Review for The Frighteners: Peter Jackson's Director's Cut (Review)
Monday, 23rd August 2010, 15:16

Page 1 Page 2

Extras
An Amaray style case in a card slipcase holds three discs, but it's a really annoying one that holds all three discs stacked on a single, central hub. All the extras are subtitled where required.

Disc 1 has the movie, although it autoplays with one of those unskippable 'you wouldn't menace a terrier' anti-piracy ads. Peter Jackson introduces the film for 3 minutes, and puts the film in context when it comes to his filmography.

You'll also find the audio commentary here, subtitled in several languages. Peter Jackson is pretty informative and entertaining in what is his first attempt at an audio commentary, although it does get a little gappy at times. He makes a point of noting the restored scenes, and explaining why they were cut in the first place.

Discs 2 and 3 hold the making of documentary, again with an introduction from Peter Jackson. A four-hour plus making of documentary on two discs… How do you even begin with something like that? Disc 2 gets the first two thirds running to 174 minutes, and disc 3 gets the remaining 98 minutes. You can play each section as a separate featurette if you choose, both discs get extensive menus to peruse, but it's a boon to the lazier among us just to press play and let the whole thing run in one big lump of a documentary. It takes us from the conceptual development of the movie, all the way to the final theatrical release and there's lots of goodies about the special effects, the cast, the storyboards, rehearsals, deleted scenes, bloopers, and so on. There's input from the entire cast and crew, and there's space for the trivial, anecdotal, promotional and informational in its expansive run time, and it's also very easy to watch. Peter Jackson's own company filmed this as the movie was being made, so there is less of an EPK feel to it. It's also something of a trial run for the sheer breathtaking material that would be put together for the Lord of the Rings movies.

Conclusion
I did it again. I finally got around to reviewing a film that I've had on the pending pile for a few years now, been really looking forward to getting my teeth into, and it turns out that the damned thing has been deleted. At least the Director's Cut of The Frighteners isn't readily available on DVD in the UK anymore. You'll have to go hunting for it. Of course the hideous, non-anamorphic disc that was released over ten years ago now is on every DVD shop shelf in the land. You'll probably have to import if you want a brand, spanking new, cellophane wrapped retail package, and in my cursory search, I could only find it in Region 1. Whereas we get a three-disc release, their DC is a single disc release, a DVD 18 with the film on one dual layer side (with 45 minutes of storyboards), and the documentary minus storyboards on the other dual layer side. Maybe someone should give Universal a boot up the backside and get a Blu-ray release sorted.

After all these years, The Frighteners is still one of my favourite films. Certainly it is my favourite Peter Jackson film, a sublime blending of comedy and horror, action packed and entertaining, perfectly paced, and even in this longer Director's Cut version, unlikely to cause paralysis of the butt cheeks in the same way that the Lord of the Rings movies or King Kong does. Despite my love for the film, I did recognise that it had a problem with balance and tone; a comedy horror, the two aspects didn't quite gel well, and the shift from comedy to chills was a little abrupt and unwieldy. That was something I noted when I reviewed the theatrical version. The director's cut puts that all right. Oddly enough, the restoration of the deleted and extended scenes is seamless. Even though I know the theatrical version like the back of my hand, I still forget where the added scenes go, so naturally do they seem to fit in the narrative. Looking at the theatrical cut now, it becomes clear that too much was trimmed from the film, the director's cut flows much better, the pacing is steadier, and more importantly, the horror doesn't overwhelm the comedy. It was originally the comedy in the first act that fell victim to the editor's shears. Restoring the comic ghost scenes not only develops their characters more, making them more relevant to the plot, and building the audience empathy, but it makes the transition from laughs to shocks more graceful and less abrupt.

The Frighteners DC is a peach of a film, getting the balance between laughs and spooks just right, with an entertaining concept, brilliantly executed story, with effects that still look cutting edge today. The performances are great too, and the character of Milton Dammers is one of my favourite screen villains. It's a shame that it's so hard to find, as this Director's Cut release is the perfect way to own this film on DVD. Not only does the film get the ideal presentation, a revelation compared to the original letterbox release, but the extra features do it justice as well, presaging the Lord of the Rings information overload, with an approachable audio commentary, and a four and half hour documentary that fills you in on all aspects of the making of the film, from concept to release. Maybe it really is time for a Blu-ray release.

Note that originally the BBFC insisted on a second or so of cuts for the theatrical release. For this Director's Cut, those edits were waived, and the film is here in its entirety.

Previous Page