Director Todd Phillips’ 2019 Joker seemingly hit the box office at just the right time, weaving between the late Trump years and the breakout of the global pandemic and cashing in on post-Avengers: Endgame MCU exhaustion. This time around, nothing seems to be going Joker: Folie à Deux’s way. Also, based on early…
PLOT: When a mysterious force begins to disrupt their big summer fun, Noah and his friends team up with a retired police detective to embark on a monstrous adventure to save their island.
REVIEW: It’s been a longstanding tradition for the horror genre to put kids on a grand adventure to solve a scary problem. Whether it’s The Goonies or The Monster Squad, they’re a fun way to get kids interested in slightly darker fare. Some scary elements to help intrigue and encourage future dalliances into more depraved cinema. Monster Summer does a good job of keeping that spirit alive, but feels so all over the place, that it never settles into a proper goal.
Monster Summer follows Noah (Mason Thames) and his friends as they try to solve the strange happenings in their hometown. Teens are starting to disappear, only to return in an almost catatonic state. Noah quickly finds out that the culprit is a witch, and is determined to stop her. Mel Gibson plays retired police detective, Gene, who everyone thinks is evil. But Noah quickly learns that this isn’t the case, and they team up together to stop the Witch before she finishes off the kids for good.
When it’s Gibson and Thames together, the film becomes a fun two-hander as they play off each other well. Gibson’s little insults are fun and provide a bit of spark to the film. But when it’s trying to go Goonies/Stranger Things, it doesn’t really work. One roadblock I really couldn’t get past was the acting among the teen actors. It ranges from okay to really rough and it really broke my immersion throughout. It doesn’t help that Gibson is so effortless in anything he does, that it just makes the other stick out like a sore thumb.
Everyone is fully aware of Gibson’s issues in the public eye but I’ve always been a fan of the actor, so it’s nice to see him return to such family fare. Hopefully, it just continues from here (but I remember thinking that after the Beaver all those years ago). But I was even more excited to see Patrick Renna in a more featured role. Most will remember him as Ham from The Sandlot, and he’s in a very fun role here. I always love to see child actors do well in adult roles. Kevin James also shows up as a villainous newspaper owner but he’s fairly underutilized. Same with Lorraine Bracco who I was shocked got such placement on the poster, given her small role.
I can always appreciate horror that’s aimed at younger audiences, and there’s an almost Goosebumps feel to Monster Summer. It just feels like there are so many elements missing. There’s not a lot of logic involved as it’s mostly just a feel-good story about a boy trying to defeat a monster. Noah isn’t a very interesting character and the stakes just aren’t there. Very little is changed from the beginning to the end of the film outside of new friendships, so it lacks much impact.
The third act is where Monster Summer stumbles a lot. Obviously I won’t get into too much detail but it really devolves into a cheap TV movie. From really poor Witch effects to a very generic resolution, it’s very frustrating. Which sums up most of this experience. Had they just made it Mel Gibson and Mason Thames solving this mystery, it would have been much more interesting. As is, the “Goonies” part of the story is the worst part, while the buddy cop portion is miles better. This makes for a very uneven experience that I just can’t recommend outside of Gibson.
MONSTER SUMMER IS PLAYING IN THEATERS ON OCTOBER 4TH, 2024.
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Writer/director Damien Leone had a budget of around $55,000 to work with on his breakout horror film Terrifier, and a budget of “a little over” $250,000 for Terrifier 2, which was a massive hit when it was released in 2022, earning $15.1 million at the box office. Since the second film did so well, Terrifier 3 has a substantially higher budget. A “couple million” is going into this one, and we’re going to get the chance to see how that translates to the screen when the film receives a theatrical release on October 11th… but there have already been some screenings, and you can hear the reactions of some audience members in the audience reaction trailer embedded above. Our friends at Bloody Disgusting report that nine people walked out of the UK premiere within the first ten minutes of the movie (two more followed them out later), and that one audience member vomited along the way.
Terrifier 3 has the following synopsis: Art the Clown is set to unleash chaos on the unsuspecting residents of Miles County as they peacefully drift off to sleep on Christmas Eve. Here’s some more information: After surviving Art the Clown’s Halloween massacre, Sienna and her brother are struggling to rebuild their shattered lives. As the holiday season approaches, they try to embrace the Christmas spirit and leave the horrors of the past behind. But just when they think they’re safe, Art the Clown returns, determined to turn their holiday cheer into a new nightmare. The festive season quickly unravels as Art unleashes his twisted brand of terror, proving that no holiday is safe.
Speaking with USA Today, Leone revealed that the new sequel takes place five years after the events of Terrifier 2.
David Howard Thornton reprises the role of Art the Clown, a character who was first introduced in Leone’s 2013 anthology All Hallows’ Eve (although Thornton didn’t start playing him until Terrifier). Also in the cast are Lauren LaVera, who’s back as Terrifier 2 heroine Sienna; Elliot Fullam returns as Sienna’s brother Jonathan, Samantha Scaffidi is returning as Terrifier and Terrifier 2 character Victoria Heyes, and Daniel Roebuck, who has been cast in the role of Santa Claus. FX legend Tom Savini will also be showing up, in an unspecified role. The same goes for Jon Abrahams, Antonella Rose, Krsy Fox, and legendary character actor Clint Howard. Chris Jericho, who had a cameo in Terrifier 2, is back in Terrifier 3 – but he has let everyone know that his appearance in the film won’t last very long.
Viewers in the audience reaction trailer describe Terrifier 3 as disgusting, scary, depraved, and traumatizing, among other things. Are you looking forward to this movie? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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After multiple delays and name changes, Throne and Liberty has finally been released, offering us a new MMO in a time of drought. The genre has waned in popularity, and can often seem overshadowed by more standard live service titles, but Throne and Liberty aims to shake things up with creative class design, gorgeous…
After multiple delays and name changes, Throne and Liberty has finally been released, offering us a new MMO in a time of drought. The genre has waned in popularity, and can often seem overshadowed by more standard live service titles, but Throne and Liberty aims to shake things up with creative class design, gorgeous…
February 2009. Legendary late-night talk show host David Letterman introduces his next guest: Oscar-nominated actor Joaquin Phoenix. He’s sporting an unkempt beard, dark sunglasses indoors, and behaving like it was his first talk show appearance rather than his hundredth. Even Letterman, who could improv with the best of them, struggles to keep up with Phoenix’s short answers, insisting that he was done with acting so he could focus on becoming a rapper. Turns out, it was an attempt at viral marketing for the upcoming mockumentary, I’m Still Here. Okay, so maybe the interview didn’t tell us much about the movie or drive anyone t to see it, but it did tell us a lot about Joaquin Phoenix, the person and the performer, his deep commitment to his art form, and his obsession with authenticity that brought him through a difficult upbringing and into a wildly successful acting career.
Joaquin Phoenix was born on October 28, 1974, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. But before young Joaquin set foot on a Hollywood set, the Phoenix family’s story took a detour through a controversial chapter. In the early 1970s, John and Arlyn Bottom joined the Children of God, a religious cult founded by David Berg. The family, including Joaquin and his siblings River, Rain, Liberty, and Summer, spent years as nomadic missionaries in South America. During this time, Joaquin and River first dipped their toes into performance, busking on the streets to support their family.
By 1978, disillusioned with the cult’s practices (particularly the controversial “Flirty Fishing” method of evangelism that used sex as a means of recruitment), the parents left the cult and booked it to the United States. They changed their surname to Phoenix, symbolizing a rebirth from the ashes of their past. This early exposure to an unconventional and often troubling environment would later fuel Joaquin’s gravitation toward complex, morally ambiguous characters.
The Phoenix family tree took root in the entertainment industry early on. Little Joaquin, or Leaf as he was known then, started his journey as a child actor on television in the early 80s. In 1986, Leaf/Joaquin blasted off in SpaceCamp, a movie that made every kid dream of accidentally being launched into space. 1989 saw him in Parenthood, a film that likely gave him plenty of material for future therapy sessions.
Fast forward to 1995, and we find a now-adult Joaquin in To Die For, a dark comedy that proved he could hold his own against Nicole Kidman’s killer ambition (literally). Around this time, Leaf decided to (ahem) turn a new leaf, shed his herbaceous moniker, and embrace his birth name. In 1997, Phoenix took a U-Turn into one of Oliver Stone’s lesser-known works. This film is notable for being one of Jennifer Lopez’s best performances and, simultaneously, one of Sean Penn’s worst.
1999 brought us 8MM, a film that made everyone think twice about their VHS collections. Phoenix played a porn shop employee, proving that no role was too gritty or uncomfortable for him to tackle. Joaquin’s new millennium started with Quills, where he played a priest opposite Geoffrey Rush’s Marquis de Sade. This is your jam if you ever wanted to see Joaquin Phoenix struggle with carnal desires while wearing a cassock.
Of course, 2000 also gave us Gladiator, in which Phoenix’s Commodus took a petulant man-child to Oscar-worthy heights. His performance as the jealous, sister-obsessed emperor earned him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He didn’t win, but he did cement his status as Hollywood’s go-to guy for nuanced, troubled characters.
In 2001, Phoenix donned fatigues for Buffalo Soldiers, a black comedy set in 1989 West Germany. Picture “Catch-22,” but with more heroin and less World War II. The film’s release was delayed due to the 9/11 attacks, but Joaquin’s performance made it worth the wait.
2002 saw Phoenix in M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs, where he played Mel Gibson’s younger brother, a former minor league baseball player. The film is remembered for its invasion plot and especially that amazing alien reveal, but let’s be honest – the real tension was wondering if Phoenix’s character would ever hit that home run. Spoiler alert: he does, and it’s glorious.
2003 had Phoenix lending his voice to Brother Bear, a Disney animated feature. There had to have been SO much cognitive dissonance in the recording booth: “So, wait, I’m a human turned into a bear? Okay…Wait, I have to sing? Can we at least record it in a forest?”
2004 was a busy year for our intrepid actor. He reunited with Shyamalan for The Village, a film that asked the important question: “What if we lived like it’s the 1800s, but plot twist – it’s actually modern day.” It’s like The Truman Show, but with more red cloaks and less Jim Carrey, for better or mostly worse.
The same year, Phoenix played a firefighter in Ladder 49, proving he could rock a helmet and suspenders with the best of them. It’s one of those films that makes you appreciate firefighters and wonder why Phoenix hasn’t done more action movies. Maybe he’s a little old now, but I want to see him as the next James Bond. instead of suave one-liners, he stares intensely at the villains until they surrender. Hey, it could work!
Rounding out his 2004 hat-trick was Hotel Rwanda, where Phoenix played a journalist covering the Rwandan genocide. It’s a powerful, harrowing film that showcases Phoenix’s ability to bring depth and humanity to even the smallest roles.
2005 brought us Walk the Line, where Phoenix donned the black garb of Johnny Cash and showed he could sing as well as act. His portrayal of the Man in Black earned him his second Oscar nomination, this time for Best Actor. He didn’t win, but he did get to perform “Ring of Fire” live at the Academy Awards, which is arguably a better prize. In 2007, Phoenix teamed up with Mark Wahlberg for We Own the Night, a crime drama that taught us once and for all that the Phoenix-Wahlberg duo is the bromance we didn’t know we needed. Maybe Wahlberg wanted his own Good Will Hunting, but with more Russian mobsters and less math.
2008’s Two Lovers saw Phoenix playing a man torn between two women, which is basically a metaphor for his entire career – torn between commercial success and artistic integrity. It’s a beautiful, melancholy film (from frequent Phoenix collaborator James Gray) that makes you wonder if Phoenix has ever been truly happy in his life, or if he’s just really good at looking perpetually troubled.
Then came 2010 and the infamous I’m Still Here, a mockumentary that had everyone questioning Phoenix’s sanity and career choices, especially with the benefit of hindsight that paints a picture of an unprofessional set helmed by a pre-repentant Casey Affleck. Remember that bizarre Letterman appearance? Yeah, that was for this. The film bombed, but it did give us the gift of a fully committed Phoenix, willing to sacrifice his public image for his art. He became someone else entirely in a way only he could.
2012 brought The Master, where Phoenix played a troubled World War II veteran who falls in with a charismatic cult leader, something he may have been all too familiar with. It earned him his third Oscar nomination and cemented his status as the go-to actor for roles that require deep stares and barely suppressed rage.
In 2013, Phoenix starred in The Immigrant (once again with James Gray), a period drama that allowed him to showcase his ability to rock a 1920s mustache. It’s a beautifully shot film that reinforced that Phoenix can do “morally ambiguous” like no one else. The same year gave us Her, Spike Jonze’s meditation on love in the digital age. Phoenix played a man who falls in love with his AI operating system, which felt like science fiction in 2013 and uncomfortably close to reality in 2024. He probably prepped for the role by having deep, existential conversations with Siri. It would probably be way easier with ChatGPT today. They even stole ScarJo’s voice for it!
2014’s Inherent Vice saw Phoenix team up with Paul Thomas Anderson for the second time following their acclaimed collaboration on The Master. In this outing, Phoenix plays a perpetually stoned private investigator in 1970s Los Angeles. Think The Big Lebowski, but with more plot twists and less bowling. The film is a trippy, paranoid journey that perfectly showcases Phoenix’s ability to seem constantly confused yet oddly competent.
In 2017, Phoenix starred in You Were Never Really Here, a brutal, poetic thriller that is somehow not a sequel to I’m Still Here. Phoenix plays a traumatized hitman who rescues trafficked girls, proving once again that he’s at his best when playing characters who are one bad day away from a complete breakdown.
2018 saw Phoenix in a whirlwind of diverse roles. He kicked it off with The Sisters Brothers, which I think is “an underrated gem.” It’s a Western that has Phoenix bouncing between comedy and drama and looking good in a cowboy hat simultaneously. The same year, Phoenix took on the role of Jesus in Mary Magdalene. Maybe the film didn’t exactly set the box office on fire, but you don’t pass up the opportunity to play the Son of God, even if it means growing out your hair and beard to biblical proportions. Rounding out his 2018 trifecta was Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot, a biopic about quadriplegic cartoonist John Callahan. Impressive range, to go from playing Jesus to a quadriplegic alcoholic cartoonist in the same year.
Then came 2019 and Joker, the role that finally freed Phoenix from his Oscar curse. After three nominations, he took home the gold for his masterful portrayal of Arthur Fleck, a failed comedian who descends into madness and becomes Gotham’s Clown Prince of Crime. As the camera rolled, Phoenix disappeared into the character, delivering a captivating and unsettling performance. It’s like watching a car crash in slow motion if the car was wearing clown makeup and you couldn’t look away. Every laugh, every tear, every violent outburst is a testament to Phoenix’s dedication to the role.
Joker was more than just a film – it was a cultural phenomenon, a thought-provoking commentary on society’s failures and the consequences of neglect. And until Deadpool and Wolverine passed it in 2024, the highest-grossing R-Rated film of all time (worldwide). Phoenix’s Oscar win was not just a recognition of his craft but also a nod to the film’s impact on the world. But I still think Taxi Driver did it better.
2021 brought us C’mon C’mon, a tender black-and-white drama where Phoenix plays an uncle bonding with his young nephew. It’s a beautiful, introspective film that taught audiences that Phoenix can do “gentle and nurturing” just as well as “vigorous and slightly unhinged.”
In 2023, Phoenix starred in Beau Is Afraid, a surreal psychological horror-comedy that can best be described as… well, indescribable. Imagine if Freud, Kafka, and Wes Anderson collaborated on a fever dream. Phoenix plays a man on an odyssey to reach his mother’s house, facing bizarre obstacles along the way. The same year, Phoenix took on the role of Napoleon Bonaparte in Ridley Scott’s epic Napoleon. It’s a testament to Phoenix’s versatility that he can go from playing a neurotic Jewish man in modern-day New York to a 19th-century French emperor in the span of a few months.
In another surprising turn of events, Phoenix recently exited Todd Haynes’ gay romance drama just five days before production was set to begin. It sucks for the crew members who aren’t rich actors and live gig-to-gig. However, everyone, even rich actors, should still have the right to choose the work they do, especially when companies, including big movie studios, can drop actors all the time without facing the criticism Joaquin did. The reasons for his departure remain unclear, and the turn of events has raised more questions than answers. Maybe the optics aren’t great due to the nature of the role. Hopefully, he’ll find the answers to these questions in time for his next project. Speaking of next projects, this week sees Phoenix reprising his role as Arthur Fleck in Joker: Folie à Deux. The musical sequel, because apparently, what the gritty, realistic Joker origin story needed was song and dance numbers, although sadly the reviews have been quite mixed so far.
As we look back on Joaquin Phoenix’s career, spanning over 40 years and showing no signs of slowing down, one thing becomes clear: he is an actor who defies categorization. From child star to Oscar winner, from Leaf to Joaquin, from Bottom to the top, Phoenix has consistently pushed the boundaries of what it means to be an actor. He approaches each role with a level of commitment and passion that borders on obsession, diving deep into the psyche of his characters and emerging with performances that are as unsettling as they are captivating.
Phoenix stands out as a beacon of authenticity in an industry often criticized for its superficiality. He’s not afraid to take risks, of which there were plenty, to look foolish, which he did plenty, or to completely immerse himself in a role, no matter how bizarre or challenging, or even…well…bad. This unwavering commitment to his craft has earned him the respect of his peers and the admiration of audiences worldwide. As we eagerly await his future projects, one thing is certain: whatever Joaquin Phoenix does next, it will be potent, it will be unexpected, and it will be unmistakably Joaquin.
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Megalopolis has been in theaters for a week and although it hasn’t shown a strong performance at the box office, Francis Ford Coppola is still ready to engage with the film’s audience (or anyone really) in a discussion over the movie and what it means to the art of cinema. Coppola’s ambitious passion project has been divisive from the start and the Godfather filmmaker is seemingly basking in that reaction in hopes that it challenges the viewers. However, his directing peers have glowed about the film in some recent reactions, including Guillermo Del Toro stating, “Francis is still the same bold, fearless, inventive filmmaker that he was in his 20’s. I was Swept by Megalopolis!” and Steven Soderbergh exclaiming, “WOW! This might be the craziest thing ever shot on American soil. Certainly, one of the most sustained acts of pure imagination I’ve ever seen. I dreamt about it all night—it was inspiring!”
Coppola has now taken to his social media to open up a forum of spirited discussion on the film and art as a whole. He posted, “This is Francis Ford Coppola. It should be reiterated that the core purpose of #MEGALOPOLIS was to spark a conversation and advance the art of cinema. Over the last 7 days I have been overjoyed by many kind words, realizations, and humble understandings of this piece of art. To celebrate the spirit of DEBATE in the film, I invite you to ask a question in the replies so that we may have a conversation – I’ll be responding tomorrow 10am PT / 1pm ET.”
Much like Adam Driver’s character, Caesar, in the film, Coppola is willing to explain his philosophical intent with the film and what he hopes it does with cinema in general. Granted, with the movie leaving viewers divided, it’s natural there could be a bevy of critics and trolls as he opens up communication. However, Coppola has shown in the past that he doesn’t walk on eggshells around topics, so it will be interesting what he chooses to address and how bold he feels about addressing it.
Our EIC, Chris Bumbray, kept an open mind and the film still couldn’t resonate with him as he hoped, saying in his review, “In the last forty minutes, Megalopolis becomes a real disaster, with so much jam-packed into the movie’s third act that it becomes almost impossible to keep up with it. It becomes nonsensical as it races towards its ending. Again, one can’t fault Coppola for his ambition. He financed the movie with money he earned, so he had every right to make exactly the film he wanted to make. But it’s hard to imagine this ever connecting with anyone other than hardcore Coppola devotees or maybe connoisseurs of bad cinema.”
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In 2001, beloved actor Bill Paxton already had classic roles in legendary films like Aliens and Tombstone in his rearview mirror. A man known by audiences as one of the best character actors to ever grace a screen. But also, an actor who could take any situation… no matter how outlandish… and ground it in reality. Because he had the aura of the everyday man. A dude’s dude. Known by some in the plain lands as “The Extreme.” Or by others as the sleazy car salesman who tried to bang Arnold’s wife. It was at this point in his career that Paxton came across a role so nuanced that he knew there was only one way to handle it correctly. He would, for the first time in his career, have to direct the feature film himself. Paxton was about to use that loveable, regular Joe persona and put us all at ease. Before hacking us up into tiny little bits and burying us in the Rose Garden. You know…for Jesus. This is what happened to Frailty….
Like most memorable originals, Frailty (watch it HERE) started with a great script. As Producer David Kirschner, whose credits include Child’s Play and Hocus Pocus, explains it, writer Brent Hanley’s life wasn’t going so hot at the time. Kirschner said, “They were living in Tyler, TX which is where the story takes place. He turned to his wife, Faith….which sounds like it’s something from the movie….and said, ‘Baby we gotta get out of here or we’re going to die.’” And so, they did. Hanley and his wife moved to Boston. He joined the writing program at Emery, where Frailty was born. A title that on the surface had nothing specific to do with the movie, yet everything at the same time. As Hanley put it “Frailty to me was always about the frailty of perception, the frailty of morality, the frailty of right and wrong.”
The film is a horror/thriller/mystery involving a simple God-fearing man only known in the film as “Dad” and his two young boys, Fenton and Adam. They all live out a peaceful, small-town Texas existence until one night it instantly comes crashing down. Dad wakes them up and tells them he’s been visited by an Angel. The Angel has told him that they have been chosen by God to be demon destroyers. The angel would send them weapons and a list of the demons to be destroyed. A list that to Fenton’s horror was made up of human names. The script is very loosely based on serial killer Joseph Kallinger who had gone on a crime spree in 1974 with his twelve-year-old son. Kallinger claimed after he was caught that God had told him to commit the crimes. It’s worth noting that the court didn’t believe him, charged him as sane, and sentenced him to life in prison. He died in prison of heart failure after spending the last 11 years of his life on suicide watch. Now, That’s What I Call Some Cheerful Sh*t, Volume 5!
All parties would agree that Frailty was a great script. The problem is it’s a great script about children being involved with axe murders under the direction of God. It was going to take someone with more marbles than Pedro Cerrano to get a studio on board. Considering the subject matter. The script would by fate wind up in the hands of David Kirschner, who agreed, “I mean you couldn’t put a worse group together in a box and bring it to a studio than the idea of these elements. We were very, very fortunate that after my wife and I put in a good deal of money into Frailty we had the white knight come in of Lionsgate that really rescued us…and my marriage.” Finding a partner studio wouldn’t be the last adversity the project would face regarding its subject matter. Kirschner ended up having to have LAPD protection provided to his home where his two daughters lived. This was after receiving death threats from a Christian organization that threatened to “put a bullet in (his) head”. All before the film had even been released.
Still, Kirschner pushed on and Bill Paxton, over for lunch one day: eying him for the role of “Dad”. He had wanted someone with a “dude” type of personality whom people already had an attachment to; a Tom Hanks-type character. Well, you’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone much more relatable than Bill Paxton.
Paxton arrived at his home and expressed interest in the role but was curious about the director. He correctly had concerns about being typecast, using Anthony Perkins and Psycho as an example. Paxton asked Kirschner if he could direct the film himself. Per Kirschner, “I’m smiling and shaking my head but inside I’m thinking, ‘Oh shit, what do I do now?” Paxton (also an impressive artist) then wowed Kirschner by pulling out some storyboards he had made of important moments from the film, down to the pallet colors he’d envisioned. Kirschner was blown away, Lionsgate never fought the idea, and the rest is history.
The group would move on to cast Matthew McConaughey in the role of grown-up Adam (cough, spoilers). A role that he says is what landed him his career-altering role in Dallas Buyers Club, for which he won an Academy Award. An award he had been snubbed for years earlier when he played redneck Patrick Bateman on meth in Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation. Clearly, the academy lacks taste. McConaughey spends his time in Frailty two-handing with the great Powers Boothe as FBI agent Wesley Doyle. Boothe is perfectly cast as a skeptical FBI Agent whom Adam unburdens his story to. We’ll later find out (bigger spoilers!) that he’s also a psychopath who had previously murdered his sweet old mother while she hung laundry. The same way Michael did that sweet old lady in Halloween 6. Paxton had become friends with Boothe during the filming of Tombstone and said, “When I read this script I immediately thought of him as kind of the iconic FBI guy” If you enjoyed Powers Boothe here (and I know you did), check out his best Hans Gruber in Jean Claude Van Damme’s Sudden Death. There is just a certain mix of “matter of fact-ness” and judgment of others that no-one can pull off quite like Powers Boothe.
Matthew O’Leary and Jeremy Sumpter were cast as the young brothers and were each exceptional. Especially given the wide range of emotions they were each asked to display. The younger Adam was almost creepy in the way he so strongly believed in what his father was telling him. The younger Fenton, portrayed intense inner rage watching his world crumble at the hands of the father he once trusted. As Paxton himself would say, “I think all of us have had things happen in our childhood that we want to forget. Maybe dad wasn’t hacking people up and putting them in the Rose Garden.”
In a film that features a man murdering what he believes are demons with an axe… the true fright of Frailty is watching a good dad turn evil overnight. Or does he? One of the most fascinating parts of watching Frailty for the first time is wondering if the Dad is A) Full of sh*t and evil as Hell, B) Utterly insane, or C) Telling the truth. He’s not murdering humans. He’s “destroying” demons under the direction of an angel. Paxton and Frailty brilliantly toy with us throughout. Sure, we see him communicate with a shockingly haunting weird-looking angel from under a car engine at work. But we also see him looking silly as Hell, gawking at a tailpipe while sparks fly all around his face. Nothing is revealed to us until the final act of the film, keeping us on our toes and in suspense. This idea came from an unlikely place: Director James Cameron. Paxton had his old-time friend Cameron come by the editing bay and give his thoughts on what they’d accomplished so far. Cameron loved the film but tried to explain to them he would move some scenes around to make the story a bit murkier for the audience. They weren’t clear on what he meant when he said, as Kirschner tells it “’ Can I just show you?’” and boom. This guy is so brilliant and he does everything and he puts it together and we look at it and it changed the entire film. As Bill said, “That’s why he’s James Cameron.” Pretty rad.
Another of those moments that make you wonder if “Dad” is just nutbar crazy is when he finds an axe in a barn with the word “Otis” inscribed on it. As Dad is driving home one day he notices the sunlight breaking through the clouds and onto a random barn. He pulls over and realizes the light is shining through the barn and onto the inscribed axe. This must be one of the weapons the angel had promised to send him. Or…. he’s gone full Jim Carrey in The Number 23, and it’s just an axe in a barn. Many barns have axes. And now you’re committing a B & E. But why does the axe say “Otis”? The film never explains…. Some believe that the inscription comes from an unexpected place. Elevator floors. I learned from David Kirschner himself that if you look at the threshold of possibly 90% of the elevators in the United States, you will see a logo that says “Otis”. Some fans believe it is taken from this as those elevators go either up towards heaven or down towards Hell. Another theory is that it stands for “Only the Innocent Survive”. Makes sense but leave it to Bill Paxton for the truth to be even cooler. Truth is, Paxton had come across a homeless man named Otis, whom he was fascinated by. He offered the man some money but he didn’t want to accept charity. So, Paxton asked if he could pay him to use his name in a movie. His name was Otis. It’s about as touching a story as you’re going to get about how an axe used to dismember demons and humans alike got its name and just one more reason Paxton was one of a kind.
Frailty was released in April 2002, in a relatively favorable spot. The only opening competition was the Ben Affleck thriller Changing Lanes and Cameron Diaz romcom The Sweetest Thing. Still, the 11 million dollar budget accrued a 4 million opening and a 17 million dollar haul overall. By no means a box office bomb, but the returns simply don’t reflect the quality of the film. According to Kirschner, if he had one wish, it’d be to, “Really have a marketing of the film. Because Lionsgate said to me that ‘we just weren’t ready for this kind of film’.” As of course, Frailty had come before their great run with the Saw franchise. Kirschner mentioned he thought they did a great job on the poster and trailers but that the film just wasn’t quite out there enough. Still, Kirschner also praised Lionsgate on the entire process of making Frailty. He said that he had thought something was wrong because the studio never came to the set. But they responded that they’d been watching the dailies and enjoying everything they saw. So, they saw no need to interfere. That’s some sh*t you don’t hear every day from a studio. Even the suits enjoyed Frailty, folks.
Though it may not have made the dent in the popular horror zeitgeist of the time, Frailty’s impact on the genre is undeniable. A go-to recommendation by seasoned horror fans. Or when brought up by someone who has also seen it, usually culminates in a “Ben Affleck was the bomb in Phantoms, yo” high-five moment. The rare damn near universally loved horror film. Critics and audiences agree with “Fresh” ratings across both scores on the review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes. As well as a “Universal Acclaim” from audiences on Metacritic. For a movie with themes that aren’t marketable to the general audience; that didn’t necessarily lose money and had generally favorable reviews? One would have thought we’d see much more writing from Brent Hadley and for that matter, more directing from Bill Paxton. That wasn’t the case, unfortunately. Paxton would only go on to direct one more feature film before his far too soon passing in 2017; 2005’s The Greatest Game Ever Played, about the 1913 U.S. Open. Which also received favorable reviews.
According to Kirschner, everyone in Hollywood raved about Frailty, and even Steven Spielberg wanted to meet with writer Brent Hadley. Yet, for some reason, unbeknownst to any of us… Hadley was never credited with another feature-length film again. At least to this date. Here’s hoping for the future. For now, we’ll have to consider that one an unsolved mystery.
Hadley and company crafted a horror movie that had it all. Characters that you care about; A creepy atmosphere; A tightly written twist ending; Heartfelt acting and a great story. It’s the perfect movie recommendation this Halloween season for any horror fans you know who haven’t seen it. And that my friends… is what happened to Frailty.
A couple of the previous episodes of What Happened to This Horror Movie? can be seen below. To see more, head over to our JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!
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Back in February, it was announced that Simu Liu of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was set to star in an untitled espionage techno-thriller series for the Peacock streaming service and producer James Wan, with Jennifer Yale, who has worked as a writer and executive producer on the Apple+ series See and Netflix’s Chambers, coming on board the project to serve as co-showrunner alongside creator/writer/executive producer Thomas Brandon, who was a writer on Legacies. Now, five more actors have signed on to star in the series alongside Liu. They are Melissa Barrera of the two most recent Scream films, Sinclair Daniel (Insidious: The Red Door), Brian d’Arcy James (13 Reasons Why), Mark O’Brien (Ready or Not), and Kathleen Chalfant (The Affair). The only information Variety was able to dig up about their characters is their names: these actors will be playing Michelle, Parker, John Moira, Cobb, and St. George, respectively.
Said to be set “five minutes in the future”, the series begins with first-generation American intelligence analyst Alexander Hale (Liu) realizing his brain has been hacked, giving the perpetrators access to everything he sees and hears. Caught between his shadowy agency and the unknown hackers, he must maintain a performance 24/7 to flush out who’s responsible and prove where his allegiance lies.
Peacock has given the espionage techno-thriller a straight-to-series order, so it can skip over the usual pilot process. Liu is executive producing the show alongside Brandon, while Wan is executive producing with Michael Clear and Rob Hackett for his company Atomic Monster. Danielle Bozzone is overseeing the project for Atomic Monster. The show is coming our way from UCP, which is a division of Universal Studio Group.
Three years have gone by since Simu Liu made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut as Shang-Chi, and while we’re still waiting to hear when exactly we’re going to see his character again, it’s good to see Liu keeping busy outside of the MCU.
Does this untitled espionage techno-thriller series sound interesting to you? What do you think of Melissa Barrera, Sinclair Daniel, Brian d’Arcy James, Mark O’Brien, and Kathleen Chalfant joining Simu Liu in the cast? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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Back in August, it was announced that Stargirl star Brec Bassinger, who also has a lead role in the upcoming, long-awaited Final Destination sequel Final Destination: Bloodlines (a.k.a. Final Destination 6), had signed on to star in the supernatural coming-of-age thriller The Evilry, with her co-stars set to include Elena Kampouris (Children of the Corn), Dylan Walsh (Superman & Lois), Marissa Reyes (Ganymede), Evan Ross (The Loneliest Boy in the World), Tony Pierce (The Bodyguard), and Teri Polo (the Meet the Parents franchise). In September, we learned that Billy Zane (Dead Calm) had joined the cast. And now, Deadline has broken the news that three-time Oscar nominee (and one time winner) Faye Dunaway also has a role in The Evilry!
After being nominated for her roles in Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown, Dunaway took home an Oscar for her performance in Network. She was recently the subject of the Max documentary Faye, which was directed by Laurent Bouzereau.
Alexander Garcia is directing The Evilry from his own script. The story involves a visiting relative, played by Kampouris, who is harboring a dark secret. Dunaway’s character is said to be Anastasia, a spiritualist in the town, who acts as a bridge of enlightenment coming to the aid of Crystal (Bassinger) guiding her to the revelation behind her cousin (Kampouris) and her Dark Secret.
Writer/director Garcia is producing The Evilry under his Multi-Valence Productions banner, alongside his producing partners Joanna Quezada, Mike Nease, and Chris Bradds. Anne Stimac, Fabian Alomar, David Bertolino, and Jason Baker are also producing, with Scott Huneryager of ZaZa Rev Motion Pictures and William Day Frank serving as executive producers. Garcia is just getting his writing/directing/producing career rolling. He’s currently in post-production on a skateboarding romance called Crushed It! and has multiple projects in pre-production: the skateboarding fantasy film Skate God, the mystery Gallatin 6, and the horror film He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not.
When we first heard about this project, it was said that it was expected to start filming in Louisiana in September. The production start date has moved back to this month, and filming will take place in West Virginia instead of Louisiana.
Does The Evilry sound interesting to you? What do you think of Faye Dunaway joining the cast? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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