 A film in three minutes, The Frighteners. Spooky poltergeist activity in your bedroom? Is your kitchen currently experiencing supernatural stimulation? Then have no fear because psychic investigator Frank Bannister is on the case. He's your typical, well-rounded, down-to-earth kind of guy. It accepts that he's not, and he's also someone who happens to have a problem. He can see and talk to dead people. Which is bad news for Frank, because the good residents of Fairwater US happen to be dying a lot. Under very mysterious circumstances in Peter Jackson's 1996 supernatural horror comedy The Frighteners. Shot in Jackson's native New Zealand, the Frighteners story was conceived during the writing phase of Jackson's previous film, Heavenly Creatures, where the director collaborated with his partner Fran Walsh to explore the macabre themes of a town that experienced a tragic killing spree in its past. The script, which was originally intended to be an episode of Robert Zemeckis' series Tales from the Crypt, impressed Zemeckis so much that he agreed to be executive producer of a feature film production funded by Universal Pictures, who greenlit the project, leading to one of the longest shooting schedules ever approved by the studio. The supporting cast, which includes Jeffrey Combs of Re-Animator fame as FBI agent and eccentric cult expert Milton Dammers, Trini Alvarado as a physician who is on the Reaper's Target list and John Astin of the Adams family as a deceased Wild West gunslinger, all add to the rich cast of quirky characters that Jackson and Walsh created, with the film also sadly being Michael J Fox's last in a leading role as the actor struggles with his then recent diagnosis of Parkinson's, forced him to migrate back to television with his successful series Spin City. Wetter Digital, the company that would eventually be responsible for the epic CGI spectacles of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, created the numerous and often at times incredibly complex visual effects for the film, most notably in scenes where the living characters interact with their ghostly companions. Every time a ghost interacted with the living, the scene had to be shot twice with the actors memorizing precise timings in order to make the final composited shot work. Adding to the complexity of special effects are the litany of moments where the grim Reaper is in action, using then state of the art CGI to depict the robed slayer entering the real world to kill its victims. Danny Elfman, a fan of Jackson's work, agreed to score the film before even knowing what the project was about. As such, this choice of composer combined with an over-the-top visual style easily reminiscent of Sam Raimi's work gives the Frighteners a frenetic energy that makes it stand out from other horror themed films from the period. A tongue-in-cheek movie that explores the living's relationship with the dead, whilst also providing an experience that may not make you quite fear the Reaper, but suddenly leaves you questioning if it's just you alone in your dark bedroom.