The Frighteners - Cast

Cast

• Michael J. Fox as Frank Bannister: Although Jackson and Walsh envisioned The Frighteners as a low budget film with unknown actors, Zemeckis suggested casting his Back to the Future star Michael J. Fox in the lead role. Fox became enthusiastic about working with Jackson when he saw Heavenly Creatures at the Toronto International Film Festival. Fox read the script and was impressed by its "weirdness and macabre" nature.
• Trini Alvarado as Dr. Lucy Lynskey: The character is named after Heavenly Creatures star Melanie Lynskey, who also cameos in The Frighteners.
• Peter Dobson as Ray Lynskey, Lucy's health-obsessed and comically hot-headed husband who dislikes Frank's tactics.
• John Astin as The Judge: Jackson went on to cast John's son Sean as Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings.
• Jake Busey as Johnny Charles Bartlett, a mass murderer who continues his work in the afterlife, focusing on increasing his body count as a form of competition with other famous murderers. He comes back from Hell, able to attack the living and the dead, as the ghost of the Grim Reaper,
• Dee Wallace Stone as Patricia Ann Bradley, Bartlett's mentally ill lover- escaping execution at the time of the original murders as she was underage- who is under strict observance from her elderly mother.
• Jeffrey Combs as Special Agent Milton Dammers, an eccentric FBI agent who has a vendetta against Bannister. He is a former undercover agent known for his work with cultists, which caused him to sustain multiple massive mutilations and driven to the brink of insanity. He has a problem with woman screaming at him. Jackson opted to cast Combs as Dammers because he was a fan of the actor's work in Re-Animator.
• R. Lee Ermey as the ghost of Sgt Hiles.
• Chi McBride and Jim Fyfe as Cyrus and Stuart, Frank's deceased associates for his ghosthunting business.
• Angela Bloomfield as Debra Bannister, Frank's deceased wife.
• Troy Evans as Sheriff Walt Perry, a local law enforcement officer and ally to Frank.
• Julianna McCarthy as Old Lady Bradley, Patricia's elderly and obsessed mother and former director of the psychiatric hospital.
• Elizabeth Hawthorne as Magda Rees-Jones, a snooty British local television news anchor.

Cameo appearances

• Peter Jackson as a man with piercings
• Melanie Lynskey as a deputy, who is briefly seen standing next to Lucy Lynskey