The Frighteners
A fraudulent exorcist who can see ghosts must uncover and stop a vengeful spirit masquerading as the Grim Reaper before it turns an entire town into its next victims.
“No rest for the wicked.”
Synopsis
Frank Bannister was formerly an architect who now presents himself as an exorcist of evil spirits. He attributes his purported special ability to a car accident that killed his wife. While he is investigating a series of deaths in the small town where he resides, he becomes involved with the wife of one of the victims and encounters an unconventional FBI agent.
Credits
Related titles
No curated related titles yet. Use the edit affordance to add "More from this director", "Same franchise", or "Adaptation source material" entries — every change goes through the wiki review queue.
How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
A crew of 63+ credited
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by Jamie SelkirkShot by John BlickScored by Danny ElfmanDesigned by Grant Major
Box Office
1996 · Box office
📉 Underperformed — grossed 1.0× its budget
Why 2.5×?
Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).
Worldwide gross
$29.4M
US & Canada: $16.8M — 57% of worldwide · International: $12.6M (43%)
Opening weekend: $5.6M — 33% of its US run.
Opening week (7-day): $8.0M — 48% of its US & Canada run.
Peak 1,669 theaters
Also known as
- The Frightenersde
- The Frighteners - Herr der Geisterde
- Fantômes contre fantômesfr
- Sospesi nel tempoit
Community tags
Be the first to tag this page — tags appear right away. Try a theme, capability, or subject (e.g. WWII, heist, slow burn, time travel, A24).
Cast & Crew
63 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Michael J Fox
as Frank Bannister
Trini Alvarado
as Lucy Lynskey
Peter Dobson
as Ray Lynskey
John Astin
as The Judge
Jeffrey Combs
as Milton Dammers
Dee Wallace
as Patricia Bradley
Jake Busey
as Johnny Bartlett
Chi Mcbride
as Cyrus
Jim Fyfe
as Stuart
Troy Evans
as Sheriff Perry
Julianna Mccarthy
as Old Lady Bradley
R Lee Ermey
as Hiles
Supporting cast
42Elizabeth Hawthorne
as Magda Rees-Jones
Angela Bloomfield
as Debra Bannister
Desmond Kelly
as Harry Sinclair
Jonathan Blick
as Steve Bayliss
Todd Rippon
as Deputy
John Sumner
as Deputy
Michael Robinson
as Deputy
Jim Mclarty
as Deputy
Anthony Ray Parker
as Deputy
Paul Yates
as Deputy
Melanie Lynskey
as Deputy
John Leigh
as Bryce Campbell
Nicola Cliff
as Young Patricia
Ken Blackburn
as Dr. Kamins
Stuart Devenie
as Museum Curator
Genevieve Westcott
as TV Presenter
K C Kelly
as Doctor
Leslie Wing
as Mrs. Waterhouse
Leslie Klein
as Maid
Frank Edwards
as Resuscitating Man
Alan O Leary
as The Waiter
Danny Lineham
as Barry
Charlie Mcclellan
as Reporter
William Pomeroy
as Jacob Platz
George Port
as Orderly
Billy Jackson
as Baby in Bouncer
Sophie Watkins
as Nursery Baby
Taea Hartwell
as Nursery Baby
Max Grover
as Nursery Baby
George Grover
as Nursery Baby
Tony Hopkins
as Hospital Patient
Lewis Martin
as Hospital Patient
Clay Nelson
as Passerby
Matthew Chamberlain
as Passerby
Vivienne Kaplan
as Nun
Liz Mullane
as Nun
Matt Aitken
as Cowboy Ghost (uncredited)
Grae Burton
as Guest (uncredited)
Michael Elsworth
as Undertaker (uncredited)
Nic Farra
as Ray's Friend (uncredited)
Peter Jackson
as Man with Piercings (uncredited)
Fran Walsh
as Passerby (uncredited)
Directors
2Writers
4Producers
4Other crew
6Parents Guide
AI Personalities
Advisory Bot AI
I keep the family-safety picture honest — community advisories, AI-moderated, summarized without spin.
Ratings & reviews
Official ratings
We’re attempting to crowdsource this data.
Please submit below if you know where it’s available in your region — accurate confirmations help everyone find what they’re looking for.
Where to watch
Not currently streaming on any platform we track.
Gallery
Add imageNo community images for The Frighteners yet
Add a still, a storyboard, or concept art — every image gets its own page where members can discuss it.
Trailers
No trailers logged for The Frighteners yet — add the first one below.
Spot a trailer we’re missing?
Add a trailer from any film, show, or game.
Media & Uploads
Scripts, set photos, storyboards, score sketches — community-curated reference material for film students and industry professionals.
Did you or a loved one work on The Frighteners?
Every stage matters — pitch decks and treatments from development, location scouts and table-reads from pre-production, set photos and crew anecdotes from production, edit-bay notes from post, and press kits, festival memories, or marketing ephemera from distribution. Any moment that didn't make the press tour, any document or photograph that's been sitting in a box — please share it so it's not lost to time.
We particularly welcome contributions from writers, producers, cast, crew, festival programmers, distributors, marketing teams, their families, and anyone who was there at any stage.
Sign in to contribute scripts, stills, photos, or behind-the-scenes stories.
Be the first to share something on The Frighteners.
Scripts, scans, photos, score sketches — anything that helps another reader study this work.
Memorable quotes
Browse all →No quotes logged for The Frighteners yet — add the first memorable line below.
Got a quote we’re missing?
Submit a line from any film, show, or game.
The conversation
Loading the conversation…
Comments (0)
on The FrightenersNo comments yet. Be the first to share what you think.
Edit history
Loading edit history…