'Frailty? brings terror, deep questions to mind

"Frailty"

Directed By: Bill Paxton

Starring: Bill Paxton, Matthew McConaughey, Powers Booth, Mat-thew O'Leary

Rated: R

Thanks to films such as "The Sixth Sense" and "The Others," the horror film is making a comeback, showing that a good horror story can be so much more than a bunch of teen-agers getting butchered by a deranged madman.

The latest in the category of "the thinking man's horror film," "Frailty," marks the directorial debut of actor Bill Paxton. While there is a good deal of hacking-up in this movie, we never really see it on-screen. Paxton, like any good director, knows that the most terrifying things aren't blood and guts in full view but the things that reside deep inside the mind the minds of the audience and the characters in the tale. And there are some terrifying things in the minds of nearly every character in "Frailty."

As the opening credits roll we watch a montage of newspaper clippings dealing with a serial killer known as "God's Hand." When the film itself opens, Fen-ton Meiks (Matthew McConaughey) walks into the FBI building in Dallas and tells agent Wesley Doyle (Powers Booth) that he knows who this killer is, or rather was. Meiks claims it was his brother Adam, whom Fenton has just killed and buried in the public rose garden in their old hometown.

Agent Doyle is interested but skeptical, and asks Meiks to give him some more information.

The body of "Frailty" is told in flashbacks of Fenton and Adam's childhood. With every step the family history gets more disturbing.

Fenton tells of living with Dad (Bill Paxton) and, as the oldest of two sons, being the one to look after his brother, make dinner for the family and try to fill in for a mother who died during childbirth. Dad is an auto mechanic, and at first all looks pretty typical for a small southern town circa 1979. One night, however, things take a dramatic turn. Dad wakes the boys in the wee hours to tell them he's just had a vision from an angel. To us it looks like light shining on a bowling trophy. The angel said judgment day is near and the Meiks family has been chosen for a very important mission: they are to destroy demons. God is going to send them three weapons and an initial list of demons, so all they have to do now is wait. Uh, OK, Dad.

Upon waking up in the morning, Fenton is sure the whole thing was a dream. He finds out differently as Dad drops the boys off at school. Paxton is great as the congenial, almost goofy everyman who is matter-of-factly on a mission from God.

Soon Dad collects the three weapons: A piece of pipe, a pair of work gloves and a double edged ax named "Otis" the hillbilly holy trinity as it were. All that's left now is the list of demons. After an epiphany while working under an automobile, Dad has this as well.

"These are people's names," Fenton protests. Dad assures him they are merely posing as people. Killing people would be bad. Destroying demons is good. Got it?

And so, the mission begins.

Fenton is old enough to think for himself and tries to convince younger Adam that Dad is jack-batty wacky and they should run away. Adam, still young enough to believe whatever his parent does is the right thing, is determined to stay and destroy demons with Dad.

When the first "destruction" takes place, the film takes a more disturbing turn as we see Fenton struggling with what he believes is right and his loyalty to his family.

After a lapse in Fenton's faith, Dad has a plan that will help the boy see God as he and Adam do. It's an uncomfortable several minutes of the film leading to one of many jump-out-of-your-seat climaxes.

In act three, when we return to the present, writer Brent Hanley and director Paxton throw in a good many plot twists that keep drawing us deeper and deeper into this dark, classically Southern Gothic tale. If Flannery O'Connor would have written horror stories, this could easily be one of hers.

What's so scary about something like "Frailty" is the sheer "everydayness" of the plot. Things like this can, and do, happen more than we would like to admit.

Paxton and Hanley end "Frailty" in a completely unexpected way. It's a great piece of writing and will no doubt spur many discussions about what was happening to the Meikses throughout the film.

Paxton who has acted in more than 50 films, shows great promise as a director.

And for those who may dismiss the film as far-fetched, let me suggest reading "The Shoemaker" by Flora Rheta Schreiber. It's the true story of serial killer Joseph Kallinger and I'm sure Paxton and Hanley studied this account while making "Frailty."

(Jim Wunderle works at Associated Video Products and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.)