All language subtitles for Eli Roths History of Horror S03E03 Psychics 1080p AMZN WEB-DL DDP2 0 H 264-TEPES (1)_track4_[eng]

- I see things.

And I sense things
that hadn't happened yet.

[eerie music]

- The most difficult thing

about being psychic
is speaking it.

♪

We all have this second sense,
but we don't act on it.

♪

- [gasps]

♪

- When you talk about
psychic horror movies,

a lot of them are
gonna come from Stephen King.

- No!
- What about room 237?

♪

- When people talk about
exploding heads in cinema,

they usually go straight

to David Cronenberg's
"Scanners."

♪

- When you see "Scanners,"
it's like,

"Oh, yeah, well, it's good."

♪

But if you've seen "The Fury,"

it's not John Cassavetes
being blown up

from head to toe
in slow motion good.

♪

- It's showtime.

♪

- I've always been drawn

to the idea
of psychic phenomenon.

I always wished
that I could be psychic.

♪

- We study the phenomena
of extra sensory perception.

- We're enticed
by the idea that we could be

so much more powerful

if only we could read
other people's minds.

- She's alive.

♪

- But in fact,
not being able to shut out

other people's thoughts
sounds pretty terrifying.

♪

- [screams]

♪

- My granny told me that I--
I had a gift.

male narrator:
Who wasn't dreamed

of having psychic powers?

- Tell me what I'm thinking.

♪

narrator: The ability
to read someone's thoughts...

- You're wondering why
I'm wearing such a funny hat.

- How'd you like
some ice cream, Doc?

narrator:
See into the future...

- [screams]

narrator:
Talk to the dead...

- They haven't found us yet.

narrator:
Light things on fire...

♪

Or move objects
with your mind.

♪

Horror stories bring
these fantasies to life.

♪

And show how quickly

a blessing
can turn into a curse.

♪

Since his first novel,
"Carrie,"

Stephen King and psychics
have gone hand in hand.

♪

♪

- [screams]

♪

narrator:
King's third novel,

"The Shining," was the story
of an alcoholic writer...

- Here's Johnny!

narrator: His wife,
and their young son, Danny,

who's a powerful psychic.

- Danny's not here,
Mrs. Torrance.

- In "The Shining,"
Danny has no idea

how to control the shining
or what it does.

He's just sort of,
you know, a victim of it,

and he uses
this sort of Tony avatar

as a conduit for it.

- Tony, tell me.

♪

narrator: This is one of
King's most personal stories,

drawn from his fear
that his drinking

would destroy his family.

- You've got a big surprise
coming to you.

narrator:
Stanley Kubrick's

film adaptation
is justifiably famous,

but King was not pleased

the director changed
his redemptive ending

into a nihilistic sigh
of despair.

♪

- It's a gorgeous film
to look at.

Absolutely gorgeous.
The soundtrack is gorgeous.

I can enjoy it
on the same level

that you could enjoy
a beautifully restored Cadillac

without a motor in it.

♪

narrator: In 2013,
King surprised the world

with a sequel
to "The Shining"...

♪

His novel, "Doctor Sleep."

♪

- [wheezes]

[gasps]

narrator:
Writer/director Mike Flanagan

took on the daunting task

of turning "Doctor Sleep"
into a feature film.

- He did sort of a neat trick

of making the movie
"Doctor Sleep"...

- [screams]

- A sequel to both
the Kubrick picture

and my dad's novel,

which is not easy to do
since the Kubrick film

and the Stephen King novel...

♪

Are really fundamentally
different stories.

- When I was a kid,

I didn't understand
the shining.

I called it Tony.

♪

- "Doctor Sleep"
is about Dan Torrance,

the little boy from
"The Shining," now grown up

wrestling with
his own alcoholism,

his own propensity
for violence...

♪

Kind of wandering through
the world by himself,

doing everything he can
to suppress the shining,

to suppress
that incredible ability

that was so strong
with him as a child

that it attracted the attention
of the Overlook Hotel

and destroyed his family.

♪

- If you had that power,
it would [no audio] up

your life because it would just
be a constant barrage of noise

that you could not stop.

- I need help.

narrator:
After hitting bottom, Dan,

played by Ewan McGregor,

gets sober
and rebuilds his life.

- King is very upfront
in saying that "The Shining"

was a book about alcoholism.

- Here's to five
miserable months on the wagon.

- And it was alcoholism
that he experienced

and was experiencing
at the time

he wrote the book itself.

And "Doctor Sleep"
is about recovery.

- I told you.
I'm not a doctor.

- Oh, I think you are.
Doctor Sleep.

- The title, "Doctor Sleep,"

is really kind of beautiful
actually in its meaning.

Dan works as an orderly
in a hospice

and realizes that,
while he doesn't use

his shining abilities anymore,

he can use them to help
bring comfort to people

who are dying in
the last moments of their life.

- Doc, I am so scared
it's gonna hurt or be dark

or be nothing at all.
And I don't want--

- Nothing to be scared of.
Just going to sleep.

- You know, they say we all
need help coming into the world

and help going out
of the world,

and there's something
really beautiful

that someone that tortured
takes his gifts

and use it to help people ease
into whatever happens next.

- Hi.

narrator: Dan meets Abra,

a child with even stronger

psychic abilities
than his own.

♪

As in many King stories,

Abra's gift is a metaphor
for being smart, sensitive,

and empathetic in a world
filled with amoral predators.

- Well, hi there.

- The threat to Abra
are actually a group

of just, I mean, classic
Stephen King antagonists

called the True Knot.

- We are the True Knot.
We are the chosen ones.

[all murmur indistinctly]

- They are
these quasi-immortal beings...

- [exhales deeply]

- Who literally feed

on the life force
of these special children,

children with the shining.

♪

narrator: Dan realizes
that using his powers

and facing his past
may be the only thing

that can stop the death cult.

♪

- Doesn't matter
if he hates himself,

doesn't matter if he wants
the shining or not,

like, he has to step up.
He doesn't have a choice,

He has to suck it up

and be there
for this little girl.

♪

narrator: In a King-approved
change from the book...

♪

Dan lures the leader
of the True Knot

back to the Overlook Hotel...

♪

Hoping its ghosts
will devour her.

♪

This is where Dan
confronts his past

and the filmmakers confront

the looming ghost
of Stanley Kubrick.

♪

- The Overlook had aged,

and throughout that journey

into the Overlook
in "Doctor Sleep,"

it comes back to life...

♪

So as he's walking through,

we go from darkness
to this warm light

as the filaments
start to glow again,

and we're almost back
to a Kubrick version of it

at that point where the color

of the space
is given back to us

for just a brief moment

before Dan does what Jack does

in the original
"Shining" novel,

which is to sacrifice himself

for the child.

- [screams]

narrator: In the end,
the film pays homage

to Kubrick's
unforgettable imagery,

but restores King's
original intent for the story.

♪

- Really, if you take
"The Shining"

and "Doctor Sleep" together,

the cycle of addiction
and recovery and alcoholism,

that's the story
that's being told.

♪

And that's where
"Doctor Sleep"

doesn't feel like
a sequel to me.

It feels like the conclusion
of one long conversation.

♪

narrator: You might think
being psychic in a small town

wouldn't be very dramatic.

♪

- [screaming]

♪

narrator:
Unless you have the gift.

♪

male narrator: One of
the most beautifully crafted

psychic films ever made
isn't widely known today.

It's time for a reappraisal.

[eerie music]

♪

- [gasps]

narrator: "The Gift"
has an amazing pedigree.

Directed by Sam Raimi
from a script

by Billy Bob Thornton
and Tom Epperson,

starring an A-list cast led
by one of the greatest actors

of her generation,
Cate Blanchett.

- I remember
the first time we met,

you told me
you loved "Evil Dead."

- Yes.

- And that you grew up
on horror movies.

So you are--
You are a horror fan.

Was that what made you want

to work with Raimi
on "The Gift?"

- When I knew Sam was on board,
I just thought,

oh, my God, to work with--
I can't--

well, yes, of course.

♪

You know, the story
revolves around a woman

who's lost her husband,

who's in a profound state
of grief,

and she's earning
a living as a psychic.

♪

- Your daddy,
he took things away from you

when you were a little boy.

♪

narrator: "The Gift" is set
in a small Georgia town

filled with secrets.

♪

Few worse than the one
haunting the character

played by Giovanni Ribisi
who is repressing his memories

of childhood sexual abuse.

- Why don't you tell me
why I hate him?

You're the [no audio]
damn psychic.

- Buddy, you know,
is definitely disturbed,

and throughout the film
is struggling with,

I guess, his own past

that he doesn't want
to look at,

that perhaps maybe she sees.

- You think about these things
in your childhood home,

and you face up to them.

- She has this gift,

and I think that there's irony
in that title

because I think it's more
of a burden than anything.

♪

- Think it's fun
seeing decomposing bodies

in my tree daily, sir?
You think that's fun?

- And she's having
these visions

that are usually
of a horrific nature.

♪

And the things
that she's able to see,

you know,
are really the skeletons

that all these characters
keep in their closet.

♪

- So she starts getting these
premonitions of a murder

that actually does occur,

and she doesn't really
quite know who

because the visions
aren't quite clear.

She can't see
who the killer is,

but she knows enough
to get her into trouble.

♪

- So the movie really becomes
a psychic detective film.

- You saw all this in a dream?

- It wasn't just a dream.

- I don't investigate
somebody's dream.

- [screams]

- I think she's dead, Sheriff.

- You know, there is a rape
and murder that takes place

at the heart of this movie,
but it's teased out

in such
a suspenseful and careful

and intelligent way
that it's incredibly powerful,

and it's through these visions

that tantalize Cate Blanchett's
character as well.

She doesn't see everything
at once,

but she carries
the burden of seeing things

that she should
never have seen.

- Get out!

- [gasps]

♪

[screams]

- Boy, I asked you a question.

narrator: But the most
frightening thing in the film

may be the violent trucker
played by Keanu Reeves.

♪

- Messing with the devil
is going to get you burned.

narrator:
It's a brutal portrait

of domestic violence.

- Keanu is terrifying.

Like, you actually feel
your guts kind of seize up

every time
he comes up on camera.

You're just like, "Oh, God,
not him again," you know?

- Annie!
- Annie, it's him.

- No, calm down.
- No!

- I'll call the law.
- No, Annie, no!

- That one shot where
Keanu grabs Hilary Swank

and drags her away.

- I'll handle you later on,
you [no audio] bitch.

♪

Get your ass in the truck.

♪

- I mean, we had no money
making that film,

and they were about
to pull the plug on the day.

Keanu was on the outside.

He had to storm through
a room full of people,

and I was in the out room
doing a reading,

and he had one take.

- No, no!
- Damn it!

- Let her go!

- [screams]
- Come here!

♪

- That was his ability
that everybody is on the--

everyone's on board.

Everyone understands the shot

that he's trying to get,
so we luckily got it in one,

otherwise it
wouldn't be in the film.

narrator:
At its heart,

"The Gift"
is an unflinching study

of the psychic scars
trauma and abuse

leave on a community.

Those scars
may not be visible,

but they're always there.

♪

- But I think
that's what I really love

about "horror,"

is that there's
no sentimentality,

and so if you'd looked
at that story, you know,

there's another way
we could've turned it,

and it could've been
quite sentimental,

but there's something about
Sam's perspective on stuff

and putting the notion of genre
within that story

that allows you
to kind of Trojan horse

this really quite painful
family drama

without it ever veering off
into sort of mawkish territory,

which I think is great.

♪

narrator: Psychics are,
by nature, sensitive.

♪

- No!

♪

narrator:
But some...are explosive.

♪

- Now, I'd like you to think
of something specific,

something personal perhaps.

- All right.
I guess I have something.

Do I have to close my eyes?
- It doesn't matter.

[eerie music]

Male narrator: It's one
of the most iconic scenes

in horror history.

♪

The mind-blowing
telepathic assassination

that opens David Cronenberg's
"Scanners."

♪

- I remember
watching "Scanners"

at my friend's house,
and we were eating pizza,

and my friend threw up,

and he didn't, like,
run to the bathroom.

It was the guy's head blew up,
and he just went "blech."

[laughs]

- I know you're not
what you say you are.

♪

- Freak of nature,

born with a certain form
of ESP.

♪

narrator:
"Scanners" is about a war

between rival telepaths...

- [screams]

narrator:
The super-powered children

of women
given an experimental drug

during pregnancy.

- His children turned out
to be difficult.

♪

You're a scanner.

That can be
a source of great power.

narrator:
To some scanners,

telepathic powers are a gift.

♪

To others, they're a curse.

♪

The film's
strangely detached protagonist

is one of the cursed.

He's asked to track down
the leader

of a scanner rebellion.

- In many ways, Cameron,
he's your enemy.

narrator: He discovers
it's his long-lost brother,

a powerful telepath

with a tenuous grasp
on sanity.

♪

- This is a picture
full of chilly,

unfeeling, remote psychics,

and among all of them,
there is a serial killer

and sociopath played
by Michael Ironside

who is the most identifiably
human of all of them

because at least
he feels things

like resentment, rage, victory.

- You're not listening to me.

♪

You're not cooperating, Cam.

- And so it's strange

that the most
horrible character in the movie

should be the one that maybe
we identify with the most.

- We're gonna to do it
the scanner way.

I'm gonna suck
your brain dry.

♪

narrator:
The sibling rivalry culminates

in a psychic duel
to the death.

No matter who wins,

it's clear the scanners
have left humanity behind.

♪

- The idea that someone
with those gifts

would no longer
really be human at all

is the underlying message
of "Scanners,"

and in some ways
is also kind of an on-running,

ongoing theme
with Cronenberg himself,

who seems to be interested

in what might be next
for humanity.

♪

narrator:
"Scanners" was one

of several films of the '70s
and early '80s

about government agencies
exploiting psychics

for sinister purposes.

♪

- You know, in the '70s
everybody was being exploited

for sinister purposes.
I mean, it was the Nixon era.

Everybody was
a little paranoid

about the government.

- Who are they?
FBI?

Really, the Department
of Scientific Intelligence,

DSI.

- All these movies
that basically said

that you can't trust
the government,

it's up to something,
and it's spying on you,

and they're taking
these young kids

who have these abilities

and making sure
that they use them for ill.

♪

narrator: Brian De Palma's
1978 adaptation

of the John Farris novel
"The Fury"

launched the paranoid
psychic trend.

- Faster.

Faster!
Faster!

Turn!
Again!

[laughs]
Turn!

Faster!

Faster!
[laughs]

♪

narrator: Andrew Stevens
plays a young man

snatched by
a government agency

that turns gifted teenagers
into living weapons.

- Why, he's developing

the power
of an atomic reactor.

- Or an atomic bomb.

♪

narrator: The agency also
has its eye on a young woman

played by Amy Irving,

who has psychic powers
she barely understands.

- Cheryl!

- Come on!
Tell me!

- No, oh, my God!
Oh, my God!

- Oh, my God!
- Cheryl!

Cheryl!
- Oh, my God!

narrator: For the first time
in his career,

De Palma was working
with a large budget.

He used it to create new ways

of showing psychic phenomena
on screen.

♪

- "The Fury"
is full of bits of De Palma

trying to figure out,
"How would I do this?

"How would I show
a hallucination?

"How would I pop
back and forth

"between consciousnesses

that are aware of each other
in different location?"

So you get the bit
when he's scratching

on the side of the sofa,

and she's scratching
on the wall.

It's just a great moment.

♪

- You know, he had the scene
with Amy Irving

on the staircase
when she has a vision.

- Oh.

♪

- And, you know, famously
De Palma has Amy Irving

in front of a green screen
and she's revolving one way,

and the action is being
projected behind her.

♪

Brilliantly simple idea.

- Stop!

♪

- Just relax, Robin, relax.
It's going to be okay.

- There are things
that are in "The Fury"

that have been ripped off

in every film
about psychic powers,

including superhero movies,
ever since.

It's like the Rick Baker effect

of the throbbing veins
in the head.

♪

That's first seen in "The Fury"
and like ripped off

in, like, films to this day.

♪

- [screams]

♪

narrator: In a movie
filled with great set pieces,

"The Fury"
saves the best for last.

♪

Amy Irving's character
turns the full force

of her powers on the villain,
played by

legendary actor/director
John Cassavetes.

- The ending of "The Fury"

is the single greatest ending
of any, you know,

Hollywood film of the 1970s.

- You go to the hell.

♪

- Especially for someone
who doesn't particularly care

for Cassavetes movies
as I really don't,

watching him blow up like that
is--oh, it's so delicious.

- [screams]

♪

- If you've seen "The Fury,"

when you see "Scanners,"

it's like,
"Oh, yeah, well, it's good.

"Not John Cassavetes
being blown up

from head to toe
in slow motion good."

[chuckles]

♪

narrator:
Two years later,

David Cronenberg
made another movie

about psychic powers...

♪

A masterpiece
that trades exploding heads

for broken hearts.

♪

- I've had another episode.

[eerie music]

What's happening to me?

♪

- It's your power
of second sight.

♪

- [screams]

- The ice is gonna break!

male narrator: Based on one of
Stephen King's finest novels,

David Cronenberg's 1983
adaptation of "The Dead Zone"

tells the story
of Johnny Smith...

- You're gonna like it.

It's about a school teacher

who gets chased
by a headless demon.

narrator:
A man whose happy life

is ruined
by a serious car accident.

♪

- [screams]

♪

narrator: After spending
five years in a coma,

Johnny wakes up
with psychic powers...

♪

But not much else.

- He's lost five years
of his life.

He's lost the woman he loved.
He's lost his career.

And, nevertheless,

he picks up
the shattered fragments

of his life
and begins to fit them

back together, and he goes on.

I think it's impossible not
to be a little moved by that.

- It was
the first time, I believe,

that Cronenberg had access
to the best possible cast.

And Christopher Walken,
his most moving and emotional

and heartbreaking performance
I've ever seen.

♪

- David had described
Chris Walken's face

as the subject of the movie,

the arc of his character
carries the whole movie,

and really this is a man

who's filled
with regret and despair,

so a lot of his actions
tell the story,

but a lot of this
was really carrying the story

from beginning to end.

- You're given
this kind of gift

of being able
to see the future,

which should be something
that's great...

♪

And yet it keeps leading him
into situations

whereby he's shown
some incredibly dark things.

And sometimes
he can save people,

and sometimes he can't.

♪

- [gasps]

♪

narrator:
With "The Dead Zone,"

Cronenberg swapped
the cold objectivity

of "Scanners"

for a much more intimate
approach to psychic phenomena.

♪

- [screams]

- Cronenberg solved the problem

of how do you show the actor

seeing the future
or reading someone's mind?

How do you visualize that?

And he did that by flinging
Christopher Walken

right into his own visions.

♪

- Amy!

- And so when a house

is burning a few minutes
in the future,

Johnny Smith is right there
in the bed in the nursery

watching the fish tank boil
and explode.

♪

- He's a very
tortured protagonist,

and he still chooses
to do right in the movie

despite the fact that life

has just been dealing him
very poor cards.

- When I woke up,
my girl was gone,

my job was gone,
my legs are just about useless.

- I think of it
as a very emotional movie

because the very mechanism
that drives it forward

is tragic human experience.

[people cheering]

narrator: The ultimate test
of Johnny's character

comes when he meets
up-and-coming politician,

Greg Stillson,
played by Martin Sheen.

- You got to stay
in better shape

in this country.

What the hell has happened
to this country?

narrator: Stillson's
straight-talking populism

conceals his true nature,

he's a bullying egomaniac

who will stop at nothing
to gain power.

- I have had a vision
that I am going to be president

of the United States someday,

and I have accepted
that responsibility,

and nobody, I mean nobody,

is gonna stop me.

narrator: When Johnny
shakes hands with Stillson,

he has a premonition of him
starting World War III.

♪

[crowd chanting]
Stillson, Stillson, Stillson!

Stillson, Stillson!

♪

- The missiles are flying.
Hallelujah.

- If you knew somebody

was going to be
a mass murderer,

is gonna commit genocide
on a major level,

but haven't done it yet,
would you take him out?

That's basically what
the end of the movie is,

is that Christopher Walken
decides that he has

to assassinate Greg Stillson
to save the world.

[cheers and applause]

- Johnny!

narrator:
At the tense finale,

we find ourselves
rooting for an assassin.

- Give me him!
- Don't!

♪

narrator:
Johnny is doomed,

but he does save the world.

♪

- Evil finds a way
of devouring itself.

You see that in the movie.

You see that
in the book as well.

Most really evil people

have a self-destruct button
built in.

[gunshot]

♪

- It's over.

- And sooner or later,
they put their fist down on it

without realizing
what they've done.

♪

- That movie
is so heartbreaking,

and every time I watch it,

I'm more enamored

with Cronenberg as a filmmaker
and what he has done.

♪

narrator: Not every story
about a psychic is a tragedy.

For some, it opens up
a world of demented fun.

- It's showtime.

[eerie music]

- [laughs]

male narrator:
In 1985, a young director

named Tim Burton

made his first
feature-length film,

"Pee-wee's Big Adventure."

- It looked like this.
[laughs]

- [screams]

narrator:
It was an unlikely hit.

- [screams]

[all scream]

narrator:
Burton's next project

was a horror comedy
about two ghosts

and the psychic girl

who becomes
their surrogate daughter.

♪

It was called...

- Beetlejuice,
Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!

- Oh, no!

- "Pee-wee's Big Adventure"
is one of my favorite films,

and so then,
when "Beetlejuice" came out,

everyone knew this
was something special.

It was gonna be like the guy

who made
"Pee-wee's Big Adventure"

had made
some kind of horror movie.

[upbeat spooky music]

Right from the opening shot
with the Danny Elfman music,

you are 100%
in a Tim Burton film.

♪

Narrator:
"Beetlejuice" begins

with a demise of a sweet,

but not terribly bright
young couple...

- [screams]

narrator: Played by
Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin.

[both scream]

- What I loved about it

from just
even reading the script

was they were
very matter-of-fact

about it, you know?

It's rather, "You know,
we're simple folks

and we seem to be dead."

- I've been reading that book,
and there's a word

for people in our situation.
Ghosts.

[eerie music]

- You know, everything is
kind of taken for granted,

you know,
there's nothing too shocking

about any of it to us.

- I don't think we have
very much

to worry about anymore.

- I find that very amusing.

♪

narrator:
Life isn't that different

till their home is sold
to Charles and Delia Deetz

who turn it
into a post-modern hell.

♪

- I loved that dynamic,
in the Beetlejuice family,

that it's the ghosts
that were the friendly ones.

They're the ones
being terrorized by the humans.

- Oh!

- You can see us
without the sheets?

- Of course I can see you.

- Well, how is it that
you see us and nobody else can?

narrator:
The ghosts' sole ally

is young Lydia Deetz,
who has the psychic gift

of being able to see
and communicate with the dead.

♪

- I wanted to be Winona Ryder
as Lydia.

- Live people ignore
the strange and usual.

I, myself,
am strange and unusual.

- She was just the coolest.

She had the coolest lines.

- I plan to have a stroke

from the amount of MSG
that's in this food.

- And her costumes
and how she wasn't

that happy-go-lucky kid.

She could see more.

She was "spiritually woke,"

and she was
unapologetically herself.

- God!
You guys really are dead.

This is amazing.

narrator: Lydia's sensitivity
lets her see

what her parents cannot.

- Careful, that's my sculpture.

narrator:
A world beyond themselves.

- If you don't let me gut out
this house and make it my own,

I will go insane,
and I will take you with me!

♪

narrator: Lydia tries
to act as the medium

between the living
and the dead,

but it's no use.

- But they were trying
to scare you away,

and you didn't get scared.

- Please, they're dead.

It's a little late
to be neurotic.

♪

narrator:
In desperation, the ghosts

summon a bio-exorcist,
the demon Beetlejuice,

played in a performance
for the ages

by Michael Keaton.

- Yeah!

- Michael Keaton
was amazing as Beetlejuice.

- You know,
we got to get closer.

Move in with you for a while.
Get to be real pals.

You know what I'm saying?

And--
[spits]

- Ugh.
- Save that guy for later.

- So funny.

I really loved, loved him,

and he--so much was ad-libbed
and just made up on the fly.

- I'm feeling a little anxious,
if you know what I mean.

[upbeat music]

narrator: Beetlejuice is
an incarnation of corruption.

♪

He cannot be trusted.

♪

Humans and ghosts
must come together

to save Lydia
from his clutches.

- [screams]

narrator: It's a metaphor
for the rescue

of a neglected child
from loneliness and despair.

- You're probably supposed
to interpret the movie

through Lydia's perspective,

and she is
very much an outsider

who comes to belong

through very unusual means

by having ghost parents

who are better parents
to her than her real parents.

- How'd you do
on that science test?

- It was gross.

They wanted me
to dissect a frog.

narrator:
Traditionally, movie psychics

are cursed by their gifts.

[Harry Belafonte's "Day-O"]

Beetlejuice is the rare film
about a psychic

that has a happy ending--

for Lydia and for the people
in her life,

living and dead.

- Sometimes,
if somebody recognizes me,

they'll say,
"I like your movie."

And I'm like, "Okay."

And so I finally started
asking people,

"What movie?"
[chuckles]

- Oh!
[laughs]

95% of the time
they mean "Beetlejuice."

They think that's
the only movie I've made,

and they like my movie.
[laughs]

Which I'm perfectly happy with.
I love that.

♪

- I can communicate
with the other side.

narrator:
The ability to see the dead

is a miraculous gift.

♪

- It was cold-blooded murder.

♪

narrator: Unless you're
the tortured hero

of "The Frighteners."

male narrator: When you think
of filmmaker Peter Jackson,

this is probably
what comes to mind.

[dramatic music]

- [screams]
- [gasps]

narrator: But horror fans
know he started out

making some of
the most outrageous

splatter films
ever to hit the screen.

[eerie music]

The bridge between

the two Peter Jacksons
is "The Frighteners."

- I can see spirits.

♪

narrator:
A film that takes

some very surprising turns.

♪

- [screams]

- "The Frighteners"
is such a classic comedy horror

where it starts off so goofy...

♪

And then gets
genuinely frightening.

- [screams]

- This one really has a build,

I think, that no other
comedy horror has ever had.

♪

narrator:
Michael J. Fox stars

as Frank Bannister,

who gains the power
to communicate with ghosts

after he's in a car accident
that kills his wife.

♪

Feeling responsible
for her death,

he's literally a haunted man,

so lost in self-loathing,
that he prostitutes his gift

using the ghosts
to scam the living.

- [laughing]

- [screams]
- [screams]

- We're so used to, you know,
seeing all these psychics

use their powers
in certain ways--

to find evil
or to find more answers,

but in this case,
Michael J. Fox,

he's a con artist.

- Well, folks,
I can do a clearance,

but it's not gonna be cheap.

- Sure, he's a psychic.
He can see ghosts.

But this is him using his power
to make that extra buck.

- This could be the worst case
I have ever...seen.

♪

- Where are you going?
[screaming indistinctly]

narrator:
Things get worse

when a demonic spirit appears

and begins killing people
Frank comes into contact with.

- [gasps]
- [growls]

- [screams]

narrator:
Frank's psychic gift

lets him see
who's next to die.

♪

- [screams]

narrator: But he's
powerless to save them.

♪

The murders attract
the attention

of a very peculiar FBI agent,

played by
horror legend Jeffrey Combs.

- You're a very dangerous man,
Mr. Bannister.

♪

- I sort of approached him
like what happens

when your patriotism
takes you to a point

where you will do anything
for your country,

to the point
where you don't even know

how damaged you are anymore.

♪

- My body is roadmap of pain.

- Jeffrey Combs
made "Frighteners."

Look at his haircut
and the way he speaks

and his eyes for everything.

♪

- Well, the haircut
was my idea, I'm afraid.

I was thinking about
what is the prime example

of that kind of nationalism?
Oh, wait a minute.

And I found
a book of young Hitler.

♪

I took it back to Peter,
and I said,

"Peter, what do you think
my hair would look like that?"

And I thought he would say,
"No, are you crazy?"

But he looked at it

and just took a beat,
and he went,

[imitates New Zealand accent]
"Yeah, yes, that'll be good."

♪

narrator:
In the film's dark finale,

Frank discovers his wife
was one of many victims

of a pair of thrill killers

played by Dee Wallace
and Jake Busey.

♪

- You killed her.
- You're next, pal.

- I think it's the first movie
that has a homicidal couple

where one is a ghost
and one is not.

I can't think
of one before that.

♪

- [grunts]
- [moans]

- But it's a cool idea

that it's also this
really dark romance of sorts,

that they get off
on this fact,

that they keep killing
more and more people,

that they get
more and more in love

with each other
the more bodies they pile up.

It's a really nutty idea.

♪

- [grunting]

narrator:
With the mystery solved,

Frank is finally able
to move on with his life.

♪

- Be happy.

narrator: "The Frighteners"
turns out to be a study

of trauma,
depression, and forgiveness.

- It corkscrews into something

that you're
not even prepared for,

and that's the genius of it.

♪

It's a movie
that you can't quite categorize

'cause it's many things.

After setting you up
thinking this is just gonna be

some pleasant,
safe little ride...

- [screams]
- [screams]

- It takes you down
a rabbit hole of true horror.

♪

Isn't that what a movie
is supposed to do

is take you
on an unexpected journey?

♪

narrator:
We don't fully understand

how our brains work...

- The derangement
of the synapses.

♪

narrator:
Nor can we prove

or disprove
psychic powers are real.

♪

But as long as we can think
and dream...

♪

We'll have psychics
on our minds.

♪