Frailty 2002

Glenn Lovell, San Jose Mercury News: If you're in the mood to be seriously creeped out, this is the shocker for you. Read more

Sam Allis, Boston Globe: This is gruesome, not gripping. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Whether or not you fall fully under the sinister spell of Frailty, the unsettling and accomplished directing debut of actor Bill Paxton, you will have to concede its bravery. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: I love the way that it took chances and really asks you to take these great leaps of faith and pays off. Read more

Susan Stark, Detroit News: Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: A haunting tale of murder and mayhem. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: Paxton wins quiet victories here as both star and helmer. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: Frailty may be only a genre film, but it forcefully reminds us of the degree to which all of us are our parents' ideological captives when we're children. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: All the eloquence and structure in the world couldn't save it from a fatal case of toxic ham poisoning. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: An accomplished debut, but not an enjoyable one; the shivers it provokes are disturbing rather than delicious, and its story is unusually gruesome. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: This is Paxton's directorial debut and it's quite impressive. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: A completely spooky piece of business that gets under your skin and, some plot blips aside, stays there for the duration. Read more

Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle: Frailty isn't as gory or explicit. But in its child-centered, claustrophobic context, it can be just as frightening and disturbing -- even punishing. Read more

Steven Rosen, Denver Post: If the very concept makes you nervous ... you'll have an idea of the film's creepy, scary effectiveness. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Paxton steals the show. And O'Leary more than holds his own again here. Too bad it's in a movie that fails to live up to its potential. Read more

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

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Intellectually cheap: a superficial exploration of child abuse, with some X-Files atmosphere and excessive narrative complication. Read more

Chuck Wilson, L.A. Weekly: With an admirably dark first script by Brent Hanley, Paxton, making his directorial feature debut, does strong, measured work. Read more

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

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: A terrifying low-budget thriller that packs a greater wallop than most of the high-priced studio scarefests. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Although Frailty may not be a complete success, it offers ample evidence that Paxton could have a career in the director's chair. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: An extraordinary work, concealing in its depths not only unexpected story turns but also implications, hidden at first, that make it even deeper and more sad. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: You ... get a sense of good intentions derailed by a failure to seek and strike just the right tone. Read more

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

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: As a first-time director, Paxton has tapped something in himself as an actor that provides Frailty with its dark soul. Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: Paxton's first movie as director is better than you might expect. It has a first rate cast, and Bill Butler's camerawork and some deft editing help to crank up the tension. Read more

Mike Clark, USA Today: Payoff isn't worth the time invested. Read more

Robert Koehler, Variety: 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. Read more

Michael Atkinson, Village Voice: If Frailty isn't quite the devastation it could've been ... it remains the most pungent American-Pentecostal mini-nightmare since 1996's true-crime doc Paradise Lost. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: A spectacularly gruesome and emotionally destructive, if fictitious, account of child abuse, mounted to provide two tweaks of emotion in a clumsily telegraphed surprise ending. Read more