Kal
07-22-2001, 02:06 PM
A severly underated oddity in Peter Jackson's collection that sees him move slightly off-track from his usual mixture of comedy and horror eg; Braindead (AKA Dead Alive) and Bad Taste, with this quirky picture about a paranormal con-artist.
Michael J Fox stars as Frank Bannister, a former architect of Fairwater who, after gaining the ability to see the dead, becomes a "ghostbuster" conning people with the assistance of his dearly-departed hired help. All is moving on steady for Frank until he encounters Dr. Lucy Lynskey (Trini Alvarado) whos husband is among the latest victims of Fairwater's death epidemic, and Frank comes into conflict with the killer. Could this hooded murderer from the afterlife be Death himself?
I think this film is really underated because while it treads along a similar vein to Jacksons more recognisable cult favourites (ie; Braindead), we see a drop in the humour, with it only being strongly present when dealing with Bannister's ghostly sidekicks or the HILARIOUS (but still frightfully freaky) Jeffery Combs as Special Agent Milton Dammers, an agent sent in to investigate the town's high death rates who has been physically and psychologically scarred by his many years spent in undercover. Also there seems to have been an attempt to relieve this reduction by injecting more emotion especially in Frank and his relationship with Lucy, which at times can be straining although it does in the main help gain a connection with Frank's predicament.
This film was poorly recieved at the cinema only making $16.5 mil and so its easy to see why it slipped off the radar without attaining great recognition but it is definitely worth snooping out because it is perfectly shot with past and present cutting in brillantly together in the finale when Frank tries to stop the killer's reign of terror. The story is also very good with the slight twists being setup well earlier in the dialogue (SPOILER: listen to the conversations on the numbers of victims) and while its definitely no masterpiece of literature and accuracy (we are dealing with Sci-Fi, you gotta give them some room to play with)it still threads a nice plot that is complemented perfectly by the performances of Fox and Combs, although Alvarado's performance can not keep up with these as her character is slightly under-developed, but this is covered up well by the more comic performances of Bannister's ghostly trio and Comb's powerhouse performance in the art of freakdom. Also watch out for R Lee Emery as a deceased drill sergeant (possibly the ghost of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman?). Above average sci-fi-cum-comedy-cum-thriller.
TRIVIA (yeah its taken from IMDB, so what!?):
-Actor Michael J. Fox repeatedly blew his lines by calling John Astin's character "Doc"---the name of Christopher Lloyd's character in the Back to the Future movies.
-While Lucy is watching the video about Johnny Bartlet, a copy of Heavenly Creatures (1994) (also directed by Peter Jackson (I)) is visible next to the bed.
-A figurine depicting Elvis Presley is visible in Ray (Peter Dobson) and Lucy's bedroom. Dobson played Presley in Forrest Gump (1994).
-Directors Cameo (Peter Jackson): The bearded and pierced man who Frank bumps into a minute before the ghost of Ray knocks him down.
Michael J Fox stars as Frank Bannister, a former architect of Fairwater who, after gaining the ability to see the dead, becomes a "ghostbuster" conning people with the assistance of his dearly-departed hired help. All is moving on steady for Frank until he encounters Dr. Lucy Lynskey (Trini Alvarado) whos husband is among the latest victims of Fairwater's death epidemic, and Frank comes into conflict with the killer. Could this hooded murderer from the afterlife be Death himself?
I think this film is really underated because while it treads along a similar vein to Jacksons more recognisable cult favourites (ie; Braindead), we see a drop in the humour, with it only being strongly present when dealing with Bannister's ghostly sidekicks or the HILARIOUS (but still frightfully freaky) Jeffery Combs as Special Agent Milton Dammers, an agent sent in to investigate the town's high death rates who has been physically and psychologically scarred by his many years spent in undercover. Also there seems to have been an attempt to relieve this reduction by injecting more emotion especially in Frank and his relationship with Lucy, which at times can be straining although it does in the main help gain a connection with Frank's predicament.
This film was poorly recieved at the cinema only making $16.5 mil and so its easy to see why it slipped off the radar without attaining great recognition but it is definitely worth snooping out because it is perfectly shot with past and present cutting in brillantly together in the finale when Frank tries to stop the killer's reign of terror. The story is also very good with the slight twists being setup well earlier in the dialogue (SPOILER: listen to the conversations on the numbers of victims) and while its definitely no masterpiece of literature and accuracy (we are dealing with Sci-Fi, you gotta give them some room to play with)it still threads a nice plot that is complemented perfectly by the performances of Fox and Combs, although Alvarado's performance can not keep up with these as her character is slightly under-developed, but this is covered up well by the more comic performances of Bannister's ghostly trio and Comb's powerhouse performance in the art of freakdom. Also watch out for R Lee Emery as a deceased drill sergeant (possibly the ghost of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman?). Above average sci-fi-cum-comedy-cum-thriller.
TRIVIA (yeah its taken from IMDB, so what!?):
-Actor Michael J. Fox repeatedly blew his lines by calling John Astin's character "Doc"---the name of Christopher Lloyd's character in the Back to the Future movies.
-While Lucy is watching the video about Johnny Bartlet, a copy of Heavenly Creatures (1994) (also directed by Peter Jackson (I)) is visible next to the bed.
-A figurine depicting Elvis Presley is visible in Ray (Peter Dobson) and Lucy's bedroom. Dobson played Presley in Forrest Gump (1994).
-Directors Cameo (Peter Jackson): The bearded and pierced man who Frank bumps into a minute before the ghost of Ray knocks him down.