Michael J. Fox stars as Frank Bannister in Peter Jackson’s 1996 horror comedy The Frighteners.
Frank Bannister is an architect who develops psychic abilities after a car accident and uses them to work as a fraudulent ghostbuster. He teams up with genuine ghosts to investigate a series of supernatural deaths in the fictional town of Fairwater.
Fox’s performance combines comedy, romance, and horror as Frank moves from exploiting his abilities to confronting a deadly supernatural force. The film also stars Trini Alvarado as Lucy Lynskey, Peter Dobson as Ray Lynskey, and Jeffrey Combs as FBI agent Milton Dammers.
The Frighteners was Jackson’s first Hollywood feature after his New Zealand productions. It was produced by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, and its visual effects were created during a period when digital effects were rapidly becoming central to studio filmmaking.