Frailty (2002)
Average Rating: 6.8/10
Reviews Counted: 147
Fresh: 108 | Rotten: 39
Creepy and disturbing, Frailty is well-crafted, low-key horror.
Average Rating: 6.6/10
Critic Reviews: 37
Fresh: 27 | Rotten: 10
Creepy and disturbing, Frailty is well-crafted, low-key horror.
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Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 51,206
Movie Info
Actor Bill Paxton made his directorial debut with Frailty. The bulk of the story is told through flashbacks, as a mysterious man (Matthew McConaughey) tells a terrible tale to an FBI agent (Powers Boothe) investigating the "God's Hand" serial killer case. The man grew up in a small town in Texas, where he and his brother lived a bucolic life with their kindhearted widower father (Paxton). One night, the father awakens the two boys, Fenton (Matthew O'Leary) and Adam (Jeremy Sumpter), and tells
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Cast
-
Bill Paxton
Dad -
Matthew McConaughey
Fenton Meiks -
Powers Boothe
Wesley Doyle -
Matt O'Leary
Young Fenton Meiks -
Jeremy Sumpter
Young Adam Meiks -
Luke Askew
Sheriff Smalls -
Derk Cheetwood
Agent Griffin Hull -
Missy Crider
Becky -
Cynthia Ettinger
Cynthia Harbridge -
Alan Davidson
Brad White -
Vincent Chase
Edward March -
Gwen McGee
Operator -
Lance E. Nichols
FBI Agent No. 4 -
Edgar Davis
FBI Agent No. 2 -
Levi Kreis
Fenton Meiks -
Edmond Scott Ratliff
The Angel -
Rebecca Tilney
Teacher -
Blake King
Eric -
Brad Berryhill
Teenage Demon -
Greg Serano
FBI Agent No. 1 -
Jim Flowers
FBI Agent No. 3 -
John Paxton
Janitor In Lobby -
Richard A. Bell
Curtis -
Chelsea Blain Butler
Little Girl -
Jennifer Drake
Teacher's Aid -
Betty Gurule
Doyle's Mother
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All Critics (148) | Top Critics (37) | Fresh (108) | Rotten (39) | DVD (36)
Paxton steals the show. And O'Leary more than holds his own again here. Too bad it's in a movie that fails to live up to its potential.
Top CriticA resoundingly old-fashioned and well crafted study of evil infecting an American family, "Frailty" moves from strength to strength on its deceptive narrative course.
Paxton's first movie as director is better than you might expect. It has a first rate cast, and Bill Butler's camerawork and some deft editing help to crank up the tension.
With an admirably dark first script by Brent Hanley, Paxton, making his directorial feature debut, does strong, measured work.
Paxton wins quiet victories here as both star and helmer.
I love the way that it took chances and really asks you to take these great leaps of faith and pays off.
...a solid thriller from a promising first-time director.
Violent and ultimately uneven and unsatisfying.
An eerie, creepy, and original horror story...
Frailty marks a fine directorial debut for Bill Paxton. He judges the material expertly and brings it to the boil effectively ...
Bill Paxton, longtime bit-player and significantly underrated character actor, makes his directorial debut with Frailty, a joyless tale of one family's psychotic cycle of violence.
The film's just about perfect.
Feels like Sling Blade rewritten at a crawl by Stephen King.
An overpraised thriller that's really as superficial as a bruise.
The intricate plotting . . . reveals everything and yet, using the audiences preconceived notions, makes each fact a surprise and each fiction a shock.
So grim, dim, and formulaic, that there is no room for any kind of visceral connection or genuine suspense.
Paxton not only directs but acts, so there was a double threat. But he does both with so much commitment that the film is a revelation.
This looks - and chills - like the start of a very promising new career for Paxton.
Some good ideas went into the meat grinder, but what came out was largely uninteresting absurdist mush.
'Frailty" starts out like a typical Bible killer story, but it turns out to be significantly different (and better) than most films with this theme.
A hot-acid concoction of thrills, spills, trepidation, and one of the most novel stories of recent times.
This is one of the outstanding thrillers of recent years.
Actor Bill Paxton's directorial debut is a stark horror film full of surprises -- and genuine scares.
Audience Reviews for Frailty
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