It’s been 20 years since Bill Paxton’s directorial debut—and the film remains a hidden gem, tucked away on streaming apps for fans of the late actor to discover for the first time.
Frailty is a psychological horror about a widowed father known as only as ‘Dad’ (Paxton) who believes he’s been chosen by God to murder demons disguised as human beings and enlists the help of his unwilling sons. Fenton Meiks (Matthew McConaughey) recounts the story of his seemingly unbelievable childhood to FBI Agent Wesley Doyle (Powers Boothe) to prove that his brother Adam (Levi Kreis) is responsible for a series of unsolved killings. While the first and last ten minutes are rooted in present-day Texas, the bulk of the film takes place in 1979, with Matt O’Leary and Jeremy Sumpter playing Fenton and Adam’s younger counterparts.
When I first came across the film while browsing Amazon Prime’s infinite collection of obscure horror, I assumed it would be an easy watch. I looked at the poster, a sepia-tinged image of a sullen-faced McConaughey fading into flying birds, and saw the date. The only other 2001 horror movies that came to mind were Jason X and THIR13EN Ghosts, both of which were a fun and campy good time. I figured Frailty would have the same low stakes. I was wrong.
Frailty is not for the faint of heart, and the film makes this clear from the jump. The opening credits are decorated with newspaper headlines about grisly murders and their accompanying photos with dark, ominous violin music playing over the top. Nothing good is coming; next, it says to the audience. Get out now.
The credits fade to an eerily calm McConaughey sitting in the office of an FBI agent named Wesley Doyle. We learn that his name is Fenton, and we quickly flash to his brother, putting a gun to his head and pulling the trigger. Fenton tells Agent Doyle that his brother Adam is the killer behind the “God’s Hand” murders, knowledge he could not share while his brother was still alive. It’s here that Fenton begins to recount their upbringing, which was fairly normal until the day their father received a prophetic vision from God. An angel appeared and told him that demons were real and walked the earth disguised as humans. It was now his mission to ‘destroy’ them.
The screenplay, written by Brent Hanley, beat The Ring and Signs to win the 2002 Bram Stoker Award. Hanley was inspired by The Night of the Hunter, the works of Alfred Hitchcock, his own Southern Baptist upbringing, and Leonard Cohen’s “The Story of Isaac.” The song is Cohen’s take on the “Binding of Isaac,” a biblical allegory in which God appears to Abraham in a prophetic vision and asks him to sacrifice his son. Abraham’s willingness to carry out the task is a testament to both his love and fear of God. The same can be said for Paxton’s ‘Dad’ Meiks.
In many ways, God is the villain here. Every kill is in the name of God. Every time the boys are forced to watch is in the name of God. It’s God who tells ‘Dad’ that Fenton is a demon, which results in the child being starved and abused for disapproving of his father’s gruesome actions. After reaching his breaking point, Fenton realizes that the only way to end the abuse is by falsely claiming that he saw God. It’s only then that the child is allowed to eat. It’s only then that he is able to feel the love his father had for him before the angel appeared and tore their lives apart.
Adam, on the other hand, is never without his father’s love. He never abandons his brother, but he abandons his morale early on. When ‘Dad’ brings his sons into the shed to witness his first murder, the young boy gives in without question. Despite watching the woman struggle and plead for mercy, he happily helps his father bury her body. Even though Adam sneaks food and water to Fenton while he’s being starved, his loyalty to ‘Dad’ never wavers. He pleads with Fenton to give in and believe, so they can all be a happy family again.
It hurts. Fenton emotionally deteriorates throughout the film, slowly losing his youth and innocence with every interaction he has with his father. He breaks down in tears after the first murder, but he has nothing left to give by the end of the film. When young Adam volunteers to carry out a murder of his own, the viewer isn’t surprised—just disappointed. When he raises the axe over his head, the look on his face is not one of anger towards the victim’s supposed sins or immense passion for the cause—it’s determination. Adam truly believes in his heart that this is the ultimate way to win his dad’s love.
What makes Frailty one of Paxton’s best and most underrated performances is also what makes the film so eerie and unnerving. Instead of taking inspiration from The Shining’s over-the-top Jack Torrance or Pet Sematary’s overly melancholic Louis Creed, Paxton made a specific choice: sincerity. Throughout the film, ‘Dad’ maintains a composure that is too calm and too cool for a man driving around Texas in a van while kidnapping people off the street. He wakes up, goes to work, puts dinner on the table, and kills at night. This extremely normal demeanor lets the audience know that he believes in what he’s doing. He’s not unsure about it. The film would not succeed without this. Any other performance would risk making light of heavy subject matter like child abuse and derailing an otherwise serious horror into straight camp.
Frailty deserves so much more than being just a forgotten film that horror fans randomly discover while browsing the internet for something to watch. It’s something special: a truly unique take on biblical and familial horror; one that breaks your heart every step of the way.
Frailty is available to stream, click below to watch now:
