Frailty (2001) · 2:39am Oct 23rd, 2016

Well, it's October. That means it's the "official" time for the horror stuff to come out. Frankly, I think anytime of the year is a good time to watch a horror movie or at least a thriller. I mean, July is just as good of a time to walk around town in a clown outfit as any other time. Heck, I guarantee more folks will be interested in your costume in April than in October. That's a fact.

So, for those of you out there looking for some mlp related horror stories Sp00ky Opium4TmassS is a fine choice to get your fix. He's a really imaginative guy who comes up with some fun scare stories. We've even worked together on a couple. We co-wrote the stories of Flutterschmooze and Wanna Play?. The first of that series of stories is entitled Why I Stopped Watching My Little Pony, which is 100 percent him and by far the most popular of the group.

We will have one more story in this series before the month is out so be sure to look for it. I'll tell you though, sometimes when you're writing, even with a partner, you can run into walls. Not so much writer's block but, sometimes you just run into something that you wish you could take an axe to and whack the snot out of. I guess what I'm saying is that, maybe to some degree I know how Bill Paxton's character felt in our latest entry.

Frailty is about a man (Matthew "Bongos" McConaughey) who confesses to an FBI agent (Powers Boothe) his family's story of how his father (Bill Paxton) receives visions from an angel. These visions lead him to believe that there are demons walking among them and that he and his sons have been tasked to destroy these demons. How? Well with an axe of course.

So I guess that makes dad crazy right? Maybe. Maybe not.

This movie marked the first feature length directing job of Paxton who actually does a solid job with this thriller. It's not as gory as it could have been but it's one of those movies that doesn't require gore. The story is strong enough that it doesn't need a lot of shock value and instead focuses on a character driven plot. It asks questions and does provide, in its own way, realistic responses. Paxton gets solid performances out of the two child actors in it and honestly, that's hard to do.

It isn't until the last act or so of the movie that the movie finally makes it's turn. It's not a Shyamalan, "What a twist," sort of thing. In all honesty it's sort of a disquieting ending for a number of reasons that I will not reveal here. So, if you're looking for something a bit different this October give Frailty a shot.

Stats: 10 dead bodies, 0 breasts, Axe fu, angel fu, Hamms Beer fu, rose garden fu.

Shout outs:

Matthew McConaughey as the guy who visits the FBI for saying things like, "Dad told us that there were moments in everyone's life when they could suddenly just disappear without anyone knowing where they went or why."

Bill Paxton as the director and Dad for making a high quality film and for his character saying, "Only demons should fear me. You're not a demon, are you?"

Powers Boothe as FBI agent Wesley Doyle for basically just doing his thing.

Matt O'Leary and Jeremy Sumpter as young Adam and Fenton who honestly deliver high quality performances that you don't typically get out of child actors.