Movie Review: Frailty (2001)

-
Frailty was a film that I owned for a long time before watching. My version was from Germany and was known as Dämonisch (Demonic) which I must say distracted me somewhat and for a long time, I was unsure what the film was. (I have a lot of films from Germany which have slipped my notice because of changes in titles)

Frailty, by all accounts seemed to pass by relatively unnoticed to the masses. With a comparatively small budget and equally poor box office return, it remains one of those hidden gems bordering on cult.

After watching the film I fail to see how it is not more widely regarded and praised. Bill Paxton's directorial debut takes us through a passage of belief and extremism. The film centres around flashbacks during a confession. With the FBI searching for the Hand of God killer, Fenton Meiks (Matthew McConaughey) gives his childhood accounts which would point to his own brother being the killer. Bill Paxton plays the father whose sudden "vision" takes him and his two children on a murderous ride. Totally driven by the belief that God is speaking to him and giving him the names of evil people or "demons", who need to be destroyed. Paxton plays the father and believer to great effect with some of his actions bordering on child cruelty and the two actors who play the children, Matt O'Leary (Fenton) and Jeremy Sumpter (Adam) are fantastic in their respective roles.

Although this film is somewhat different from the usual films I write about in this blog and not so much horror but a thriller. It is the perfect film to illustrate why I started this blog in the first place. Great film, well made and brilliantly acted but just because it's not in anyone's published "Top" lists it doesn't mean it shouldn't get the recognition it obviously deserves.

In fact, I make such a compelling argument that I have just talked the misses into watching it again tonight. If you have ever wondered and then decided against watching this film, do yourself a favour and give it a try. You will not be disappointed, I promise.

Released: 2001
Frailty (2001) on IMDb
My rating: 8

Popular posts from this blog

Movie Review: Outpost: Black Sun (2012)

-
Image
This is a film that like the previous sequel I reviewed ( Grave Encounters 2 ) promised so much. Let me take you back a bit. One of my first posts on this website was for a little indie film called Outpost . The film saw a group of mercenaries escorting a businessman in the woods of Eastern Europe only to be confronted by an army of un-dead Nazi SS soldiers. The concept and delivery were brilliant and immediately after watching Outpost, I was ecstatic to learn that a sequel had already been commissioned. A few years passed and it seemed as though Outpost 2 was never going to be released, I had been following their Facebook/Twitter pages so I knew the film had been made but alas, no release date. Even news of a third instalment didn’t bring with it a release for the second! Eventually, as if overnight, Outpost: Black Sun was released in shops and quickly moved to the top of my wish list! I finally got the opportunity to watch it after a chance visit to HMV provided me with a copy for...
More »

Movie Review: Outpost (2007)

-
Image
 No one told them the war was over!  It’s amazing what you can accomplish with a budget accumulated from re-mortgaging your house. Outpost uses war as the undertone but puts an all important spin on it. Maybe not as much as a horror film as it is a sci-fi thriller but when you have an army of undead Nazi's surrounding your location it could be quite horrific. For anyone who has seen Deathwatch, this one is for you. Where that film took a World War setting and added the horror twist; rather well I might add, Outpost does a very similar thing. Set in war torn Eastern Europe, a group of mercenaries are employed to protect a mysterious businessman but what they find is an old WW2 bunker. Strange things start happening and the group then find themselves in a struggle for survival. Some recognisable faces make the whole thing seem very local, mostly British actors, including Ray Stevenson, who recently played the muscle to Gary Oldman in The Book of Eli and Michael Smi...
More »

Horror! Part 4: Supernatural

-
Image
Supernatural, paranormal whatever you want to call it, this sub-genre of horror films is next on the list in my "Horror!" segments. Following on from Zombies , Monsters and Slashers , Supernatural will take us places we haven’t really ventured to yet.  Typically, you think of ghosts when you start to envision supernatural and as usual, you wouldn’t be far wrong. Where other genre’s of horror rely heavily on physical aspects, (blood, guts, gore and creatures) supernatural films play more with your mind. Often leaving the core aspects of the film to the viewers’ imagination or deep seated fear’s and repressed tension.  Now for the housekeeping, I will lay out the rules, give a brief outline of the genre and my own opinions and then at the end, I will probably include my 10 best films from the sub-genre. For the purposes of this piece, supernatural will cover ghosts, paranormal and the occult. Although Zombies, Vampires, werewolves etc all come under the vague heading...
More »