After the huge success of Heavenly Creatures, Bob Zemeckis contacted Peter Jackson to make a short episode for his series 'Tales from the Crypt'. Jackson wrote 'The Frighteners' when RZ saw the script, he saw the potential of it being made into a full length feature film. PJ with his wife immediately got to work on rewriting the script.
In 1996 work commenced on the movie, almost immediately after Jacksons production of 'Forgotten Silver'. This movie had the largest budget that PJ had to play with. However the movie wasn't that successful in the box office. The film was released on the same day as the opening cerimony of the '96 Olympic Games in Atlanta, and this most likely had an impact on the sale of film tickets.
Being PJ's first Hollywood production, and also the increase in budget allowed the director to make use more big names. Micheal J. Fox stars as Frank Bannister. Also, 'The Frighteners' is the first PJ movie that Peter Dasent didn't write the music for, the Executive Producer employing Danny Elfman (The Simpsons, Batman, MIB etc.) instead.
'The Frighteners' is the fifth film in which Peter Jackson plays a part, (being famed for his cameo appearences!). Look out for the biker that Fox bumps into after stepping out of the newspaper office.
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