Frailty
(2002)
|
Actor Bill Paxton's directorial debut, FRAILTY, has been hailed for its originality by author Stephen King and director Sam Raimi (THE EVIL DEAD). The film opens on a stormy night when an intense man (Matthew McConaughey) walks into FBI headquarters in Dallas and tells Agent Wesley Doyle (Powers Boothe) that he knows who the "God's Hand" serial killer is. He tells a compelling tale, shown in flashback, of how he and his brother lived with their kind widower father (Bill Paxton), a mechanic. One night, their father woke them up to tell them he'd had a vision, and that God had commanded the family to slay demons in human form. The older brother, Fenton (Matt O'Leary), doesn't believe a word of it, and assumes their father has gone mad. The younger brother, Adam (Jeremy Sumpter), is more easily swayed. Soon the father is bringing people home, supposedly chosen by God for them to slay. When Fenton tries to resist his father's plan, he finds his own life in danger. Eschewing graphic gore in favor of more subtle chills, Paxton's suspenseful and creepy film harkens back to the wholesome surface and underlying depravity of classics like NIGHT OF THE HUNTER. |
Screenshots
Actor Bill Paxton (Aliens, Titanic) made his directorial debut with this haunting, richly textured tale about a family torn apart by religious fanaticism and madness. Texan Fenton Meiks (a career-best performance by Matthew McConaughey) tells FBI agent Doyle (Powers Boothe) that the serial killer he is looking for — an axe murderer known as “God's Hand” — is his brother and relates, in flashback, their horrifying family history. Raised by a loving widower (played by Paxton), the two young boys are awakened one night by their father who informs them that God has chosen the family for a mission: to rid the world of demons that disguise themselves as human beings. Using the “less is more” maxim — no gore, just powerful imagery, a chilling “Southern Gothic” atmosphere and shattering sound effects — Paxton's remarkably assured, if morbidly bleak, creepshow is directed with artful precision. Every frame is filled with dark foreboding and the menace is sustained to the shattering climax. This thoughtful, yet chilling, horror really gets under the skin and is an extraordinary achievement for the first-time director.
Halliwell's Film Guide
Chilling little horror story of fundamentalist religion gone mad, stylishly made.