To date, 'The Frighteners' remains the film that she has the
least amount of screen time in. Barely ten or eleven seconds.
The reason for her cameo silent walk-on part was because all
the major roles had been cast and the only thing he could
offer Melanie by way of a role was a deputy who was
escorting Trini Alvardo's character, who had Mel's surname,
into the police station.
Filmed in Wellington, New Zealand,
the movie concentrates
on supernatural goings-on in an American town and how it
affects the lives of Frank Bannister
and Lucy Lynskey, who
are caught up in the weird and spooky
events. Failing to be a
hit movie, it did nothing for Lynskey's
career at the time. Such
a tiny part was barely noticable, and
she endured another
year-and-a-half of not being able to
get acting work, as well as
a nightmare three months trying to get
noticed in the L.A.
casting circuit.
