Frailty
From AwardAnnals
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| Director(s) | Bill Paxton |
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| Distributor | Lions Gate |
| Honors | |
| 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… | |
Honors
Reviews
Amazon.com
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
Barnes and Noble
The lines between faith, zealotry, and insanity are blurred in Bill Paxton’s directorial debut, a contemporary psychothriller with nods to Alfred Hitchcock. Paxton himself stars as a single father of two who claims to have orders from God to destroy demons on Earth. Unfortunately, the demons he sees seem to be real people, his weapon of choice is an axe, and he forces his two young sons to help him with his bloody mission. Paxton carries the film with the refined subtlety of a master sociopath—he seems totally sane despite the absurdity of his dogma. Matthew McConaughey costars as one of the sons, who as an adult recounts the clan’s disturbing deeds in flashbacks to FBI agent Powers Boothe. For a first-time director, Paxton frightens with finesse, acknowledging the tried-and-true tactics of Hitchcock, most notably when one of the boys is confined to a basement and suffers a Vertigo-esque freak-out sequence. But be not mistaken: Just when Frailty may start to seem too straightforward or derivative, the movie throws a creepy curve and spirals downward. Whether it spirals into insanity or into Hell is the question, one that is answered in the unnerving twist of an ending. Tony Nigro
