an R so they had to desperately try to change it from a pg-13 spooky comedy into an R horror movie after the whole movie was close to finished, hence why it is so strange.

[@brom00]

I always Rought this film as the director Peter Jacjson in transition. From, the gory and weird of his first films, Bad Taste, Brain Dead and Meet the Feebles, to the epicness of his Lord of thr Ring movies.

[@believeume122]

Love this movie!!! When I was younger I watched this every time it came on tv.

[@gadgetsgalore]

"Bright Lights, Big City" is a great Michael J Fox movie that shows more of his acting range.

[@seattlecryptid]

Woohoo, an early bird tonight! 😁 The picks have been aces lately. ❤ Totally appreciate you guys watching the extended version, it adds so much more to the story overall.

[@zmarko]

Dee Wallace, who played Patricia, was Elliott, Gertie, and Michael's mother in E.T.

[@BadassRaiden]

So happy you guys enjoyed the film and had a fun time! I absolutely love this film. Saw it way back when I was a child so it brings a lot of nostalgia back 😄

[@LabRat10101]

Great movie.

[@lincolnrodmaniv]

My favorite movie to watch around Halloween.

[@johnsmitty-gl7jg]

Doc Hollywood with MJF and Woody Harrelson is a must see

[@AutoPilate]

Everyone who’s mentioned Jeffrey Combs’ filmography neglected to mention 1992’s Doctor Mordrid, which was originally supposed to be a low-budget Doctor Strange adaptation but the studio’s rights to the property expired while they were still in pre-production, so they hastily changed that. Dee Wallace has been in quite a few films: She was in Cujo, The Howling, and ET: The Extra-Terrestrial.

[@tomhoffman4330]

Maybe the Craziest Combination of Horror and Humor😂I've always Loved this Movie, and I'm Glad Y'all Enjoyed it too!👍 Suggestions for More with Michael J. Fox🤔"The Hard Way" ('91), "Greedy" ('94) and "The American President" ('95)👌

[@ActionJackson1982]

Aww man Fright Night missed out again. Frighteners was filmed in New Zealand, when I first watched this I thought yeah this doesn’t look very American

[@chrismeulen8108]

for Michael J. Fox movies: "The Hard Way" (1991) is a great action comedy. i also remember "The Secret of My Success" (1987) being really good.

[@IAmBraindead98]

my favorite trivia piece of the film: Peter Jackon was shocked to find the movie was stamped w/ an R rating by the MPAA when submitting the first cut - no matter how often he edited the violence, the scary bits, and tried to "tone it" down, the R rating wouldn't be let up. One note from the MPAA that justified the R rating was (im dead serious): "a door gets shot by a gun too many times" 😐 (the aftermath of this was Jackson accepting the R rating, and leaning into it, by adding the Agent Dammers explosive/bloody headshot death in post prod.)

[@MacV216]

The Russian guy that had fifty kills was Andrei Chikatilo. The story of his manhunt and apprehension are told in the movie Citizen X which is truly great.

[@CathleenMJennings80]

Secret of My Success is PEAK 80s wacky comedies! Michael did Casualties of War, The American Present, Mars Attacks, and voices in the movies Homewood Bound and Stuart Little. btw, Patricia was the mom from E.T.

[@Renegade2786]

*Casualties of War* is one Michael J Fox film you should watch, but I must warn you. Some of the scenes in that movie will upset you. Remember the scene from *First Blood* when Rambo break down and say that people in the airport was spitting at him and calling him all the foul crap at him. That movie will probably show you why those folks were angry at war veterans like him.

[@Markusewitz]

I really chuckled at "37??" (3:27) #Clerks 😄

[@gswithen]

Dee Wallace was the mother in E.T. and you need to see her in Cujo.

[@ridleysaria]

I would say this IS a comedy but it leans more towards dark comedy. Such a wild flick, but it’s awesome. Jeffrey Combs is a legendary character actor and he absolutely chews up the scenery here.

[@chillysauceprophecii]

Jeffery Combs gives great villian energy in his roles he's a must watch underrated actor.