User reviews

"That was crazy!" was my response to nobody after watching this movie by myself. As this dark movie was slowly snaking its way toward a conclusion I kept wondering, "What's going to happen here?"

"Frailty" starts with Matthew McConaughey's character seated in a Dallas FBI office waiting to talk to a particular agent. When the agent, Wesley Doyle (Powers Boothe), finally meets Matthew M., M.M. conspicuously doesn't shake his hand and proceeds to tell Doyle that he knows who the God's Hand killer is. From there M.M. goes into a story going back to 1979 and his father (Bill Paxton) who believed he was receiving divine guidance to kill. His dad was such a believer that he included his sons in his "work." Dad said that he was called upon by the Lord to "destroy demons" who walked around in human form. He even had a list of names that was revealed to him.

*Just imagine the show "Supernatural" if Sam and Dean Winchester were hunting people.

While M.M. is telling this story we're seeing it happen as a flashback. The longer he tells this story the more you're wondering where it's going to wind up, but you're totally engrossed in the entire ordeal because a DUDE IS KILLING PEOPLE WITH HIS YOUNG SONS, and one of them whole-heartedly believes his dad.

The craziness doesn't stop until the very end where we get a serious twist. The thing about twist endings is that a movie has to be compelling enough up until that point. Using the IMDb scale, a movie can't be a 1/10 for an hour and a half and then throw a 10/10 twist in there. No one is going to bear through a paltry movie just for a good ending. A movie has to be at least a 5/10 to make an ending worth it. This movie was better than a 5/10 already, and the 9/10 ending only made it better.

Matthew McConaughey is a mysterious man waiting for Agent Wesley Doyle (Powers Boothe) in his FBI office. He claims to have information about a serial killer chased by FBI. When Agent Doyle arrives in the office, he tells him that the serial killer is indeed his dead brother. Agent Doyle requests some evidence, and the man tells the story of his life, since his childhood. They were a simple family of three: his widow father Meiks (Bill Paxton), his brother and himself. One night, his father gathers the two brothers and tells them that an angel of God had just visited him and assigned his family to destroy demons. What happens next is one of the most scary movie I have ever seen.

I watched this movie four months ago on VHS, and yesterday I watched again, now on DVD. Although being a low-budget movie, the screenplay is sharp, with no flaw. The cast is outstanding, but I would like to highlight the performance of Matt O'Leary as the young Felton. It is a very difficult and complex role to be performed by a young teenager. The direction of Bill Paxton is remarkable. There is no explicit violence in this horror movie. A great debut behind the camera. I regret the Brazilian title of this movie: 'A Mão do Diabo' (The Devil's Hand'). If at least it were 'The God's Hand', it might be acceptable. But calling this movie as 'the devil's hand' is indeed ridiculous. Brent Hanley, the screenwriter, did not deserve such a lack of respect from the Brazilian distributor. This film is highly recommended. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Mão do Diabo" ("The Devil's Hand")

This was recommended to me, and now I'm surprised it passed me by! A great play on the serial killer theme, and hearing voices from God, which many real life killers claim to have experienced. With solid direction from the late Bill Paxton and great acting throughout. And for a more mainstream horror movie, it still packed some serious punches.

Salut, Bill Paxton.

A story about a single father trying to convince his two sons that there's demons everywhere seems like the sort of thing that would come out completely idiotic. But they pull it off here rather neatly. It's the story of how Dad Meiks (Bill Paxton, in his directorial debut) got his sons to help him kill people whom he claimed were demons in 1970s Texas. Does he sound crazy? Maybe, but after you see the movie, you may have doubts about everything. Because believe you me, contrary to what you may expect, Matthew McConaughey can actually play a creepy role; and that's just what he does here.

Texas sure has turned out some interesting directors: first Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson, and now Bill Paxton.

I had to see this gem twice to really appreciate all of it. When a widowed father of two interrupts his two sons' sleep with a shocking revelation, they are torn between believing him and not. As the horrifying events of this tale unfold, we learn a lot about the father, about his two sons, and about their destinies. With shocking twist after shocking twist, this film never allows for a lull in the plot. Bill Paxton plays the father, but the most notable performances are that of his older son, Fenton, played by Matthew O'Leary and his younger son, Adam, played by Jeremy Sumpter. This is one of the best thrillers that I have seen in a while, and you will want to watch this a few times to appreciate every intricate aspect of the plot. I give this film a 9/10.

A very promising directorial debut for Bill Paxton. A very dark thriller/who-really-done-it recommended by Stephen King. This is a strong, well-conceived horror tale about a devout, but demented man in Thurman, Texas that goes on a murdering spree after getting orders from God to eliminate demons trying to control mankind. A couple of plot twists and an eerie finale makes for your moneys worth. Most of the violence you don't really see, but still enough to double up your stomach.

Director Paxton plays the twisted man to be known as the Hand of God Killer. Matthew McConaughey is equally impressive as the demented man's eldest son that ends up telling this story to a Dallas FBI Agent(Powers Boothe). Boothe, as always, is solid and flawless. Suspenseful white knuckler! Highly recommended.

Frailty is a psychological thriller released in 2001 but definitively one escaped from the 90s, the pacing, narrative and visual style undeniably make it feel like so.

The film follows two little boys, the brothers Adam and Fenton Meiks, and their dad (Bill Paxton), a typical family in a small town in Texas, that is until an angel reveals a mission to the father, a holly one, one sent by god himself and that mission is to destroy the evil on Earth, to destroy demons.

The greatness of this film rests on the narration style and the multiple plot twists along the way. It's not visually impressive, and the score is nothing to remember; besides a jump scare here and there you will not be frightened while watching this film. However one thing Frailty gets right is storytelling, keeping you on the edge of your seat basically for its entirety.

The central theme of Frailty is religion. I find the film to be a beautiful exploration of what having blind faith means and how god works in mysterious ways.

Directed by Bill Paxton (his first work as a director), Frailty is, and will continue to be my favorite horror film of all time, and watching it multiple times just make me appreciate it time and time again, but in a different way every time. If you have not watched it, you are missing out big time!

I first saw the trailer for Frailty on Yahoo Movies way back in the day, after hearing Stephen King praise it to high heaven. Not really a fan of either star, I still wanted to see it because I'm a huge thriller fan.

I was not disappointed. The acting was superb, especially from the two young boys. Usually I loathe child actors, but Young Adam and Young Fenton were excellent. Bill Paxton really did a good job of directing it too. It was beautifully shot.

One must also note the plot twists. The three twists at the end hit hard and fast, and I didn't see them coming. The final twist of the film, coupled with the gravity of what had just been revealed, gives me chills to this day, even though I've re-watched the film so many times.

A true gem.

I was completely taken with this movie. I loved the whole good-and-evil thing, the feeling of powerlessness in childhood, the dark places, the doom.

Paxton's performance is terrific, but his direction takes "Hitchcockian" too far. "Inspired by" is one thing. "Shameful ripoff" is another. And then, suddenly, the last 10 minutes of this terrifying tale of delusion and isolation turns into "The X-Files." Disappointing.

But it's still worth seeing, if you can handle the gloom.

Bill Paxton stars in and directs this highly original film. Having watched the first time I was by how good it was. The reviews I had heard were OK . As a result I was expecting an average thriller at most .However because of Paxtons excellent directing and acting the film is well worth watching , especially if you are a horror film fanatic.The film is also helped by the plot twists which keep coming until the closing credits . The films strongest point is the storyline which I have to say is highly original and is like I have ever seen before. Well done also to the 2 young leads which perfectly convey the emotions if these confused boys. I give this film 9/10 and I highly recommend that everyone catches it.

For the first eighty minutes, this was a scary, brilliantly acted, amazing movie. Unfortunately, somebody apparently felt that a "trick" ending was absolutely neccessary. In my opinion, the last twenty minutes were quite weak and undermined the movie considerably.

Still, I'll give it 7 out of a possible 10 stars.

Frailty is a film that you don't expect, as it differs greatly from your traditional thrillers. The core component of this film was flashback scenes of how a string of serial killings began.

The twist at the end was the same one I had in my mind from the very early stages of the film but that didn't take away the satisfaction or mysterious intrigue of the plot.

If you think about it, the story itself was a little weak and extremely basic. But, what Frailty managed to do so well was build a strong family bond as its centre, and the film focuses more on the families relationship, creating a sense of emotional depth which is what resonates the most with the audience.

The killings themselves were straightforward, with the main weapon of choice being revealed by god as an Axe called "OTIS" and the people chosen or should I say judged by god as "Demons" were portraying evil in the world.

It was more the impact of the killings and the sanity of the father which causes trauma and uncertainty to the two impressionable boys.

While there was limited screen time from Matthew MacCoughney despite being one of the top billings, I thought Bill Paxton as the Dad was superb and the standout of this feature.

Fenton (Matt O'Leary) did a great job of us disliking his moral stance and his objectification of his father while Adam (Jeremy Sumpter) was a family-oriented caring boy who gives off gentle, positive vibes.

There is something strange about Frailty, however. It doesn't ascend to a memorable film or something you will rush to tell your family and friends about. But it had some unique ideas.

It's an interesting film as it doesn't hit above and beyond. But it trends on a gradually fulfilling experience that keeps you second guessing right to the very end.

6/10.

The film is very complete in what it is, keeping one continuously interested with the flashbacks to childhood and growing up with such a bizarre father, and interspersing it with the tails of serial murder, one simply cannot go wrong. The very plot in itself, the very story and essence of the film, is entertaining. It is the sort of story that the director (Bill Paxton) could do so much with, and in this case, he really did do a lot with it.

From beginning to end you are kept anticipating more and more about what is happening and where the film is going, and the creativity that is behind this story is first class. I felt as if this film was exquisitely done from start to finish, and one of those rare gems that seemed to be without any boring lulls -- the action flowing neatly, quickly, and tightly from one scene to the next.

It demonstrates just how far people can go: so as to do such horrible things to their loved ones, and to do such acts of evil, in the name of 'God' when they are disillusioned as in this case. It also is sometimes interesting in its' twists & takes on the concept of morality as a whole.

Overall, this is the sort of film that one easily overlooks, but I would recommend you to not do likewise and to check this film out -- it is very much so worth your time.

Bill Paxton is a really good actor. He might not always hit the mark with his movies, but the guy can act. And it seems he has a better eye for a project to direct, than he had sometimes with his acting choices. Plus being in front and behind the camera must have been really exhausting for him.

But it all pays off. And it's not only about what way the story goes or if you think you know where it's heading (you might be in for a surprise or not). It's about the journey. And even if Matthew McConaughey has had quite a few bad acting choices himself (or the gigs he played while sleepwalking and without a shirt on), he really does show you what he is capable of in this little picture.

I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. That's it from me and don't let the bed bugs bite you ...

There is such rubbish on the cable movie channels that I hit a gem with this one. From beginning to end it had me gripped and deserves top marks.

Father of two sons hears messages from "God" to kill people who he is told are 'demons'.

When the opening credits showed the director as one of the cast that can often be a warning of a bad film; exceptionally it is the reverse here as the drama is non-stop from beginning to end.

And there is not one moment in the movie when one is not fully enthralled as there are no unnecessary or needless sub-plots, and the script is first class.

All the actors give wholly convincing performances especially the lead child actor who is exceptional.

This film is at least as good as the likes of 'Silence of the Lambs'.

This is a decent movie at its very best. It's very well watchable but as a genre movie its too lacking in its story and execution of it. With all of its praising this movie is receiving on here, it surely is a bit of an overrated movie.

Problem for me while watching this movie was that I knew that this was simply the type of movie in which nothing is what it seems, which made me all the more aware all of the time, making me see lots of the twists within this movie from miles away already. The movie was just being a bit too obvious with its intentions and what directions it was heading toward. The movie therefore wasn't really being very surprising, despite having more than a few twists to its story. Also a bit too many perhaps. It's best to have one big twist at the ending than to have multiple twists throughout its entire story. It's just less effective and powerful.

Guess its a good enough first theatrical directorial movie debut for Bill Paxton, who doesn't provide the movie with a good style or distinctive atmosphere but nevertheless sets the right mood and knows to tell the story, despite the story not being all that great. The movie never made it to most cinemas though and its not hard to see way. The movie is too typical for its genre and it doesn't stand out in any way. Movies like this get made by the dozens each year, especially during those days and there simply are far better and more surprising genre movies to watch out there.

For his first big movie Bill Paxton knew to get some big names involved. It makes you wonder though if they would had also agreed to this project hadn't Paxton been involved in it. Matthew McConaughey and Powers Boothe are some big name actors but also the crew has some big names in it, such as the director of photography Bill Butler.

It's also hard to see what the movie and its story try to achieve really. Are we supposed to be sympathetic at the end and which side are we supposed to be on? The movie perhaps in the long run leaves more questions than answers really, which makes the movie a bit of an unsatisfying one.

No, it's no bad movie but it's also far from a must-see as well really.

6/10

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