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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

97
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
83
Alexandra
43
Anamorph
35
Babysitters, The
32
Backseat
80
Band's Visit, The
62
Battle for Haditha
47
Bella
63
Blind Mountain
71
Blindsight
47
Boarding Gate
63
Body of War
58
Bra Boys
70
Caramel
54
Cashback
44
Chaos Theory
32
Chapter 27
69
Chicago 10
82
Chop Shop
46
CJ7
78
Counterfeiters, The
30
Cover
48
Dark Matter
35
Deal
61
Dhamma Brothers, The
92
Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
73
Duchess of Langeais, The
20
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
58
Fall, The
43
Favor, The
58
First Saturday in May, The
57
Flawless
87
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
xx
From Within
44
Frontier(s)
59
Fugitive Pieces
41
Funny Games
66
George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
61
Girls Rock!
55
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
57
Grand, The
58
Hats Off
68
Honeydripper
xx
Jack and Jill vs. the World
67
Jellyfish
xx
Kiss the Bride
37
Life Before Her Eyes, The
72
Life of Reilly, The
50
Look
65
Married Life
35
Meet Bill
63
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
54
Mister Lonely
52
My Blueberry Nights
71
My Brother Is an Only Child
52
Noise
61
OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
83
Paranoid Park
55
Pathology
48
Penelope
90
Persepolis
62
Planet B-Boy
xx
Plumm Summer, A
67
Praying with Lior
46
Previous Engagement, A
72
Priceless
17
Prom Night
69
Redbelt
72
Roman de gare
48
Run, Fat Boy, Run
85
Savages, The
24
Sex and Death 101
66
Shelter
75
Shotgun Stories
40
Sleepwalking
67
Snow Angels
64
Son of Rambow
71
Standard Operating Procedure
76
Stuff and Dough
64
Surfwise
xx
Tashan
82
Taxi to the Dark Side
57
Teeth
56
Then She Found Me
55
Tracey Fragments, The
56
Turn the River
72
Tuya's Marriage
83
U2 3D
59
Under the Same Moon
76
Unforeseen, The
xx
Unsettled
91
Up the Yangtze
55
Vice
79
Visitor, The
64
Water Lilies
45
Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?
57
Without the King
74
Witnesses, The
63
XXY
67
Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
75
Young@Heart
45
Zombie Strippers
97
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
92
Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
91
Up the Yangtze
90
Persepolis
87
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
85
Savages, The
83
Paranoid Park
83
Alexandra
83
U2 3D
82
Chop Shop
82
Taxi to the Dark Side
80
Band's Visit, The
79
Visitor, The
78
Counterfeiters, The
76
Unforeseen, The
76
Stuff and Dough
75
Young@Heart
75
Shotgun Stories
74
Witnesses, The
73
Duchess of Langeais, The
72
Roman de gare
72
Priceless
72
Tuya's Marriage
72
Life of Reilly, The
71
My Brother Is an Only Child
71
Blindsight
71
Standard Operating Procedure
70
Caramel
69
Redbelt
69
Chicago 10
68
Honeydripper
67
Snow Angels
67
Praying with Lior
67
Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
67
Jellyfish
66
George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
66
Shelter
65
Married Life
64
Surfwise
64
Son of Rambow
64
Water Lilies
63
XXY
63
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
63
Body of War
63
Blind Mountain
62
Planet B-Boy
62
Battle for Haditha
61
Dhamma Brothers, The
61
OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
61
Girls Rock!
59
Under the Same Moon
59
Fugitive Pieces
58
First Saturday in May, The
58
Fall, The
58
Hats Off
58
Bra Boys
57
Flawless
57
Teeth
57
Without the King
57
Grand, The
56
Turn the River
56
Then She Found Me
55
Vice
55
Tracey Fragments, The
55
Pathology
55
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
54
Cashback
54
Mister Lonely
52
Noise
52
My Blueberry Nights
50
Look
48
Run, Fat Boy, Run
48
Dark Matter
48
Penelope
47
Bella
47
Boarding Gate
46
CJ7
46
Previous Engagement, A
45
Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?
45
Zombie Strippers
44
Frontier(s)
44
Chaos Theory
43
Anamorph
43
Favor, The
41
Funny Games
40
Sleepwalking
37
Life Before Her Eyes, The
35
Meet Bill
35
Babysitters, The
35
Deal
32
Backseat
32
Chapter 27
30
Cover
24
Sex and Death 101
20
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
17
Prom Night
xx
Tashan
xx
Unsettled
xx
Plumm Summer, A
xx
Kiss the Bride
xx
Jack and Jill vs. the World
xx
From Within
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Frailty
Lions Gate Films Inc.
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for violence and some language
Starring
Bill Paxton,
Matthew McConaughey,
Powers Boothe,
Matthew O'Leary,
Jeremy Sumpter,
Luke Askew,
Derk Cheetwood,
and
Blake King
The story of the FBI's search for the notorious "God's Hand" murderer. (Lion Gate Films)
| GENRE(S): |
Suspense/Thriller
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Brent Hanley
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Bill Paxton
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: September 17, 2002
Video: September 17, 2002
Theatrical: April 12, 2002
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
100 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
Andrea Yates believed she was possessed by Satan and could save her children by drowning them. Frailty is as chilling.

90
The New York Times
Stephen Holden
Paxton's Dad may be the most terrifying father to appear in a horror film since Jack Nicholson went crazily homicidal in "The Shining."

90
Variety
Robert Koehler
A resoundingly old-fashioned and well crafted study of evil infecting an American family, Frailty moves from strength to strength on its deceptive narrative course.

88
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
Genuinely creepy Southern Gothic thriller that once again proves that in horror movies, sometimes less is actually more.

80
Chicago Reader
Hank Sartin
It's good old-fashioned rural gothic that would make Flannery O'Connor proud, with tricky switcheroos that keep shaking up our assumptions about what's going on.

80
Village Voice
Michael Atkinson
It's a small, unassuming movie grasping at whole-hog homo psychopathicus, with its feet planted squarely in Texan grave dirt and its head lost in the ether of Christian derangement.

80
New York Magazine
Peter Rainer
The film becomes cumulatively stranger as it goes along, and it has a lulu of a kicker.

80
Film Threat
Clint Morris
So immodestly unripe; yet so horrendously tempting you’ll find it hard to resist.

80
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
Well-crafted, disturbing Texas gothic thriller, a completely spooky piece of business that gets under your skin and, some plot blips aside, stays there for the duration.

75
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
You'll depart with memories of a well-crafted study in quiet horror, and with ideas whirling in your head about the nature of evil and what happens to children caught in its grip.

75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
Somber and violent but undeniably stylish and unsettling thriller.

75
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
It's the cinematic equivalent of a good page-turner, and even if it's nonsense, its claws dig surprisingly deep.

75
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
Blood-curdling stuff.

75
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Against all odds in heaven and hell, it creeped me out just fine.

70
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
May leave you more cold and stunned than enlightened.

70
Slate
David Edelstein
You have to give credit to Frailty for jiggering up the formula a bit, so that what starts as an ominously low-key study of a boy coming of age with a mad father escalates into a combination of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Breaking the Waves" -- Grand Guignol religiosity.

67
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
Chills to the bone -- and beyond, but for pure excitement it's best not to look far beneath the surface.

63
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
Most of Frailty is so good -- done in a low-key, realistic mood of genuine creepiness and dread -- that it doesn't need formula shocks.

63
USA Today
Mike Clark
The payoff isn't worth the time invested, but at least the actor-turned-filmmaker underplays an inherently queasy project that could have been over the top.

63
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
As disappointing as the wrap-up is, it can't erase the chilling psychological warfare that represents the majority of what precedes it.

60
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
Starts out, and ends up, as a thriller trying valiantly to show us layers of moral depth. But in between that beginning and ending, Paxton's vision (as well as that of Brent Hanley, who wrote the script) becomes wavy and indistinct, a blurry muddle of sensationalistic, prurient grisliness masquerading as a meditation on the nature of evil.

60
LA Weekly
Chuck Wilson
Audiences are destined to debate the film's final scenes, where Hanley piles on plot twists, leading to a coda that turns a creepily ambiguous story about God and the terrifying power of paternal love into something closer to an X-File.

60
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
Paxton is impressively subtle and elicits remarkable performances from O'Leary and Sumpter.

50
Boston Globe
Sam Allis
Murder should either be unsparingly real or kitschy like the ''Texas Chainsaw Massacre.'' This is neither.

50
New Times (L.A.)
Robert Wilonsky
Like so many other allegedly scary movies, it gets so tangled up in The Twist that it chokes the energy right out of the very audience it seeks to frighten.

50
Portland Oregonian
Kim Morgan
The story sounds horrifying, but the film takes some unfortunate twists and never presents us with a multifaceted character in Paxton. Paxton just doesn't play the nice-but-nuts role with a modicum of terror.

50
New York Daily News
Elizabeth Weitzman
There's a good little psychological thriller buried underneath all the manufactured shocks, in the story of a powerless child standing alone against a parent's mental illness.
50
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
Gory but lifeless.

50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Liam Lacey
This is a guy movie, a gothic creepshow.

40
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Keith Phipps
When the twists arrive, they feel like much of the film: creepy and cliché-free, but still terribly wrong.

30
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
The movie is so disturbing that it seems nearly blasphemous. I wouldn't wish it on an anthrax spore. After all, anthrax has feelings, too.

0
San Francisco Chronicle
Carla Meyer
Dumb but also unrelentingly dark and ugly, thereby depriving the viewer of any camp value.


The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 31 User Votes
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