In 2002, I had a lot of time on my hands and it was the first time I actually started to get down and dirty on writing full reviews for The Horror Review, rather than the short reviews I had done for the site the previous three years. At the time, I was going to the movies every Friday and watching almost every film that hit the theaters. 2002 was a good year for horror films. One of the better films I saw that year was more of a thriller than horror film, but it had elements that add up to the impact that a great horror film has. That film is Frailty. Directed by and starring Bill Paxton, and Matthew McConaughey, the film went on to be a major hit with many critics and horror fans.

     Fenton Meeks (Matthew McConaughey), enters an FBI office to confess that his brother and father are the God’s Hand Killers. During his confessions about what his father and brother have done, the film flashes back to a time when Fenton, his brother Adam and their father lived together in a small country house. In the middle of one night, their father wakes them to say he has received a message from God.  He tells the boys that God told him to kill seven demons who are disguised as humans on earth. The boys at first think their father is going mad until three weapons are chosen to combat the evil. Dad Meeks starts to bring the victims back home to kill, one by one. Fenton thinks his father has gone too far and rebels. Dad Meeks tries to make Fenton see the truth and understand his visions. Torn between his love for his father and the sympathy for the victims his father is dragging into the house to murder, Fenton must choose a side and do what he thinks is right. Fenton's brother Adam agrees with his father and has begun to see the visions of god himself.

     When I first saw Frailty in theaters, it just blew me away. The script is well-written, and I could not keep my eyes off the screen. Writer Brent Hanley does such a great job developing the characters in this script and Bill Paxton does such a wonderful job turning this story into a film that I find the script to be nearly flawless in its development of both story and characters.

     This is the best performance I have seen Bill Paxton ever give. His role as Dad Meeks is great, and the fact that he also directed this picture makes his overall commitment to the role that much more special. I can tell he put his heart into this project and tried to make it the best film he could. I believe he succeeded. Although his role is limited, Matthew McConaughey is also very convincing. However, it is child actors Matt O'Leary and Jeremy Sumpter who really steal the show. One would think they were brothers in real life.  Both give solid performances that really pay off and help this film have such effect. The whole cast, although not made up of many players, really make this film solid.

     The Blu-ray has the same special features as the DVD, including audio commentaries with director/actor Bill Paxton and writer Brent Hanley and production commentary with editor Arnold Glassman, producer David Kirschner and composer Brian Tyler. There are two great featurettes, one called “Anatomy of a Scene” which was made for the Sundance Channel, and “The Making of Frailty” featurette which I highly recommend to any aspiring film makers. Other features on the disc include deleted scenes with optional director’s commentary, storyboards, trailers and a photo gallery. The Disc is presented in a newly mastered Widescreen Presentation in 1080p High Definition with English 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and French 5.1 Dolby Digitial Audio. There are also both English and Spanish subtitles and English SDH, which allows people who have hearing problems or are deaf to understand the film. 

     Frailty was one of the best films I saw in 2002, and being able to see this film for the first time on Blu-ray was a real treat. I have not seen this film for about five or so years and it’s one that is well worth reliving or checking out if you never have seen the film. It is one of the greatest horror thrillers to hit the screen this past decade and is well worth the buy on Blu-ray. In a nutshell, this is one great film that is not to be passed up.

  - Horror Bob

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