Review of Frailty (2012) by Nate H — 27 Aug 2010

A very pleasing attempt at a psychological thriller which ultimately finds itself in metaphysical terrain. Bill Paxton is as powerful in this as he is in A Simple Plan, and the inevitable Seven/Usual Suspects-style flourishes are eclipsed by a central storyline which edges from a disintegrating family theme into Biblical morality and beyond.

There's more than an element of Tryon's The Other here, and I spotted it very early on, but the final few scenes are a double-twist which leave the viewer completely disorientated. To the credit of Paxton, he never plays some of the absurd elements (mechanic receives vision of an angel underneath a car/from sports trophy) as anything other than earnestly felt and experienced epiphanies, and the result is disturbing in the extreme.