Horror Movie Reviews

Anchor Bay has done an almost perfect job restoring the movie. The picture is gorgeous, the extras a delight, and the packaging sweet. But the audio, oh the audio. There are six little alterations that, for someone like me, who knows the movie by heart, can irritate (it just sounds 'off'). So I dock the DISC a star, the movie itself retains a five star rating, but this edition would get 4 and a half stars. Nonetheless, fans of Romero, or of intelligent and darkly serious horror movies, need this in their libraries. Highly recommended.

Anchor Bay has done an almost perfect job restoring the movie. The picture is gorgeous, the extras a delight, and the packaging sweet. But the audio, oh the audio. There are six little alterations that, for someone like me, who knows the movie by heart, can irritate (it just sounds 'off'). So I dock the DISC a star, the movie itself retains a five star rating, but this edition would get 4 and a half stars. Nonetheless, fans of Romero, or of intelligent and darkly serious horror movies, need this in their libraries. Highly recommended.

The "twist" at the end is predictable, and the movie doesn't go anywhere that one doesn't expect it to go, but nonetheless it is reasonably entertaining.

Of course, Bill Paxton's acting is top notch, and as he also directed the picture, it is edgy in some ways that I found compelling. Matthew McConaughey's accomplished skill as an actor makes him well suited to his role of narrator/player in this work.

It's probably not a movie one would watch twice, but unlike so many movies released these days, it is definitely worth seeing once.

DVD is great, Movie is perfect.

Still, the serial killer genre is in danger of becoming stale and overused. For every "Silence of the Lambs" there are about 10 "Jason X"s, and for every "Se7en" there are a hundred "Urban Legend"s. And between the two extremes lies a hoard of forgettable, mediocre films.

Frailty, however, is just the sort of film to breathe new life back into the genre. In his directorial debut, Bill Paxton brings us a dark, surreal crime thriller with a touch of the supernatural.

The movie begins when Fenton Meiks (Matthew McConaughey) arrives in the office of FBI agent Wesley Doyle (Powers Booth) claiming the serial killer calling himself "God's Hands" is really his younger brother, Adam. In an effort to convince Agent Doyle of his sincerity, he begins to relate the horrifying tale of his childhood.

As Fenton talks, the film flashes back to 1979, showing Fenton and Adam as young boys (played respectively by Matthew O'Leary and Jeremy Sumpter) living with their recently widowed father (Paxton), referred to only as 'Dad'. Dad is your average working-class father, working as an auto-mechanic and trying his best to raise his two sons right.

Fenton's idyllic world begins to crumble around him, however, when one night Dad claims to have been visited by an angel. He's been told that he and his sons have been made "God's Hands", and it is their duty to destroy demons. Although these demons have taken the forms of normal humans, Dad claims he and his sons will see them for what they truly are: utter monsters. Over the next week, Dad is sent a set of holy tools (an axe and a pair of gloves found in an abandoned barn), and a list of demons to destroy (a seemingly random list of normal people). Before long he's destroying demons, or as Fenton sees it, killing innocent people. Worse still, as the killings progress, Adam is being drawn further into his father's world of religious mania.

Most of the movie takes place during the '79 flashback, making O'Leary, Sumpter, and Paxton the stars of the movie. O'Leary skillfully depicts young Fenton's struggle between his love for his family and his horror over Dad's actions. Sumpter displays a similar conflict in his character, but he is torn between his brother and his father's mission. He's the innocent youngster who loves his father unconditionally, and refuses to believe he's gone insane. Paxton's performance is simply chilling. He discusses destroying demons with his sons in the same tone he might use to talk about baseball or homework. He feels only duty towards "destroying demons", but gets physically ill when he's forced to commit a real murder.

McConaughey is barely seen until the end of the movie, and spends most of the film narrating his flashback. When he is seen, he's chillingly detached and morose. You can tell he's hiding something, but you can't tell just what until it's almost staring you in the face.

For his directorial debut, Paxton does a remarkable job. He cuts deftly between the present day and '79, without making the story confusing as could easily be done. The death scenes show everything up to the moment of the killing, forcing you to cringe and imagine the gore rather than see it for yourself.

Of course it helps that he was given a fantastic script to work with by Brent Hanley. There are a number of twists throughout the film that you probably won't see coming until they're revealed. The ending makes the film all the more terrifying and shatters any preconceived beliefs you may have had, although some may find it a bit heavy-handed.

Frailty isn't just scary; it's creepy as hell. Any fan of horror and psychological thrillers should find this movie more than worth the DVD price.

If you watch any of the movie after that point (which is a about an hour into the movie) you will be very disappointed, IT JUST GETS STUPID.

Please take my advice, I scratched the last 45 minutes of the movie off my DVD, I suggest you do the same.

I haven't known before that IDENTITY may have taken reference from a story by Agatha Christie called (Ten Little Indians) until I have read that in one of the British movie magazines , But that doesn't mean that this IDENTITY is limited to the usual boundaries of ordinary thrillers ,It just took the primal concept from the books where the same events of completely unrelated characters are gathered in one place and after that the serial killings begins ,And after that the story took flight in a whole new lands of imagination ,And in my opinion this is the first strength point of IDENTITY .

The movie succeeded in creating a terrifying atmosphere with using of rain and darkness to give the viewers the feel of trapness of the characters gathered there ,The plot seemed to fly from a point to another without stopping ,Things are revealed and relations are formed but thankfully in unstereotypical method ,The Screenplay written by Michael Cooney gave every character almost an equal share of the screen time depends on the situation and the events paths ,And didn't represent any insignificant character so you have your concerns about all of them ,And Director James Mangold was very good in controlling such brilliant actors like Ray Liotta and John Cusack who both delivered a top notch performance especially from cusack who was very indulged in his role to the maximum degree .

IDENTITY doesn't give you a chance to nod off ,It totally grips you from the first moments ,And the most important Excellency feature is that the ability to create twists without giving the viewer any feeling that the represented twist was put there intentional just to satisfy the viewers hungry for a plot's twist in every thriller they see ,Actually The main twist in the third third of the movie into higher land ,And was a good model for what should the twists made ,It completely blows your expectations away ,And it really gave this movie a very creepy feeling .

IDENTITY is a very respectful thriller ,Created with brilliance and talent ,Only some insignificant sequences during the last twenty moments prohibits it from getting the five stars rating ,But that MUSTN'T stop you from watching ,You will remain dizzy minded after watching it for no less than long time .

DVD is great so is the movie.

Recommended.