Frailty (DVD, 2002)

Actor Bill Paxton's directorial debut, FRAILTY, has been hailed for its originality by author Stephen King and director Sam Raimi (THE EVIL DEAD). The film opens on a stormy night when an intense man (Matthew McConaughey) walks into FBI headquarters in Dallas and tells Agent Wesley Doyle (Powers Boothe) that he knows who the "God's Hand" serial killer is. He tells a compelling tale, shown in flashback, of how he and his brother lived with their kind widower father (Bill Paxton), a mechanic. One night, their father woke them to tell them he'd had a vision, and that God had commanded the family to slay demons in human form. The older brother, Fenton (Matt O'Leary), doesn't believe a word of it, and assumes that their father has gone mad. The younger brother, Adam (Jeremy Sumpter), is more easily swayed. Soon the father is bringing people home, supposedly chosen by God for them to slay. When Fenton tries to resist his father's plan, he finds his own life in danger. Eschewing graphic gore in favor of more subtle chills, Paxton's suspenseful and creepy film harkens back to the wholesome surface and underlying depravity of classics like NIGHT OF THE HUNTER.