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This is a horror movie in the truest sense, where the terror doesn't jump from out of the darkness, but rather, where the viewer is slowly drawn into those areas that exist away from the light.
As well as making his directorial debut, Paxton stars in Frailty as a Texas mechanic who is raising two young boys on his own. While their life is tough, the kids are happy and growing up in a loving home.
MISSION FROM GOD
That all changes one night when the Meiks boys, 12-year-old Fenton (Matthew O'Leary) and nine-year-old Adam (Jeremy Sumpter), are awakened by their dad, who tells them an angel visited him in the middle of the night with orders to kill demons.
The problem, apart from the fact Dad's seeing angels, is the demons look just like humans, and God's messenger was specific in his instructions that the boys help out with the ghoulish plan to chop the evil ones out of existence.
As the older and wiser of the boys, Fenton realizes his father has gone insane but the more impressionable Adam believes everything he's told. Even when dad starts taking the axe to his victims in front of the kids, Adam is unwavering in his belief the old man is doing the right thing.
Thankfully the gore is almost non-existent, the thought of children witnessing such acts more than disturbing enough.
The story, told in a narrative flashback, is delivered by a grown-up Fenton (Matthew McConaughey), who's telling the tale to an FBI agent (Wesley Doyle) trying to solve a series of murders by the God's Hand killer.
Fenton tells the reluctant agent he believes Adam, who has recently committed suicide, is the man the police are after, and as he goes deeper into tales of his father's depravity, he slowly wins the man over.
McConaughey fans will be disappointed in his limited screen time, but this story exists in the past, not the present. Paxton and O'Leary deliver outstanding performances in this moody thriller that pits the wills of father and son against one another.
Dad's rantings are those of a mad man, but Paxton plays it above board, maintaining an outward appearance of a man totally in control of himself. O'Leary is convincing as a boy wise beyond his years whose sense of duty is constantly in conflict with his emotions.
Like the classic thriller Psycho, Frailty also creates a feeling there is more going on than what we're being told and the complete story won't be known until the end.
While not everyone's going to be happy with what awaits at the end of the road, the ride alone is worth the price of admission. (More on: Frailty).
(This film is rated AA)