Frailty

An FBI agent investigating a series of murders (Powers Boothe) meets a man (Matthew McConaughey) who claims the killer is his brother; the man spins a grisly yarn of a childhood in which his father (Bill Paxton, who also directed) had visions of an angel ordering him to destroy “demons” in human form. The idea of a man raising his sons to be serial killers is pretty creepy (almost as creepy as someone making a movie about it). But Brent Hanley’s script doesn’t do much with it but mark time—until an ending that manages to be both surprising and something of a cop-out. Still, performances are strong (especially Matthew O’Leary and Jeremy Sumpter as the two boys) and Paxton’s direction is restrained and assured. (He should learn to keep his mouth shut, though; he’s giving away the ending in interviews.)