The Frighteners

"Shrill, overproduced and crammed with clever visual effects..."

"That rare horror film that actually gets better as it proceeds; this scare machine has a heart and a brain."

"The increasingly eerie shenanigans play heavily on the nervous system."

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

"A two-tone scarefest, the first half a facetious, aggressively jokey send-up of the supernatural, the second an attempt at some legitimate thrills. After his brilliant breakthrough two years ago with "Heavenly Creatures," new pic reps a step back into infinitely less interesting genre work for New Zealand auteur Peter Jackson, with an added reliance on elaborate, almost continuous special effects."

"Thrills, sight gags and tasteless one-liners abound as Michael J Fox, Trini Alvarado and assorted spectral allies take on an evil spirit... Go see it - it's great."

"As directed by Peter Jackson, whose "Heavenly Creatures" looks sedate by comparison, it's a technically impressive horror-comedy-romance in desperate need of a story editor or a cold shower."

"Last year, I reviewed a nine-hour documentary about the lives of Mongolian yak herdsmen, and I would rather see it again than sit through ``The Frighteners.''"

"Director Peter Jackson, at home with all kinds of excess in New Zealand, keeps everything spinning nicely, not even losing a step when the mood turns increasingly disturbing."

"Huge ghostly fun, and a fine achievement from the early days of CGI."