MovieChat Forums > Frailty (2002) Discussion > Maybe Fenton was not really a serial kil...

Maybe Fenton was not really a serial killer after all?

posted 8 years ago by hschuh
7 replies | jump to latest

Everyone keeps saying that Fenton was a serial killer, but how do we know this for a fact? All we see is Adam (Matthew McConnahey) in HIS VERSION of the story of the events, telling how he finally found his brother Fenton and killed him and his brother had the bodies in the basement and the lists with names on it. How do we really know that it was not Adam who made it look like Fenton was the serial killer after he killed him, himself, and arranged Fenton's home afterwards to appear that Fenton was a serial killer? I always thought he had framed his Fenton to look like a killer but maybe I was wrong in this thinking, so can anyone confirm undeniably one way or the other for me as maybe I missed something where there was real proof that Fenton became a serial killer? Thanks.

[–] vfx_girl 8 years ago

Maybe this is just me but right from the beginning of the film I just kept thinking "poor, poor Fenton". You can see the look on his face when his dad keeps talking about his "visions", Fenton realizes he's completely screwed!

To be honest with you, I think the film deliberately left out any concrete proof that Fenton was or wasn't a serial killer. I'm sure other people will disagree with that - it's just my opinion. Everytime I felt more reassured that Fenton was "evil" something else would happen to make me doubt that decision. The best example I can give is the final scene at the very end of the movie. I was fairly confident that Adam was the "good" brother but then, his wife became super creepy with the way she said "praise God (or something to that effect)" and it made me wonder if in the end, Fenton wasn't a real demon after all. I could be reading into that though.

Personally, I think that Fenton wasn't a serial killer. When I watched the film again a couple nights ago (after not seeing it for at least a year, and reading some of the comments on this board), there isn't enough evidence that provides absolute proof either way......at least not for me. Technically, we are only hearing Adam's version of how the events unfolded.

[–] hschuh 8 years ago

Exactly vfx_girl! I never had the feeling Fenton was ever evil actually and I personally think God had nothing to do with what Adam and Dad were doing. They had psychic abilities which Fenton did not possess but they interpreted these abilities as a message from God to kill these evil doers and Adam fried the recording machine in the police station with his powers. I think Adam framed Fenton as the killer of all those people to lure in the fbi cop but all those victims were just more "demons" Adam had put there after Fenton was dead to frame him for those deaths. This is all just my opinion however and I haven't been given any proof against that yet by anyone to refute my belief here so far. ;-)

[–] dceuera 7 years ago

omg finally someone who actually used their brain this makes 1000x more sense than God getting people to kill demons. They weren't demons they where people who did bad things, the father killed an innocent man, if God wanted them gone he would click his fingers and erase them from existence or send them straight to hell.

[–] alaninho 7 years ago

I've just watched it again and you're horribly wrong. They are clearly meant to be demons.

[–] JudgeNotLestYeBeJudgeReinhold 7 years ago

I was fairly confident that Adam was the "good" brother but then, his wife became super creepy with the way she said "praise God (or something to that effect)" and it made me wonder if in the end, Fenton wasn't a real demon after all. I could be reading into that though.

I literally just finished watching it and it's like you plucked my exact word-for-word thoughts from my brain lol. The way she said "praise God" sounded creepy, and it really got me thinking. Maybe their dad just lost his mind and turned both Fenton and Adam into killers.

I mean, he brutally axe-murdered people in front of both boys, preached all kinds of looney ideas in their heads, and he locked Fenton
In that hole for who knows how long.

Maybe Fenton killed because of hatred he had for his father, and Adam killed because his young mind was easily corrupted from an early age.

Or maybe Fenton wasn't a killer at all. Maybe he was just a mental and emotional wreck from being traumatized by his father's delusions.

That's why I love movies like this. They really make you think! 🤔

[–] alaninho 7 years ago

Explain all the CCTV blindness then. Or how he knows about people's secrets (the FBI agent stated that nobody knew).

Sorry, but you're both wrong, and half your argument is hinged on an actress' (playing a minor character) delivery of a single line.

[–] JudgeNotLestYeBeJudgeReinhold 7 years ago

Yeah man, you're right. I kinda forgot about that bit. It was just the way that broad said "praise Jesus" as the last spoken line of the movie that creeped me out haha.