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Conversely, Todd McCarthy of "Variety" thought that the film should have remained an episode of "Tales from the Crypt". Critic James Berardinelli believed that although "The Frighteners" wasn't "a bad film", it was "a disappointment, following Jackson's powerful, true-life matricide tale, "Heavenly Creatures", and because of that "The Frighteners" fell short of expectations by being just one of many in the long line of 1996 summer movies." "Chicago Sun-Times" Roger Ebert gave the film one star out of four, and felt that Jackson was more interested in prosthetic makeup designs, computer animation, and special effects than writing a cohesive storyline. Ebert and critic Gene Siskel gave it a "two thumbs down" rating on their TV show "At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert".&lt;ref name="Siskel/Ebert"&gt; &lt;/ref&gt; "Chicago Reader" critic Jonathan Rosenbaum, described the film's special effects as "ugly, aggressive" and "proliferating", saying that "trying to keep interested in [the special effects] was like trying to remain interested in a loudmouth shouting in [his] ear". Edward Guthmann of the "San Francisco Chronicle" stated that "instead of moving the horror genre in new directions, "The Frighteners" simply falls apart from its barrage of visual effects and the overmixed onslaught of Danny Elfman's music score". "The Austin Chronicle"s Joey O'Brien, said that although the screenplay was "practically loaded with wild ideas, knowingly campy dialogue and offbeat characterizations", it "switched gears" too fast and too frequently that "the audience is left struggling to catch up as ["The Frighteners"] twists and turns its way unmercifully towards a literally out-of-this-world finale".