The Frighteners

Peter Jackson’s film began as a project Robert Zemeckis meant to direct himself, a feature spin off from Tales from the Crypt. Reading the first draft by Jackson and Fran Walsh, Zemeckis handed over the directing and produced instead; Universal green lit it at $26 million with final cut for the two of them. The condition was odd: New Zealand had to look like the American Midwest, so Lyttelton was Americanised with scale models. Photography ran from May 14 to November 16, 1995, one of the longest schedules Universal had approved. It swelled because every scene with a ghost and a living character in frame was shot twice, the actors on set first, then the ghosts against blue screen, the pieces composited afterwards; the cast traded dialogue with empty air. The Reaper was tried as a puppet and then as a man in a suit, with test footage shot, before computer animation won out. Impressed by the rough cut, Universal pulled the date from October to July 19, 1996, the day the Atlanta Olympics opened. A good fit if you are content with horror and comedy held in one scene and the effects work left visible. Not for viewers who want a steady tone; Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote it should have stayed an episode of Tales from the Crypt.