Movie Finatics The Place for Movie Lovers
Related Articles
“I was worried that a wild-eyed director would get a hold of this material and sensationalize it just to shock people. And that, to me, wouldn’t do the script justice. My vision of this story has always been the idea that it is a very edgy script that pushes a lot of buttons, especially because children are involved. But I thought that’s exactly the reason to give it a real, old Hollywood approach, where all the darkness is implied instead of being explicit. We hear a chop or scream, but we never see a drop of blood.”
– Bill Paxton, Director/Star of Frailty
Frailty occupies a special place in my heart. It’s a film I grew up watching and one that’s always wrapped me under its spell. The psychological thriller was the directorial debut of the late actor Bill Paxton, known chiefly for his work in popular blockbusters like Aliens, Twister, and Titanic. He felt so compelled by Brent Hanley’s twisty original script that he pitched himself as the film’s director. Paxton felt a kinship with the material set in his home state of Texas. He knew the landscape and characters of Hanley’s wholly original script well. Frailty is modeled after the great Hitchcock thrillers of the 40s, 50s, and 60s. There are also elements of thrillers of the time, like The Silence of the Lambs and Se7en. Paxton was no stranger to psychological thrillers and horror films, having starred in One False Move, Traveller, and A Simple Plan. Paxton also worked with many great directors over the years and felt like he learned enough over the years to take a shot at making Frailty his directorial debut.
One of the keys to great thrillers is ambiguity, and Frailty has plenty of that. Another thing that makes Frailty so effective, referenced in the quote above, is the idea of implied horror. There are shocking scenes in Frailty, but the gruesome violence is never dwelled on for long. It involves flashbacks taking place today, with Matthew McConaughey recounting his childhood to an FBI agent played by Powers Boothe. He shows up at Boothe’s office and claims that his younger brother Adam is God’s Hand killer. As he is recounting his story to the FBI agent, they head out to a rose garden where Fenton says the victims’ bodies are buried. When the boys Fenton and Adam grew up, they were raised only by their dad, played in a uniquely unsettling performance by Bill Paxton.
A majority of the tension in Frailty, besides if Dad is entirely crazy, is the fact Fenton does not believe his father. One day, Dad claims he had been visited by an angel and tasked by God with “destroying” demons disguised as human beings, a mission that must be kept secret. Their father “is led” to 3 tools: an axe, gloves, and a pipe; he also receives a list of names from the angel. Dad and the younger son Adam believe they are killing demons, people who have done bad things, and Dad murders them as retribution. This sounds fucking crazy, and Fenton doesn’t believe a single word. Eventually, the present-day world of McConaughey and Boothe collides with the past in shocking ways that I won’t spoil for you.
Paxton as a filmmaker, understood what this story needed more than anything was the mood. He surrounded himself with talented technicians, a smart thing for someone making his directorial debut to do. The film was shot by legendary cinematographer Bill Butler, known for The Conversation, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and three Rocky sequels. The look of this film is quietly impressive, and the collaboration between Paxton and Butler was fruitful. This film seeps into southern gothic horror. You can see the sweat and feel the mud and grime. It was shot in California, but Paxton does a good job making the landscape look like Texas. What helps is the casting of fellow Texas actors like Powers Boothe and Matthew McConaughey. The picture has an honest Bonnie & Clyde and The Night of the Hunter feel. The Night of the Hunter especially looms large over the film, dealing with religious zealotry and kids in danger.
Some people might find Frailty cheesy, but if you’re in the right mood and go with the film, it quietly sneaks up on you and gets under your skin. What helps is the quality of the performances. The three principles of Paxton, McConaughey, and Boothe are great. For McConaughey, it was a break from hopeless romantic comedies of the time like How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and The Wedding Planner. He made use of the opportunity to show a darker side, and without the participation of McConaughey, the movie might not have ever been made. It’s a sublimely creepy performance. Powers Boothe was always one of our most underrated character actors, bringing legitimacy to any project he was in.
Child film actors are hit-and-miss, especially with dark subject matter like this. The two performances that drive the film are from the two child actors who played Fenton and Adam when they were younger. Matt O’Leary and Jeremy Sumpter were excellent. O’Leary has the tricky task of conveying he thinks his dad is crazy while also having to show love and respect for him. O’Leary is the audience’s gateway to the story; if his performance didn’t work, the movie would fall flat on its face. It’s a shame O’Leary’s career never really took off because it’s one of the better child actor performances I’ve seen.
Frailty received some decent reviews at its release but was largely forgotten about. The movie’s release date is 2001, but it was held back until April 2002 and did not find an audience. The dark subject matter of child terror offended some moviegoers. It was promoted with lauding reviews from James Cameron, Sam Raimi, and Stephen King, but the film came and went. It’s a shame because Frailty is one of the best horror thrillers of the last 25-30 years. It’s low-key implied horror, not cheap jump scares. The twist at the end is genuinely fantastic and shocking. You’ll likely never forget Frailty after seeing it.
*Streaming on HBO Max.*
