Jeffery Combs is awesome!!  Sorry, just had to let you all know that, in case you had forgotten.  I just watched the all new directors cut of Peter Jackson’s The Frighteners and was just completely blown away, not only by the excellent performance of Mr. Combs but by the overall package of the film itself.

It has been several years since the last time I bothered to sit down and watch The Frighteners and watching it again tonight was like watching it again for the very first time.  There are moments in this film that are nothing short of brilliant.  The Frighteners tells us the story of paranormal investigator Frank Bannister, perfectly portrayed by Michael J. Fox.  Frank lives in a town where there has been an outbreak of town folks dying suddenly of sudden heart attack.  Frank lives in his unfinished house with a couple of ghosts who work with him by haunting homes and then leaving behind a business cards that those being haunted promptly use give Frank a call and get rid of their sudden specters.  Problem is, Frank knows what is really going on in the town and is the only person who can rid the town of the evil that has taken root.  All the evidence though points to Frank as being the one doing all the killing.  What proceeds to unfold is at times funny, sometimes scary but always without fail, entertaining.  The special effects are top notch and at times it is hard to believe that this film is already 10 years old.  Peter Jackson was really cutting edge back in 1996 and that is all the more evident now by seeing how well this film holds up 10 years later.

The disc opens with a lengthy introduction by Peter Jackson in which he laments about the film and talks some about what this new edition of the film holds.  This is one of those double sided DVD’s with the first side offering up the film, a director’s commentary and such.  Flip the disc over and you are treated to some amazing behind the scenes footage.  I have not had time to sit through all of it yet but what I have seen, I like. 

All in all this seems to be an amazing packaging of an often overlooked film that hopefully will find a large and appreciative audience with Peter Jackson’s now superstar status firmly in place.

The disc also comes with a free ticket to a screening of Jackson’s King Kong which appears to be nothing short of amazing as well.

I would put this one high on your list of must have DVD’s for the month.  Great stuff.