[The Reaping]
Plot:A former Christian missionary, who specializes in debunking religious phenomena, investigates a small town which seems to be suffering from the 10 biblical plagues.

Cast: Hilary Swank, David Morrissey, Idris Elba, AnnaSophia Robb, Stephen Rea, William Ragsdale, John McConnell, David Jensen, Yvonne Landry, Samuel Garland, Myles Cleveland, Andrea Frankle, Mark Lynch, Stuart Greer, Lara Grice.

My Thoughts: Nothing like 10 biblical plagues to spruce up an otherwise boring afternoon.

Review: Ever since "Ghost Ship" came and went...Dark Castle had hit a rollercoaster peak in it's horror projects afterwards. "Gothika" left much to be desired, while their "House of Wax" remake despite it's generic cast and Paris Hilton....still managed to be an atleast respectable slasher outing. Then they decided to go back to creating something original again. Which worried me because the last original film they came up with was the aforementioned "Gothika". "The Reaping" tells the story of Katherine Winter (Hilary Swank), an ex-christian missionary who after losing her husband and daughter, totally gives god the big FU. That tragedy, along with the 40+ so called "miracles" which upon further investigation, she's managed to debunk as nothing more than natural occurances or man-made disasters....has made her a total non-believer in religion, miracles, and god. But her faith is soon to be tested when she along with her assistant Ben (Idris Elba) are called to a small parish in Louisiana to investigate what the townspeople are calling biblical events. The first of whch being rivers running red and dead fish strolled all over the place because of it. "The Reaping" for all it's potential, doesn't really just let loose at any point before the third act. A film like this had the potential for alot of creepy moments and mind blowingly bizarre visuals. But you get the feeling that writers Chad and Carey Hayes were always holding back for some reason. Why? Who knows, maybe the budget wouldn't allow for the big special fx extravaganza until the films climax. Or maybe this particular writing duo prefers subtlety over substance. At any rate, once Katherine and Ben arrive at the town they're introduced to the locals and a man named Doug (David Morrissey) who's job it is to explain to them just what exactly the heck is freaking everyone out, and why Katherine and Ben should exactly care. There is one good thing amongst the chatty early moments of "The Reaping", the weird little girl named Loren (AnnaSophia Robb) who keeps appearing and disappearing andwho the town blames for all of the weird hooky hooky going on with the environment. Loren doesn't look like an evil kid, we're not talking about Delia from "The Omen" here. But it's obvious that whenever she's around weird shit always seems to happen. But at the same time, Katherine is the only person she will allow to get close to her or see her at all. Can't blame her really, considering that the townspeople with their typical smalltown southern mentality already want to do away with the girl whether the hired experts believe she's the source of the chaos or not. What "The Reaping" lacks in excitement, it makes up for in total weirdness and surreal scenes. Not alot happens on screen action wise early on, but that's sort of what you would expect in a film like this which relies more on the story than edge of your seat thrills. Hilary Swank and Idris Elba luckily are talented enough to hold the viewers interest when not much is going on, so one wouldn't get too bored. Plus the story despite it's slow pace is intriguing enough for one to want to pay attention throughout to see how this whole thing ends. Although the Hayes brothers don't seem to push events along quickly enough, they still manage to tell a good story, and set up key scenes very nicely. It also becomes obvious very quickly that Swank's character plays a very important role in the big scheme of things. A plot point strengthened by the fact that she's a mom who's lost her daughter. However...despite the weird events transpiring all around her such as blood-filled rivers, frogs raining from the sky, and food turning into maggot covered culinary disasters...she still stays firm in her belief that there's a rational scientific explanation for all of the sinister events taking place. There isn't any constant blood, and gore in "The Reaping" which makes it different from alot of other horror pictures, mostly Dark Castle's stable of films. It mostly relies of bizarre and flashy scenes and trippy visuals before finally unleashing the majority of the plagues hyped up in the films ad campaign in the movies final act. Which is where "The Reaping" really shines, in the third and final act where swarms of locusts, lightning, and fire all make spectacular appearances in the movie. To add to the visually stunning finale of the movie, the Hayes brothers manage to toss in a few huge plot twists which connect really well with previous events and are bound to shock even the most perceptive person who thinks that they have yet to meet a movie twist that can totally blow them away. One of the more disturbing and shocking of the two twists comes at the very end and sets up a potential sequel. "The Reaping" may move slow at times, and it may not keep you on the edge of your seat for it's majority...but it's strong performances, intriguing and mysterious story, and mind-blowing finale is enough to make it a very unique and quite respectable religious/thriller/horror hybrid.

Positives: Strong performances by Swank, Robb, and Elba. Great visual fx, a very exciting climax and some very cool plot twists.

Negatives: The film moves a bit too slow at times.

Overall: A movie worth seeing atleast once.





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