MovieChat Forums > The Frighteners (1996) Discussion > I think Jeffrey Combs is a great actor B...

I think Jeffrey Combs is a great actor BUT


did anyone dislike the dammers character? i couldn't stand him. he was completely out of touch with what was going on, made stupid decisions, etc. this is just a movie, but i thought i would share my opinions on the character. still got love for jeffrey combs work though. also i thought this movie was entertaining, not the best, there are things that don't add up, but i still enjoyed it.

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Agreed

Dammers character seemed really out of place in this movie.



And all will turn
To silver glass
A light on the water
Grey ships pass
Into the west

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I think that was the point...the character needed to be completely creepy...he was brilliant in his portrayal...
"It doesn't mean that much to me to mean that much to you." -Neil Young

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I thought he wasn't creepy or funny .....just ridiculous....very very out of place

The Film could have done without him

And all will turn
To silver glass
A light on the water
Grey ships pass
Into the west

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i respect your opinion Kurious, but i gotta agree with goodkat2. to me he wasnt creepy or funny, he was just annoying, it felt like at times he was there for no real reason, and when he had his little moments, i thought they tried to hard in making the character appear mysterious and 'different'. maybe they were trying for that, dont know, but it would have been a little better if they toned that character down a bit. just my opinions though.

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combs was so good and his character was even better!

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wow you guys are crazy. I think this is the best Comb's appearance to date. I frigggin looove his character in this movie. Everytime I think of him I want to watch the movie again :)

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Agree with keepitgoan, he was hilarious.

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WHAT?

His character is immensely entertaining and bought the film up another notch when he came in halfway through.

I quote his lines quite often and have people in stitches.

"but what about the guy in the toilet? what'd he do to you frank? p*ss on your hush puppies?"

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[deleted]

me too, very creepy.

but i think his best performance is in re-animator, hands down no contest.

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Agreed, he is brilliant as Dammers but he is never better than when portraying Herbert West - Re-Animator!

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I met Mr. Combs two years ago and have my Special Edition copy of Frightners signed with the line "My Body....is a road map of pain."

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Totally awesome!

But don't change a hair for me
Not if you care for me

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Recently met the mad at Fan Expo and he clearly had fond memories of working on this movie. He agreed with me that it's extremely under valued.

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As Much as I love jeffery combs, I agere his character whould have been better if They toned it a little down,
But the way he was, If that was what they were going for, combs was The only actor who could pull it off.

" Look, there's two women fuc*ing a polar bear!"

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How was he out of place? He fit perfectly into the film. In fact I'd say his one of the better characters.

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Jeffrey Combs was better in this than his own Re-Animator franchise...

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*beep* I forgot all about Re-Animator. I haven't seen that in years.

Cheers for the reminder.

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I agree with those who were not satisfied with this character. I thought he was just too much, they were trying too hard to make him "different". In the end, as someone on this thread said, he turned out to be "not creepy or funny, just ridiculous".

Granted, when he first appears in the film, he is fascinatingly creepy and hilarious. But as the film progresses, he seems to be there just to advance the plot with no rhyme or reason to his character. I was particularly annoyed when he dragged Lucy from the hospital as she was preparing to rescue Frank from his "out of body experience". I thought it was just so random, him appearing in the hospital and dragging Lucy away. At this point, the movie lost its tension for a while.

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[deleted]

I don't like Dammers myself but how was that random? He'd been around psychotic killers for years undercover and was convinced that Frank was guilty.He'd just escaped from him with Lucy's help,so he left him to freeze to death and stopped her from helping him.It fit the weird person he is.

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I actually think that Dammers was one of my favourite characters. He did have some moments that could've been sliced out, like the "My body, a roadmap of pain" bit that just came off as weird and completely pointless.


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[deleted]

Jeffrey Combs is awesome in this movie. I enjoy his performance every time I watch this. Dammers is a great character

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he was completely out of touch with what was going on, made stupid decisions, etc.
I don't understand how these observations are criticisms. If all characters in a story (and especially in a horror comedy) were completely in touch with what was going on and made wise decisions, there would be no story. Dammers was there to create obstacles to the "hero" solving the story problems. And all that aside, he was hilarious.

-----------------
"I've always resisted the notion that knowledge ruined paradise." Prof. Xavier

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To me, all the things you're complaining about are the whole point of this character?

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Sometimes, you're SUPPOSED to dislike a character. And that doesn't mean the character is then "out of place", whatever that means. The character needed to be the way he was in order to advance the narrative in the way that the director saw fit.

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just ended up being a bad Jim Carrey impression.

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just ended up being a bad Jim Carrey impression.

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yep - he was crap

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His acting was good, but his character was just such an a-hole and we never get to find out IN the film why he acted the way he did. No backstory to help prove all the idiotic thing he did near the end of the film. He was alway in the way and for what reason?

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Agreed, I hated this character. He's like a weird mix of Bruce Campbell and Jim Carrey and not in a good way. There's no point of his character, he's just there to be weird. He could have been lifted right out and it wouldn't have changed the movie at all.

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I couldn't agree less. Dammers was awesome & Combs completely stole the film for me

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Dammers' motivation (and backstory) is explained in the scenes added back into Peter Jackson's DIRECTORS CUT. It's over 10 minutes longer than the theatrical verison and is available on blu-ray.

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I only watched the Directors Cut on HD rip and its great, a fun whacky character.

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