The Frighteners

Years before the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and "King Kong", Peter Jackson made this very quirky flick with Michael J. Fox. Fox plays Frank Bannister, a sort of ghost-buster: he has several ghost friends, who pretend to haunt houses, and he comes to the rescue to get them out. This has basically turned him into an outcast in the town, until he starts seeing numbers on peoples' heads. These numbers turn out to relate to...

OK, I don't know how much more I can tell you without giving everything away, but I will say that "The Frighteners" is one of the most interesting movies that I've ever seen. Aside from the original story, there are some clever scenes. For example, R. Lee Ermey plays a ghost seemingly based on his character in "Full Metal Jacket", and one of Frank's ghost friends decides to get slinky with...a mummy! You read that right. Plus, there's Jeffrey Combs's loony detective; I don't know how such a person would ever get to be a detective! Obviously, this movie isn't any kind of masterpiece, but it doesn't pretend to be. This is all about being far out, and they do just that. This may be Michael J. Fox's coolest movie ever. If it has any problem, it's probably what a previous reviewer identified: it's a little bit formulaic what happens to Frank at the end. But other than that, you're sure to like the movie. Also starring Trini Alvarado, Peter Dobson, John Astin, Dee Wallace (that's right: Elliott's mom in "ET"!), Jake Busey and Chi McBride.