The Frighteners
Finnkino | Release Date: July 19, 1996 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
52
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
11
Negative:
4
Watch Now
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
A high-wire spook show without a net -- half the fun is watching it teeter between the tastelessly amusing and the unforgivably gross. Read full review
60
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
At times the relentless special effects and tangled plotting veer towards visual and narrative overkill, but the final tonal swerve is shocking and effective. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneGene Siskel
A dreary, needlessly violent and ugly comic thriller about a psychic hustler (Michael J. Fox) who gets more than he bargained for with his latest scam. Fox seems to be trying to get hip in the movies, and he's lost his way here. Read full review
50
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Story was originally conceived as an episode of Tales From the Crypt, and that is perhaps what it should have remained, as the thinness of the conceit shows throughout, painfully so in the first half. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
Smothers whatever merits it may have had in a rush of bells, whistles, bombast and smoke. Read full review
50
San Francisco ExaminerBarbara Shulgasser
The Frighteners is a gooey pastiche of Casper, Ghost, Poltergeist, Back to the Future (it's produced by Future director Robert Zemeckis), Ghostbusters, and episodes of Columbo. Read full review
50
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
The actors can't keep the film's mood from verging on hysteria as the story roams all over the map. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeJay Carr
It's technically sophisticated and intermittently engaging, and its showdown is more than up to genre standards. But fresh it isn't. [19 July 1996, p.G4]
50
Washington PostEve Zibart
Ponderously cliched and predictable. [19 July 1996, p.N33]
42
The A.V. ClubMaria Schneider
An overlong, overstuffed mess with only sporadic moments of clarity and purpose. Read full review
40
Washington PostRita Kempley
An unholy union of dark comedy, spectral effects and splattered gore that few filmgoers will dare embrace. [19 July 1996, p.B07]
More From This Movie

52 Critic Reviews

7.4 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 77 Project Hail Mary
2 75 Send Help
3 73 Hoppers
4 72 The Sheep Detectives
5 68 Crime 101
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL