Lazerdisc Information
The Frighteners: Signature Collection Laserdisc
The Making of The Frighteners
Ghost Stories
Peter introduces the documentary, and tells a story about how he once saw a ghost of a woman with a scream on her face. He says that when he told Fran about it afterwards, that she asked if it was the screaming faced woman, and that she had seen her years before. Cast members talk about if they believe in ghosts and whatno.
Script Development
This chapter discusses how Peter and Fran were taking a walk during the time they were writing Heavenly Creatures, and they came up with the original idea for The Frighteners, and wrote a 2 page outline. Then the development of the project, how it got to Robert Zemeckis and all that jazz.
Storyboarding
Peter discussing how they only storyboarded the first two thirds of the movie, and how it changed greatly from its early stages. A 45 minute segment of storyboards put together as an animation accompanied by music and Peter's commentary.
Michael J. Fox and Trini Alvarado
Peter discusses the casting of the two main characters, with interviews of Fox and Alvarado.
Jim Fyfe, Chi McBride, John Astin
Peter discusses the casting ot the three ghosts, with interviews of Fyfe, McBride, and Astin. Also, there are some audition segments shown of McBride and Astin.
Rehearsing
Peter and members of the cast discuss the rehearsal process that took place at Peter and Fran's living room. Also, there are some segments shown from the rehearsals (the feet of people because Peter put his camcorder on the floor and used it to record the sound).
Lyttelton as Fairwater
The discussion of the NZ town of Lyttelton could be passed off for a small town in the US.
Introduction to WETA
A brief explination of WETA's two divisions, followed by some guy showing the film scanner, and all their workstations.
Scene 28
The scene where Michael J. Fox, Jim Fyfe, and Chi McBride return to the house for the first time, was used as the demonstration scene as far as effects go. They discuss how they did the shot quickly so that they'd have something to show to Zemeckis when he visited the set.
Ghost Effects
All about the effects used to make the ghosts, look like ghosts.
Motion Control and Bluescreen
Peter explains a bit about motion control cameras, and a neat motion control rig that was designed by a NZ'der. Then a bit of bluescreen stuff.
The Jackson Boys, Peter's cameo & Billy Jackson
Peter's cameo as the biker that Fox encounters on the way out of the newspaper building, plus Peter and Fran's son, Billy's cameo as the kid in the jumper during the flying baby scene.
Stunts
Just a bit on the stunts, and how Fox did most of his own stunts, etc... Including a shot where Fox injures himself and put up the shooting for a couple of weeks.
On the Set
Some neat video footage from on the set of a few different scenes (museum, Trini's intro, and a couple of scenes in the hospital).The Reaper
The design process of creating the Reaper. Lots of neat stuff about how they had considered using a pupet reaper, and all the difficulties they had in finally comming up with the right look for the CG reaper. Plus a temp effect shot of the attack in the washroom.
Rustler
The design process, the original thought of using physical effects, a bit of cut footage, and a hillarious shot of Peter running around in a shot with a rubber Rustler (it looks like he's fucking the damn thing, it's soooo funny).
The Gatekeeper
This is my favourite part of the documentary, without a doubt. The Gatekeeper is a character that Peter decided to cut, but I have NO IDEA WHY. The Gatekeeper is a naked giant baby with tiny wings who is R. Lee Ermy's right hand man. The shots of him are soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo funny. And for the amount of time the would have taken, they wouldn't have slowed down the movie at all. If anything I think it would have added a surge of humour into a few parts that could have used them to keep going along. You have to see this creature. It's unbelievably funny, especially in action. I'll try to get pics up within the next couple weeks.
Jeffrey Combs
The story of how Peter suggested Combs for the part because he hadn't seen him in anything much since Re-Animator, and the collaberation between the two in fleshing out the character.
Miniatures
A segment on the fantastic miniature shots in the film.
Dee Wallace Stone and Jake Busey
Discussion on the casting of Stone because she was so opposite of what her character was (she was the mom in E.T.), and of Busey because of the manic glazing of his eyes. The segment has interviews with Stone, Busey and Peter. Plus a few things that were cut from the theatrical cut of the film and are back in the LD cut (which are really good). I think that most of the stuff I liked in re-watching the film on LD was a lot of the stuff that was new to the film, so I don't know how people could have loved the film before this cut.
Trini's Bruises
Just a small portion on Trini Alvarado's bruising during the shooting of the film. Nothing that interesting.
Slime Face and Blobman
The process of designing the effects of Jake Busey's face when it's sliding down the tombstone, and underground when Fox fights with the blob version of Busey.
Wallpaperman and Carpetman
Lots of stuff on the creation of the Wallpaperman and Carpetman computer effects.
Acceleration
The problems that they had when Universal decided to move the film's release date up from October to July.
The Worm
A segment about the transformation of the tunnel of light into the worm creature when Stone and Busey are sent to Hell, about how Peter and Fran were in disagreement over whether it should turn into the worm or not (Peter one I guess). Plus the design of the worm creature.
The Gatekeeper, The Judge & Other Deleted Stories
A segment on scenes that were cut to keep the pace moving and because they were deemed unnecissary. I think that a lot of this stuff, had it been put into the movie, would have improved it imensly (Especially the Gatekeeper stuff, damn I love that giant baby. It's soooooo funny). I think that had Peter cut this movie differently, it could have been really fun.
Music
Interviews with Danny Elfman and Peter about the process of creating a score, and then a segment where the opening is shown with sound FX only, then with music only, and then the final mix. I actually prefered the sound FX only version (except for the long moment of Stone running down the stairs screaming "Leave me alone" or something to that effect).
Bloopers
A good length of bloopers from the cast and crew. The best is Fox, who's supposed to call out to Judge, calling out "DOC!!!". HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! That's unbelievably funny. And if that wasn't bad enough, he does it a second time.
Ratings and Final Thoughts
A segment on the problems they had with the MPAA about the rating of the film, and how Peter would have shot it completly differently if he had known it was going to get an R rating (he says it could have been a lot more fun). Plus a shot of Jeff Combs' original death (getting shot in the chest and flying out through a set of big doors, which actually looks pretty good). Then Peter and a couple other people wrap up the documentary with their thoughts on the movie, and whatnot.
Credits
Well, I think that's pretty self explanatory.
Thanks to Jeff From The Fourth World (http://www.pathcom.com/~abu/)
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