High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Frighteners is a 1996 comedy horror film directed by Peter Jackson and co-written with his wife, Fran Walsh. The film`s cast includes Michael J. Fox, Trini Alvarado, John Astin, Jeffrey Combs, Dee Wallace, Jake Busey and Chi McBride. The Frighteners tells the story of Frank Bannister (Fox), an architect who develops psychic abilities allowing him to see, hear, and communicate with ghosts after his wife`s murder. He initially uses his new abilities to work with various spirits to cheat money out of customers for his "ghosthunting" business. However, the spirit of a mass murderer comes back from Hell, able to attack the living and the dead, prompting Frank to investigate the supernatural presence.