# 7 - frailty

Frailty (2001)

Director:  Bill Paxton

Actors:  Matthew McConaughey, Bill Paxton, Powers Booth, Matt O’Leary, and Jeremy Sumpter

Let me preface my review by saying that I am no Roger Ebert or Peter Travers.  I am not claiming to be a connoisseur of horror movies, nor am I suggesting that I am worthy of rating films for a renowned publication.   I’m simply a person who loves movies and who likes to write about “stuff”.  If you are not interested in scary movies or if you don’t like reading… then delete this immediately.

The movie is Frailty, a low-budget psychological thriller with nuances of The Usual Suspects, The Shining, and even Boondock Saints.  Bill Paxton and Matthew McConaughey give great performances, while teenage actors Jeremy Sumpter and Matt O’Leary are extraordinary as the young brothers, Adam and Fenton Meiks.

It was a dark and stormy night… dun dun dun.  Fenton Meiks (McConaughey) walks into an FBI office and announces that he knows who the “God’s Hand Killer” is, the serial murderer responsible for a string of deaths in the area.  It is none other than his younger brother Adam, whom he claims just committed suicide.  When FBI agent Wesley Doyle (Powers Booth) questions this knowledge, Fenton begins to chronicle his unbelievably painful and gruesome childhood.

We learn that Fenton and Adam are the only sons of widowed father Bill Paxton (we will call him “Dad” since he is nameless in the film).  Dad wakes them one night with news that he was visited by an angel in his dreams.  This heavenly creature informed him that they (Dad and the boys) had been selected by God to destroy demons who were roaming the earth disguised as humans.  He’s not sure how the plan will work, but assures the boys that it is a secret and if they tell, “someone will die”.

Fenton hopes and prays that this is just a nightmare.  But when the boys see Dad carrying a wrapped body over his shoulder in the middle of the night, his deepest fears are realized.  The Lord had delivered the list of names, and this was merely the first demon.  Fenton believes that his Dad is a murderer, while Adam is certain that he is just acting on “God’s will”.  As the movie concludes we see that either way, it didn’t really matter what they accepted as the truth.  Their fate was sealed the night Dad told them of the angel’s visit.

I am hesitant to say much more about the plot, because the screenplay is fantastic and the twists and turns are well worth the wait.  The movie, which stars Paxton, was also his directorial debut and with a helping hand from writer Brent Hanley they have delivered a gem of a horror flick. 

The movie is extremely disturbing and truly scary.  The axe-murder scenes are off-camera, but that doesn’t diminish the impact they have on the film.  I would argue, in fact, that it just adds to the intensity.  And the relationship between the boys and their father is horrifying.  The religious perversion, the child abuse, and of course the grisly homicides are heavy stuff… even for an avid terror fan.  But if you’re looking for a genuine scare, you won’t be disappointed.

 

Was Frailty scary?  Yes

Jami’s Rating:  4 out of 5 stars

Would I recommend this movie:  Yes