The world is possessed by demons disguised as humans. It is upto Meiks Sr( Bill Paxton) and his two sons, Adam Meiks and Fention Meiks, to slay the demons and ofcourse, God will help them in identifying the demons. This is what Meiks Sr. believes. His belief drives him to start a string of terrorizing brutal slayings and he wants his two sons to be a part of the ’’noble’’ mission.
The movie is a window into the dark world of delusioned people excellently portraying the pressures and the trauma children face in such an environment. The movie starts with Matthew McConaughey walking into the office of FBI agent Wesley Doyle (Powers Boothe) claiming that he has valuable information about the ’’God’s Hand’’ serial killings which have haunted a small town in Texas for years. He introduces himself as Fenton Mieks and claims his brother , Adam Mieks, was behind the recent killings and his dead body lies in an ambulance parked outside. Doyle as expected doesn’t believe our mysterious man until Fenton starts narrating his story which results in a string of chilling flashbacks. At this juncture, the movie reminds you of the brilliantly directed and tightly scripted ’’The Usual Suspects’’ released more than a couple of years back. So five minutes into the flashback and we know that Fenton and Adam’s Dad, portrayed by Bill Paxton who is also the director of the movie, is a loving and gentle human being who works hard for his living and loves his sons dearly. Fenton is the elder of the two brothers and hence more sensible and more aware of things around him. He loves his brother and takes care of him all day while his father is away working. Their world is rattled when one fine night Fenton’s Dad walks into the children’s room and claims that he was visited by an angel who has instructed him to get rid of the demons terrorizing the world. At this point you can clearly distinguish the immature Adam who has an impressionable mind and the more-than-wise Fenton.
Adam blindly believes his father and assumes him to be a superhero while Fenton looks at his father questioningly wondering whether his father has just gone nuts or is it just a bad dream. Fenton’s dad goes one step further and brings home an axe and some gloves claiming that God wants him to slay the demons using those weapons. He claims that he can see the evil doings of the ’’demon’’ when he touches them. As the story builds up Adam and his father team up on one side believing that they have been awarded with the noble cause of slaying the demons and Fenton is left alone fighting his fears that his father might eventually murder someone. Fenton’s worst fears come true when one night his father brings home his first ’’demon’’ ask his sons to witness the brutal slaying. Fenton is terrified as hell and tries to prevent his father from slaying the victim. Just to make sure that he is killing a demon, father touches the victim and we can see he is zapped by some mysterious energy. But is he really having a vision which portrays the evils of the victim/demon? You have to wait till the end to find out. The father continues his killing one after the another. He doesn’t select the victims randomly but insists that the angel provides him with the names. Fenton is in a terrorized state and loses his father’s trust because he refuses to believe a single word his dad says and he is just suffocating inside realizing that he can’t do anything about it. To make matters worse, Fenton’s father claims that the angel has listed Fenton as one of the demons. Adam on the other hand wins his fathers trust because he firmly believes that his father is doing the right thing. Who is right? Who is telling the truth?Who wins in the end? What can Fenton do about this? All this is explained by series of unexpected twists binding you to your seat till the very end. The movie marks the debut of Bill Paxton as a director. If this is an indication of the things to come by, then we can rest assured we have another brilliant director among our midst.
The movie is so well directed that we never see the blood gore of the brutal slayings yet we can feel the horror associated with it. He doesn’t just go about portraying Meiks sr. as a serial killer but also successfully manages to weave emotions into the yarn. Fenton’s struggle with himself, his struggle with his father, father’s struggle with himself to disbelieve that his son is a demon, Adam’s bond with this father and brother. The movie just never stops in dealing with the complex relationships and the emotions involved. Bill Paxton hasn’t compromised in a single scene and we thank him for that.
The script by Brent Hanley is excellent and so is the cinematography by Bill Butler and editing by Arnold Glassman. Matthew McConaughey is a fine actor and we can see why. Matthew O’Leary and Jeremy Sumpter as the young Fenton and Adam are nothing short of superb. But who takes the cake in the end? Yes, it’s Bill Paxton again who brings life into Fenton’s father. It is to his credit that we see Meiks Sr. as a delusioned individual with sympathy rather than hate Meiks Sr. believing him to be some crazy psycho. Two Thumbs up to Bill Paxton.The movie may not have a repeat value but it sure makes an excellent first viewing.