The Frighteners

The Frighteners (1996)

No rest for the wicked.

Release:1996
Runtime:1h 50m
Country:New Zealand
Director:Peter Jackson
Language:English

Keywords

DaughterSmall TownMotherSheriffJudgeFuneralWidowFbi

The Frighteners rating: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic

IMDb7.1/10· 102K votes
Rotten Tomatoes65%
Metacritic52%
TMDb6.94/10· 2K votes

With 65% on Rotten Tomatoes, backed by 7.1/10 on IMDb and 52/100 on Metacritic, critical reception of this film has been mixed.

About The Frighteners

Once an architect, Frank Bannister now passes himself off as an exorcist of evil spirits. To bolster his facade, he claims his "special" gift is the result of a car accident that killed his wife. But what he does not count on is more people dying in the small town where he lives. As he tries to piece together the supernatural mystery of these killings, he falls in love with the wife of one of the victims and deals with a crazy FBI agent.

Cast of The Frighteners

  • Michael J. Fox

    Michael J. Fox

    as Frank Bannister

  • Trini Alvarado

    Trini Alvarado

    as Lucy Lynskey

  • Peter Dobson

    Peter Dobson

    as Ray Lynskey

  • John Astin

    John Astin

    as The Judge

  • Jeffrey Combs

    Jeffrey Combs

    as Milton Dammers

  • Dee Wallace

    Dee Wallace

    as Patricia Bradley

  • Jake Busey

    Jake Busey

    as Johnny Bartlett

  • Chi McBride

    Chi McBride

    as Cyrus

  • Jim Fyfe

    Jim Fyfe

    as Stuart

  • Troy Evans

    Troy Evans

    as Sheriff Perry

  • Julianna McCarthy

    Julianna McCarthy

    as Old Lady Bradley

  • R. Lee Ermey

    R. Lee Ermey

    as Hiles

The Frighteners facts

Budget
$30M
Box office
$29.4M

Ranked by the iRankMovies editorial teamUpdated August 2026MethodologyData sources

Audience opinions

What the audience liked

  • Peter Jackson crafts inventive black humor sequences
  • Con man protagonist brings charm to supernatural chaos
  • Creative visual execution elevates horror comedy formula

What the audience disliked

  • Unevenness between comedic and horror-dramatic moments
  • Character arcs feel rushed through episodic encounters

Trailer

Where to watch The Frighteners(US)

View on JustWatch

Rent / Buy

Amazon VideoApple TV StoreGoogle Play MoviesYouTubeFandango At Home

Availability may change. Data by JustWatch.

Looking for movies similar to The Frighteners?

We've ranked 50 similar movies using 8 weighted content dimensions.

See all similar