Frailty (film)

Frailty
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Bill Paxton
Produced by	David Kirschner
Written by	Brent Hanley
Starring	Bill Paxton Matthew McConaughey Powers Boothe Matt O'Leary Jeremy Sumpter Levi Kreis
Music by	Brian Tyler
Cinematography	Bill Butler
Edited by	Arnold Glassman
Production company	David Kirschner Productions American Entertainment Co. Cinerenta Medienbeteiligungs KG Cinedelta
Distributed by	Lions Gate Films
Release date	Nov 7, 2001
Running time	99 minutes
Country	United States Germany Italy
Language	English
Budget	$11 million
Box office	$17.4 million

Frailty is a 2001 American psychological thriller film, directed by and starring Bill Paxton, and co-starring Matthew McConaughey. It marks Paxton's directorial debut. The plot focuses on the strange relationship between two young boys and their fanatically religious father, who believes that he has been commanded by God to kill demons disguised as people.

Fenton Meiks visits FBI Agent Wesley Doyle claiming that his brother Adam is the "God's Hand" serial killer Doyle has been hunting. Meiks says Adam has committed suicide, prompting Fenton to fulfill a promise to bury Adam in a public rose garden in their hometown of Thurman. He begins to tell Doyle about the boys' childhood and suggests that the bodies of the God's Hand victims are buried in that rose garden. Meiks continues telling Doyle his story as the two drive to Thurman.

When the brothers were children, their father told them that he'd been visited by an angel and tasked by God with destroying demons disguised as human beings. As punishment for his initial disbelief, he demands Fenton dig a root cellar. He explains that this mission is now the responsibility of the three of them and must be kept secret from all others. The father's modus operandi is to wait for the angel to give him a list of names of those who must be destroyed. He then abducts an individual from the list, takes them to the family home and, with his sons present, touches them, which, he says, grants him a vision of the crimes the demon has committed. He then finishes the victim with an ax and buries the body in the rose garden.

Adam believes in their father's mission and says that he sees the same visions of the demons' crimes that their father sees. Although he initially goes along out of fear, Fenton doesn't believe and is convinced that their father is psychotic and has brainwashed Adam. Eventually, Fenton tries to stop the crimes by telling the local sheriff what has happened. The sheriff visits, but is about to leave when Fenton insists that he search their root cellar. Horrified, the father kills the sheriff.

He blames Fenton for revealing their mission and thus forcing him to kill the sheriff. He further implies that the angel has told him that Fenton is a demon too, but instead of killing Fenton, he locks Fenton in the root cellar hoping Fenton will have a divine revelation. After countless days of starvation, Fenton tells his father that he has indeed seen God and is ready to take his place in the mission.