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* UnreliableNarrator
* VertigoEffect: When the FBI agent meets the Sheriff, [[spoiler: and doesn't recognize him as the guy from the night before who was the last person to see Wesley alive.]]
* VertigoEffect: When the FBI agent meets the Sheriff, [[spoiler: and doesn't recognize him as the guy from the night before who was the last person to see Wesley alive.]]
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* UnreliableNarrator
UnreliableNarrator: [[spoiler:And how!]]
* VertigoEffect: When the FBI agent meets the Sheriff,[[spoiler: and [[spoiler:and doesn't recognize him as the guy from the night before who was the last person to see Wesley alive.]]
* VertigoEffect: When the FBI agent meets the Sheriff,
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** Also, Fenton turns out to be a demon, had become a serial killer when he was older, and Adam had killed him. Succeeding where their father had failed.
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* TheReveal: It turns out that the visions that Dad Meiks saw were in fact true and the people who he abducted and killed with his ax were in fact demons who had commited horrific crimes.
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* TheReveal: It turns out that the visions that Dad and Adam Meiks saw were in fact true and the people who he abducted and killed with his ax were in fact demons who had commited horrific crimes.
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* {{Telepathy}}: The father claims to have the ability to see people's sins by touching them. [[spoiler: Given the way Adam finds out about Wesley murdering his mother, maybe he does.]]
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* {{Telepathy}}: The father claims to have the ability to see people's sins by touching them. [[spoiler: Given the way Adam finds out about Wesley murdering his mother, maybe and howmaybe he does.]]]] Also, when he shakes Agent Hull's hand and tells him he's a good man, it can be assumed that he saw that Hull hadn't commited any terrible crimes.
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* TheReveal: It turns out that the visions that Dad Meiks saw were in fact true and the people who he abducted and killed with his ax were in fact demons who had commited horrific crimes.
** Fenton is really Adam.
** Agent Doyle is really a demon on the Angel's list to be destroyed and that Doyle had killed his own mother.
** Fenton is really Adam.
** Agent Doyle is really a demon on the Angel's list to be destroyed and that Doyle had killed his own mother.
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* ExtraStrengthMasquerade: Dad states that he's invisible when he's working as God's Hand.[[spoiler: In the ending this turns out to be true. Security footage of Adam is corrupted so that his face can't be made out, and the one person who saw him face-to-face doesn't recognize him a short time later.]]
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Pretty sure that was supposed to read "really can see demons," not "Adam."
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* TheEndingChangesEverything: And how![[spoiler: TheReveal that not only is Fenton really Adam, but that he really can see Adam, puts the entire movie in a new light. The fact that he's there to kill the agent in charge only adds to this.]]
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* TheEndingChangesEverything: And how![[spoiler: TheReveal that not only is Fenton really Adam, but that he really can see Adam, demons, puts the entire movie in a new light. The fact that he's there to kill the agent in charge only adds to this.]]
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Work titles are not displayed in bold.
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'''''Frailty''''' is a 2001 movie directed by Creator/BillPaxton and starring Paxton, Creator/MatthewMcConaughey, and Creator/PowersBoothe.
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''Frailty'' is a 2001 movie directed by Creator/BillPaxton and starring Paxton, Creator/MatthewMcConaughey, and Creator/PowersBoothe.
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* TheWoobie : Those poor, poor kids.
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%%* TheEndingChangesEverything: And how!
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** While this may be typical, it is not necessarily universally the perspective on the matter among Christians.
** The Mieks call those who kill innocent people 'demons,' seemingly due to a lack of a better term more than anything.
** From a different perspective: it's not like the guy is the popes right hand or something, he had a vision and believed it, all that might be needed for that (religion wise) is the belief that demons could exist. After all, how this stuff actually works could be different from how any earthly church believes it does.
* AnAxeToGrind:The axe is inscribed with "OTIS". Some fans think this is either the father's first name, the name of the ax, or an acronym meaning "Only The Innocent Survive".
** WordOfGod is that the only reason "OTIS" was put there was so that you'd know at the end of the movie that it's still the same axe, making "Only The Innocent Survive" more of a backronym.
** The Mieks call those who kill innocent people 'demons,' seemingly due to a lack of a better term more than anything.
** From a different perspective: it's not like the guy is the popes right hand or something, he had a vision and believed it, all that might be needed for that (religion wise) is the belief that demons could exist. After all, how this stuff actually works could be different from how any earthly church believes it does.
* AnAxeToGrind:The axe is inscribed with "OTIS". Some fans think this is either the father's first name, the name of the ax, or an acronym meaning "Only The Innocent Survive".
** WordOfGod is that the only reason "OTIS" was put there was so that you'd know at the end of the movie that it's still the same axe, making "Only The Innocent Survive" more of a backronym.
to:
**
** From a different perspective: it's not like the guy is the popes right hand or something, he had a vision and believed it, all that might be needed for that (religion wise) is the belief that demons could exist. After all, how this stuff actually works could be different from how any earthly church believes it does.
* AnAxeToGrind:The
**
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Fixed \"sceptical\"
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* TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong: Double subverted. When Adam and Fenton's father tells them about the visions he has seen, Adam accepts it unquestioningly while Fenton is deeply sceptical, and is presented as being in the right. [[spoiler:But at the end, Fenton has become a deranged serial killer, and it turns out the visions Fenton and Adam's father had seen were real after all.]]
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* TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong: Double subverted. When Adam and Fenton's father tells them about the visions he has seen, Adam accepts it unquestioningly while Fenton is deeply sceptical, skeptical, and is presented as being in the right. [[spoiler:But at the end, Fenton has become a deranged serial killer, and it turns out the visions Fenton and Adam's father had seen were real after all.]]
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''Frailty'' is a 2001 movie directed by Creator/BillPaxton and starring Paxton, Creator/MatthewMcConaughey, and Powers Boothe.
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''Frailty'' is a 2001 movie directed by Creator/BillPaxton and starring Paxton, Creator/MatthewMcConaughey, and Powers Boothe.
Creator/PowersBoothe.
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%%* UnreliableNarrator
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* TheWoobie : Those poor, poor kids.
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''Frailty'' is a 2001 movie directed by Creator/BillPaxton and starring Paxton, MatthewMcConaughey, and Powers Boothe.
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''Frailty'' is a 2001 movie directed by Creator/BillPaxton and starring Paxton, MatthewMcConaughey, Creator/MatthewMcConaughey, and Powers Boothe.
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''Frailty'' is a 2001 movie directed by Bill Paxton and starring Paxton, MatthewMcConaughey, and Powers Boothe.
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''Frailty'' is a 2001 movie directed by Bill Paxton Creator/BillPaxton and starring Paxton, MatthewMcConaughey, and Powers Boothe.
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Do not spoiler tag trope names on work pages or the names of works on trope pages; please see Handling Spoilers for more information.
'''Beware of spoilers.'''
%%* TheEndingChangesEverything: And how!
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* [[spoiler:UnreliableNarrator]]
* [[spoiler:TheEndingChangesEverything]]: And how!
* [[spoiler:TheEndingChangesEverything]]: And how!
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* [[spoiler:TheEndingChangesEverything]]: And how!
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* SocialServicesDoesNotExist : Granted, he's an UnreliableNarrator, but when [[spoiler: Fenton is imprisoned in the hole by his father]], is it summer vacation? Surely someone would notice him missing school, at least.
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** From a different perspective: it's not like the guy is the popes right hand or something, he had a vision and believed it, all that might be needed for that (religion wise) is the belief that demons could exist.
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** From a different perspective: it's not like the guy is the popes right hand or something, he had a vision and believed it, all that might be needed for that (religion wise) is the belief that demons could exist. After all, how this stuff actually works could be different from how any earthly church believes it does.
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** From a different perspective: it's not like the guy is the popes right hand or something, he had a vision and believed it, all that might be needed for that is the belief that demons could exist.
to:
** From a different perspective: it's not like the guy is the popes right hand or something, he had a vision and believed it, all that might be needed for that (religion wise) is the belief that demons could exist.
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** And it's not like the guy is the popes right hand or something, he had a vision and believed it, all that might be needed for that is the belief that demons could exist.
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** And From a different perspective: it's not like the guy is the popes right hand or something, he had a vision and believed it, all that might be needed for that is the belief that demons could exist.
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** And it's not like the guy is the popes right hand or something, he had a vision and believed it, all that might be needed for that is the belief that demons could exist.
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* CainAndAbel: Played straight with Fenton and Adam, Fenton not being able to "See" the "Demons" and Adam being able to. [[spoiler: Inverted as Adam ends up killing Fenton in the end.]]
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* MeaningfulName: Adam Mieks sharing the same name as Adam of AdamAndEve.
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* KnightTemplar: The dad. He even murders an innocent sheriff to prevent him from finding out about the plan, and comes within a hair of planting an axe in his son. [[spoiler:He'd regret that later.]]
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* KnightTemplar: The dad. He even murders an innocent sheriff to prevent him from finding out about the plan, plan (though he claims he had no choice), and comes within a hair of planting an axe in his son. [[spoiler:He'd regret that he didn't do that later.]]
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* MissionFromGod
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* MissionFromGodMissionFromGod: The father claims to be on one. [[spoiler:Turns out he was, and now Adam is too.]]
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''Frailty'' is a 2001 movie directed by Bill Paxton and starring Paxton, Matthew [=McConaughey=], and Powers Boothe.
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''Frailty'' is a 2001 movie directed by Bill Paxton and starring Paxton, Matthew [=McConaughey=], MatthewMcConaughey, and Powers Boothe.
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* TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong: Double subverted. When Adam and Fenton's father tells them about the visions he has seen, Adam accepts it unquestioningly while Fenton is deeply sceptical, and is presented as being in the right. [[spoiler:But at the end, Fenton has become a deranged serial killer, and it turns out the visions Fenton and Adam's father had seen were real after all.]]
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* GenreShift: The earlier parts of the film strongly seem to suggest that Adam and Fenton's father really has just lost his mind, [[spoiler:but the ending seems to imply that he really ''was'' commanded by angels to kill demons, thus shifting the genre from psychological thriller to supernatural thriller.]]
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[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/frailty_poster_9206.jpg]]
->''"You can't make things like that up, son. Killing people is wrong, destroying demons is good. Don't worry, God will send you your own list when you're older."''
-->-- '''Dad Meiks'''
->''"You can't make things like that up, son. Killing people is wrong, destroying demons is good. Don't worry, God will send you your own list when you're older."''
-->-- '''Dad Meiks'''
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!!The movie contains examples of:
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!!Theis film provides examples
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''Frailty'' is a 2001 movie directed by Bill Paxton and starring Paxton, Matthew [=McConaughey=], and Powers Boothe.
Fenton Meiks ([=McConaughey=]) comes to a FBI agent (Boothe) with information about the notorious God's Hand Killer, who has been terrorizing the state of Texas. Through flashbacks, we learn about Fenton, his brother Adam, and his father (Paxton) who has a religious experience that plunges the entire family into turmoil. The father gathers his sons together one morning and tells them they are now soldiers in a heavenly war, and are charged with destroying demons on earth. The revelation splits the family: Adam and his dad are on one side, believing they are destroying demons; meanwhile Fenton believes they are murdering innocent people and is torn between loving his father and thinking he's completely off his rocker. Fenton makes a fateful decision and has come to the agent's office to relieve his guilt and confess his family's buried secrets...
...or has he?
!!The movie contains examples of:
* ArtisticLicenseReligion: The entire premise of the film. According to Christian tradition, demons are pure spirit, without bodies and which cannot be destroyed. Although, according to Christian teaching, it is possible for a demon to possess someone, the remedy for possession is an exorcism. Possessed people are just as much victims of demons as anyone else, and are not necessarily at fault for being possessed. Killing the possessed person would have absolutely no effect on the demon.
** While this may be typical, it is not necessarily universally the perspective on the matter among Christians.
** The Mieks call those who kill innocent people 'demons,' seemingly due to a lack of a better term more than anything.
* AnAxeToGrind:The axe is inscribed with "OTIS". Some fans think this is either the father's first name, the name of the ax, or an acronym meaning "Only The Innocent Survive".
** WordOfGod is that the only reason "OTIS" was put there was so that you'd know at the end of the movie that it's still the same axe, making "Only The Innocent Survive" more of a backronym.
* CassandraTruth
* ChristianityIsCatholic: Averted. One of the deleted scenes reveals that the family is Baptist. Bill Paxton says that he cut the scene because he wanted them to be, in his words, "generically Christian."
* TheFamilyThatSlaysTogether
* {{Flashback}}: Most of the movie, really.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: The song the kids are singing at the beginning.
* HeelRealization: Subverted like whoa. At one point the father has Fenton build a dirt cellar and locks him in it so that Fenton can find his faith. [[spoiler:Instead of realizing his dad was right, he realizes he is a demon. He buries an axe in his dad's chest and becomes a serial killer.]]
* KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade: The sheriff.
* KnightTemplar: The dad. He even murders an innocent sheriff to prevent him from finding out about the plan, and comes within a hair of planting an axe in his son. [[spoiler:He'd regret that later.]]
* OnlySaneMan: Fenton Meiks in the flashbacks. [[spoiler: Or so we are led to believe.]]
* NoNameGiven: Bill Paxton's character is never referred to by name.
* MissionFromGod
* PunnyName: The Meiks shall inherit the Earth.
* RoomFullOfCrazy: [[spoiler:Fenton's]] bedroom.
* SerialKillerKiller: [[spoiler:If Adam can be believed, then he seems to do this, as the people he/his father kill do all seem to have done horrible things.]] But then again, UnreliableNarrator.
* {{Telepathy}}: The father claims to have the ability to see people's sins by touching them. [[spoiler: Given the way Adam finds out about Wesley murdering his mother, maybe he does.]]
* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler:When Fenton realizes that he is a demon.]]
* TroubleEntendre: "I promise to God I'll bury you here."
* TwistEnding: [[spoiler:The man who calls himself Fenton Meiks is really ADAM Meiks, and he's only telling the story in order to get Agent Doyle out of the office to be destroyed. Yep, the father was really called by God to destroy demons: Agent Doyle is one, and so is Fenton, who ended up becoming a serial killer. Adam has been carrying on his father's work.]]
* [[spoiler:UnreliableNarrator]]
* [[spoiler:TheEndingChangesEverything]]: And how!
* VertigoEffect: When the FBI agent meets the Sheriff, [[spoiler: and doesn't recognize him as the guy from the night before who was the last person to see Wesley alive.]]
----
Fenton Meiks ([=McConaughey=]) comes to a FBI agent (Boothe) with information about the notorious God's Hand Killer, who has been terrorizing the state of Texas. Through flashbacks, we learn about Fenton, his brother Adam, and his father (Paxton) who has a religious experience that plunges the entire family into turmoil. The father gathers his sons together one morning and tells them they are now soldiers in a heavenly war, and are charged with destroying demons on earth. The revelation splits the family: Adam and his dad are on one side, believing they are destroying demons; meanwhile Fenton believes they are murdering innocent people and is torn between loving his father and thinking he's completely off his rocker. Fenton makes a fateful decision and has come to the agent's office to relieve his guilt and confess his family's buried secrets...
...or has he?
!!The movie contains examples of:
* ArtisticLicenseReligion: The entire premise of the film. According to Christian tradition, demons are pure spirit, without bodies and which cannot be destroyed. Although, according to Christian teaching, it is possible for a demon to possess someone, the remedy for possession is an exorcism. Possessed people are just as much victims of demons as anyone else, and are not necessarily at fault for being possessed. Killing the possessed person would have absolutely no effect on the demon.
** While this may be typical, it is not necessarily universally the perspective on the matter among Christians.
** The Mieks call those who kill innocent people 'demons,' seemingly due to a lack of a better term more than anything.
* AnAxeToGrind:The axe is inscribed with "OTIS". Some fans think this is either the father's first name, the name of the ax, or an acronym meaning "Only The Innocent Survive".
** WordOfGod is that the only reason "OTIS" was put there was so that you'd know at the end of the movie that it's still the same axe, making "Only The Innocent Survive" more of a backronym.
* CassandraTruth
* ChristianityIsCatholic: Averted. One of the deleted scenes reveals that the family is Baptist. Bill Paxton says that he cut the scene because he wanted them to be, in his words, "generically Christian."
* TheFamilyThatSlaysTogether
* {{Flashback}}: Most of the movie, really.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: The song the kids are singing at the beginning.
* HeelRealization: Subverted like whoa. At one point the father has Fenton build a dirt cellar and locks him in it so that Fenton can find his faith. [[spoiler:Instead of realizing his dad was right, he realizes he is a demon. He buries an axe in his dad's chest and becomes a serial killer.]]
* KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade: The sheriff.
* KnightTemplar: The dad. He even murders an innocent sheriff to prevent him from finding out about the plan, and comes within a hair of planting an axe in his son. [[spoiler:He'd regret that later.]]
* OnlySaneMan: Fenton Meiks in the flashbacks. [[spoiler: Or so we are led to believe.]]
* NoNameGiven: Bill Paxton's character is never referred to by name.
* MissionFromGod
* PunnyName: The Meiks shall inherit the Earth.
* RoomFullOfCrazy: [[spoiler:Fenton's]] bedroom.
* SerialKillerKiller: [[spoiler:If Adam can be believed, then he seems to do this, as the people he/his father kill do all seem to have done horrible things.]] But then again, UnreliableNarrator.
* {{Telepathy}}: The father claims to have the ability to see people's sins by touching them. [[spoiler: Given the way Adam finds out about Wesley murdering his mother, maybe he does.]]
* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler:When Fenton realizes that he is a demon.]]
* TroubleEntendre: "I promise to God I'll bury you here."
* TwistEnding: [[spoiler:The man who calls himself Fenton Meiks is really ADAM Meiks, and he's only telling the story in order to get Agent Doyle out of the office to be destroyed. Yep, the father was really called by God to destroy demons: Agent Doyle is one, and so is Fenton, who ended up becoming a serial killer. Adam has been carrying on his father's work.]]
* [[spoiler:UnreliableNarrator]]
* [[spoiler:TheEndingChangesEverything]]: And how!
* VertigoEffect: When the FBI agent meets the Sheriff, [[spoiler: and doesn't recognize him as the guy from the night before who was the last person to see Wesley alive.]]
----
