Like a scatter gun hitting everything in sight, the movie has a maddening pace and is all over the place.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 13, 2024

The rare horror-comedy that is both funny and creepy, thanks to the charming cast and the inventive direction.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 22, 2023

Twenty-five years on and what's striking about The Frighteners is how well the effects and Jackson's tension-building have held up.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 27, 2021

The Frighteners is absolutely bursting with the desire to entertain.

| Aug 8, 2021

It's a bonkers mix of comedy and horror by a brave, ambitious young director.

| Jul 8, 2021

There's ultimately little doubt that The Frighteners is at its best in its briskly-paced and thoroughly entertaining first half...

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Sep 21, 2020

There's not a boring moment in the film and almost every single scene adds new layers to the film's multiple mysteries.

| Jun 14, 2018

[Michael J.] Fox seems to be trying to get hip in the movies, and he's lost his way here.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 23, 2017

Violent, frenzied, foul-mouthed ghost comedy.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 15, 2010

Story was originally conceived as an episode of "Tales From the Crypt," and that is perhaps what it should have remained, as the thinness of the conceit shows throughout, painfully so in the first half.

Full Review | Mar 26, 2009

At times the relentless special effects and tangled plotting veer towards visual and narrative overkill, but the final tonal swerve is shocking and effective.

| Jan 26, 2006

Despite being awful in almost every respect, The Frighteners does offer one small pleasure: R. Lee Ermey parodying his Full Metal Jacket drill sergeant character.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/10 | Jan 23, 2006

It actually works up till its last few minutes.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 4, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Nov 7, 2003

An incredibly underrated scare-comedy from Peter Jackson that deserves a much wider audience.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 14, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | May 30, 2003

The actors can't keep the film's mood from verging on hysteria as the story roams all over the map. "The Frighteners" has flitted everywhere, even to heaven and hell, before it's over.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | May 20, 2003

Quirky Peter Jackson film that's half comedy and half horror/gore-fest. Mostly enjoyable results, although Fox a bit miscast.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 18, 2003

Woulda been five stars, but the cop-out ending smacks of the test-screening process.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 7, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 21, 2003