Frailty
by Bill Paxton
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Brad Berryhill, Derk Cheetwood, Luke Askew, Powers Boothe, Vincent ChaseDirector: Bill Paxton
Brand: PAXTON,BILL
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 100 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-09-17
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Lions Gate
Product features:
- DVD Details: Actors: Luke Askew, Brad Berryhill, Powers Boothe, Vincent Chase, Derk Cheetwood
- Directors: Bill Paxton
- Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only)
- Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1; Number of discs: 1; Studio: Lions Gate
- DVD Release Date: September 17, 2002; Run Time: 100 minutes
Movie Reviews of Frailty
Movie Review: Outstanding
Summary: 5 Stars
"Frailty" was quite critically acclaimed, but it doesn't seem quite as popular among horror fans as it seems like it ought to be. Some of them will tell you, no doubt, that "Frailty" isn't a horror movie and while they're free to have their position, I feel that "Frailty" represents everything that horror should be. Some will tell you that something isn't *really* horror unless it has a lot of traditional scare scenes and whatnot, and while "Frailty" isn't scary in the conventional sense it's definitely one of the most unsettling movies of the last decade. It's short on action, for sure, but the general mood and the bleak ideas found in this movie can match up well against just about anything.
The film opens as Agent Wesley Doyle (Powers Boothe) arrives at FBI headquarters to find Fenton Meiks (Matthew McConaughey waiting for him in his office. Meiks has some exciting news: His brother, Adam, is the God's Hand killer is, who is responsible for a half a dozen or so disappearances and who claims to be acting as, well, God's Hand. Doyle is understandably skeptical, so Fenton launches into a disturbing tale of his childhood: When Fenton (Matt O'Leary) is about 10 and his brother Adam (Jeremy Sumpter) a few years younger, their single father (Bill Paxton) has a peculiar vision: Late at night an angel comes to him and tells him that the final days are at hand, that demons have released on the earth, and that Meiks family has been charged with the duty of fighting them. These demons, however, aren't beasts or monsters, but look just like ordinary humans. The young Adam takes these proclamations mildly, but Fenton is far more skeptical, and is, reasonably, convinced that these demons appear human because that's all that they are. Fenton wants to run away, but he doesn't really want abandon his father and he absolutely doesn't want to leave trusting Adam behind. The rest of the film focuses largely on Fenton's struggle to pacify this mad situation, somehow.
"Frailty" is the quintessential psychological horror film. Most of the time the protagonists of the film aren't in much physical danger, but the mental trauma that Fenton undergoes is almost beyond belief. We don't see much of Dad before the vision, but we see enough to know that he's a good man and quite an ideal father. He's still the same man after the vision, in fact, apart from the fact that he occasionally drives off late at night, and returns home with some stranger bound and gagged and takes them to the shed out back, where the rusty ax waits. Though we learn the basics of the situation pretty quickly, first-time director and long-time actor Bill Paxton draws out the exposition, slowly building to the first horrific murder and the turmoil that follows in the wake of Dad's spree. The film proves quite chilling before anything really happens, largely because of the disturbing, calm way that Dad discusses the mad plan, the sheer horror of the whole situation and in the cool, distant visual style of the film. Horror movies are often garish and overblown, but "Frailty" takes the opposite tack, focusing on the dull, hot light of Texas and the yellowish tones that dominate landscape, giving the whole film a sense of reality that is often lacking in other films. This method makes the few more stylized visuals all the more effective, like in the great scene where Dad realizes that his sacred weapon is found in a lonely barn which has an unearthly shaft of light pointing down towards it from the sky and through the cracks in the walls. The murder scenes are uniformly nerve-wracking, even if they aren't graphic. (This film is probably rated R for it's themes and a bit of profanity, not for what you actually see.) How affecting this movie is is probably based to some degree on how you got along with your parents. If your father was indifferent or not around perhaps this won't effect as much, but for someone who always was close to their Dad it can be a pretty disturbing concept. Or, it is for me, anyway.
"Frailty" has a small cast, and they're all capable. You always gotta worry about kids in horror movies, but O'Leary and Sumpter both do a fine job. O'Leary has the much meatier role, and he's very believable and identifiable, and McConaughey is good as the adult Fenton. He's considered something of a lightweight actor, but he fits into the bleak story nicely, and what can I say, I like the guy. Paxton is excellent as the father as well, and gives a truly unnerving performance. On the downside, Boothe's FBI Agent is something of of a cliché, but that's okay, he's mostly just a plot device, he doesn't really do much of anything in the story. He is what he is effectively enough, anyway.
The film is fairly slow-moving, but it really comes to life at the end, where Fenton's struggles against his father become more open and dangerous all while their are some surprising developments in the current timeline. There are some significant revelations in the final act, and I must admit that I didn't see the big one coming. Probably lots of people will, but it pretty well blindsided me. I think it's great, and the film all wraps up quite nicely in the end. I'm not saying there aren't a few implausibilities and loose ends, but these things are inevitable in this kinda movie, and "Frailty" pulls this off a lot better than most.
Hmm, that's it. "Frailty" is just a great, very creepy, very nasty horror movie. Check it out if you want some mature, serious horror. Let's hope Paxton and Hanley each get around to making some more horror stuff someday soon.
Grade: A-
SPOILER ALERT: On a closing note, I think it's hilarious how so many film critics refuse to accept the import of the ending, and pretend that it's ambiguous. Did these people think that Bruce Willis wasn't really a ghost at the end of The Sixth Sense too? God. I guess they were just too enamored with the anti-fanatic commentary that they couldn't accept it when they found out they were watching a horror movie all along, a horror movie with no message whatsoever. (According to writer Hanley, anyway, and I'd say he has the final word on that.) It's funny to listen to his commentary, he seems baffled and a little angry at the way people refused to accept it for what it is. But anyway. . .
Summary of Frailty
Fenton Meiks arrives at an FBI office with information about the God's Hands killer, a religious fanatic who thinks he is on a mission from God to rid the world of \demons" posing as humans; Fenton believes that his father and now his brother are the killers.Genre: Horror
Rating: R
Release Date: 17-SEP-2002
Media Type: DVD"""
Steeped in gloomy atmosphere, Frailty locates its horror in the tyranny of religious fanaticism. Making an assured directorial debut, actor Bill Paxton costars as a Texas widower who believes God has recruited him to destroy demons in human form. Feeling divinely justified in committing a series of ax murders (discreetly unseen), he urges his two young sons to assist him in the killings--a living nightmare recalled in flashback by one of the now-adult sons (Matthew McConaughey) to the FBI agent (Powers Boothe) who's investigating the murders. But mystery is of secondary importance in Brent Hanley's cleverly twisting screenplay; Frailty suggests, with unsettling subtlety, that Paxton's mission may not be delusional, thus burdening his deadly wrath with spiritually disturbing significance. It's definitely not a feel-good film, but with celebrity endorsements by Stephen King and directors James Cameron and Sam Raimi (who both made films with Paxton), Frailty gets under the skin with insidious efficiency. --Jeff Shannon
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