The Reaping review

A contemporary version of the Biblcial plagues might include the plague of mediocre religious horror films, of which The Reaping is the latest example. To make a film that depicts all 10 sanctified calamities is hard enough, to weave them successfully into a gripping story proves beyond the capabilities of director Stephen Hopkins and screenwriters, Chad and Carey Hayes. There are some redeeming features to this serviceable thriller, most notably an earnest performance from Hilary Swank, but ultimately the scope of the undertaking is its undoing.

The key to invoking real terror is to suggest something, but never show it. Imaginations are far more vivid and convincing than anything created on a computer or a set. While many of the effects used to depict the various plagues are impressive enough, in particular the river of blood and the locusts, some are less accomplished, notably the firestorm and death of first born, providing the film with a corny climax that jars in tone with much that precedes it.

Swank plays Katherine Winter, a former Christian missionary who revokes her faith when her family is killed in the Sudan, since when she has become a foremost authority on disproving religious phenomena. But when she's called to a rural Louisiana town that appears to be suffering the biblical plagues, the evidence is harder to explain. Winter goes there at the request of Doug (David Morrissey), taking her assistant, Ben (Idris Elba), with her. The fervently religious locals are convinced the murder of a boy and the strange events that follow, including the local river turning blood red, are somehow caused by a mysterious girl Loren (AnnaSophia Robb) who lives in the nearby woods.

Linked is a subplot involving Winter's former missionary colleague Father Costigan (Stephen Rea), who senses she's in danger, but this whole avenue goes nowhere, leaving you to wonder what Rea ever saw in the role. Confusing too, are the numerous hallucinations or dreams that Winter suffers. What is real and what is imagined is never defined. What is real is Winter's penchant for wearing skimpy outfits, a ploy that seems designed more to titillate than reflect her true character. They have the desired impact on Doug, igniting more than a few sexual sparks between the two.

There is an undoubted tension that permeates much of The Reaping and not all of it caused by the obligatory creaking doors. But having set up such an exalted goal, it was always going to be difficult to have a satisfactory pay off. "I think people need to believe in miracles," declares Ben. He's right. It's one reason they keep going to films like this, in the hope that one day there will be a great one. The Reaping isn't it though.

Kevin Murphy