Taglines: Only The Innocent Survive.
Set in present day Texas, Frailty centers on the FBI’s search for a serial killer who calls himself “God’s Hands.” McConaughey plays Fenton Meeks, a young man who approaches the lead investigator, one night, claiming he knows the identity of the killer. The FBI agent is curious, but unimpressed until Fenton reveals that the killer is his younger brother Adam. This is a film about faith, family and the end of innocence.
Frailty is a 2001 American psychological thriller-horror film, directed by and starring Bill Paxton, and co-starring Matthew McConaughey. It marks Paxton’s directorial debut. The plot focuses on the strange relationship between two young boys and their fanatically religious father, who believes that he has been commanded by God to kill demons disguised as people.
About the Story
Fenton Meiks visits FBI Agent Wesley Doyle claiming that his brother Adam is the “God’s Hand” serial killer Doyle has been hunting. Fenton says Adam has committed suicide, prompting Fenton to fulfill a promise to bury Adam in a public rose garden in their hometown of Thurman. He begins to tell Doyle about the boys’ childhood and suggests that the bodies of the God’s Hand victims are buried in that rose garden. Fenton continues telling Doyle his story as the two drive to Thurman.
When the brothers were children, their father told them that he’d been visited by an angel and tasked by God with destroying demons disguised as human beings. As punishment for his initial disbelief, he demands Fenton dig a root cellar. He explains that this mission is now the responsibility of the three of them and must be kept secret from all others. The father’s modus operandi is to wait for the angel to give him a list of names of those who must be destroyed. He then abducts an individual from the list, takes them to the family home and, with his sons present, touches them, which, he says, grants him a vision of the crimes the demon has committed. He then finishes the victim with an ax and buries the body in the rose garden.
Adam believes in their father’s mission and says that he sees the same visions of the demons’ crimes that their father sees. Although he goes along out of fear, Fenton doesn’t believe; he is convinced that their father is psychotic and has brainwashed Adam. Eventually, Fenton tries to stop the crimes by telling the local sheriff what has happened. The sheriff visits, and Fenton insists that he search their root cellar. Horrified, the father kills the sheriff.
The father blames Fenton for revealing their mission and thus forcing him to kill the sheriff. He further implies that the angel has told him that Fenton is a demon too, but instead of killing Fenton, he locks Fenton in the root cellar hoping Fenton will have a divine revelation. After countless days of starvation, Fenton tells his father that he has indeed seen God and is ready to take his place in the mission.
Upon the next abduction, Fenton is given the ax to deliver the death blow, but kills his father. As Fenton moves to free the hostage, Adam takes up the ax and finishes the victim. The two boys bury the bodies in the rose garden. Fenton asks Adam to bury him in the rose garden, too, should Adam ever decide to “destroy” Fenton.
Frailty (2002)
Directed by: Bill Paxton
Starring: Bill Paxton, Matthew McConaughey, Powers Boothe, Matt O’Leary, Jeremy Sumpter, Levi Kreis, Derk Cheetwood, Missy Crider, Cynthia Ettinger, Gwen McGee, Rebecca Tilney
Screenplay by: Brent Hanley
Production Design by: Nelson Coates
Cinematography by: Bill Butler
Film Editing by: Arnold Glassman
Costume Design by: April Ferry
Set Decoration by: Linda Lee Sutton
Art Direction by: Nelson Coates, Kevin Cozen
Music by: Brian Tyler
MPAA Rating: R for violence and some languag.
Distributed by: Lionsgate Films
Release Date: April 12, 2002
Views: 92
