35th Favorite Movie - Frailty

Make sure you have read the first post in this series ("My 50 Favorite Movies") before you read on...

This is one of those gems that most people have never even heard of, let alone seen. It is a "make-you-jump" horror film, a touching family drama, a thriller with plenty of twists, and one of my many "spiritually interesting" films. But let me warn you: the subject matter is pretty heavy.

Bill Paxton (you may know him as the "No way, man!" guy from Aliens or the star of the show Big Love) directed and plays the father of two young boys. Their life is pretty normal until one day he has a vision in which God tells him that he and his boys are to serve Him by hunting demons. The only problem is the demons look and talk and act like people.

This is one of those movies where the less you know going in, the better. But I can tell you this much:

1. Frailty provides a great lead-in to a discussion about the nature of visions. To what extent would you do whatever God said if he appeared to you in a vision? Can or should a person's faith be based entirely upon receiving a "vision"?

2. Frailty is made sort of in the style of a Hitchcock film... dark subject matter, suspenseful, but no on-camera gore or nudity and hardly any language. The R rating is due pretty much to its disturbing subject matter.

3. Matthew McConaughey is in it. I thought knowing that might get some of you ladies to check it out.

That's about it. This one will freak you out, mess with your head, and give you something to talk about afterwards.