peter jackson chapter i: bad taste peter jackson chapter ii: meet the feebles (footage missing) peter jackson chapter iii: braindead peter jackson chapter iv: heavenly creatures peter jackson chapter v: forgotten silver peter jackson chapter vi: the frighteners pretty much immediately after he finished work on forgotten silver peter jackson went to work on the frighteners which would be released one year later. with the frighteners peter jackson set out to make a pg-13 movie and this is peter jackson, the man who made braindead, one of the goriest films ever made. so he spent the next year making it. in that year he made a movie that used the cutting edge technology of it's time, in fact, there were times when they just invented software code so it would do what yet couldn't be done. in that year they created a pretty great movie but which had just... a little something missing. i couldn't put my finger on what that was but even still i really enjoyed myself with this film. when it first came out i was 17 and i loved it. it was scary, it was funny, it had jeffrey combs in it!!! it looked amazing, it had an amazing score and it was fun to see michael j. fox play against type. today was the first time i've seen the movie in full since then and i still found it to be great film, although some of the effects have dated a little (a lot), but like i said there was something missing. other than those dated effects everything else was done extremely well. it was a very zany peter jackson film that switched between genres constantly and kept you pumped and excited the whole way through. and then i watched the 3 1/2 hour doc that came on the dvd and i figured out what was missing. it was the over the top r-rated gore that jackson is known for. i don't think it needed to be anywhere near as much as his earlier films but it could of been a lot more graphic. when watching the frighteners it is very easy to see why it got an r rating and not pg-13. there was nothing jackson could cut that would satisfy the censors. so r it was but it's really pg-13: peter jackson style. it's missing some gore, scarier horror sequences and most importantly, jackson's use of gore as comedy. if that was in this film it would be as much a classic as braindead but it isn't and instead we get a watered down version, a watered down version that still has sex in morgues, sadistic serial killers, scarred and evil fbi agents and gruesome but bloodless death scenes. this is why jackson could not get the sensors to lower the rating. to do so he'd have to cut at least 30% of the movie out which would be impossible. but it doesn't matter whether it was pg-13 or r as the movie that he made, either way, was a great fun ride but one that shouldn't of been so 'tame'. i mean story, acting, effects (for their time), cinematography, editing, everything was great but it should of gone further, harder than it did. even still, i'd watch this film again and again. even though it needs to be more graphic it plays just fine as it is. it's memorable, enjoyable and rewatchable. it's another win for jackson who so far in his career has had only wins. with the frighteners completed, jackson would move onto his next project. he had entered hollywood, he had made one well directed and well received and poorly attended film but he was in. so what would he do next? never one to say no to a challenge he would next make his magnum opus that would change his life forever more. what peter jackson did next was he made lord of the rings. 81/100