https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPUTRyHbKm0 Bill Paxton made his directing debut with Frailty, which simply put is one of the finest Southern Gothics youve never seen. Its a twisted story that couldve come from the pen of Joe R Lansdale: when Fenton Meiks (Matthew McConaughey) walks into an FBI office one evening, he tells the agent in charge a story about how his old man (played in flashbacks by Paxton) raised him and his brother to be demon slayers, avenging angels who target and murder wrongdoers. Is this a figment of his imagination, or is Fenton telling the truth? Ignored on its initial release, Frailty came along at the wrong time. The slasher boom had just limped to an end with Scream 3 and Valentine, and the trend for Japanese horror was about to kick in (The Ring was released 6 months later). Frailty stands up better than any of those efforts, and theres a twist you wont see coming.
Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'