Scan and Pan
Sunday, April 08, 2007
The Reaping
Professor Katherine Winter (Hilary Swank) is a former Christian missionary turned professional debunker of miracles and other religious phenomena. After a science teacher (David Morrissey) tells her about a blood-filled river near his hometown in rural Louisiana, she and her associate Ben (Idris Elba) travel there to prove that it has a scientific explanation but find themselves being drawn into a series of plagues that recall the story of Exodus, and it all leads back to a pubescent girl named Loren (AnnaSophia Robb).
Stephen Hopkins (A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, Predator 2) provides competent direction of the screenplay by Carey and Chad Hayes (House of Wax), based on an original screen story by Brian Rousso. It's not the most original film and its premise is a bit absurd, but it's an above average entry in the genre and effectively holds your interest for 96 minutes, with a couple of unexpected plot twists at the end. Although there's an over-reliance on jump scenes to generate scares, it's really more of a supernatural mystery than an outright horror film.
Cinematographer Peter Levy (who frequently works with Hopkins) and production designer Graham Walker (Pitch Black, Queen of the Damned) set the table with a creepy Southern Gothic atmosphere that Hopkins uses to its full advantage. Veteran visual effects supervisor Richard Yuricich (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Blade Runner) earns his money with some impressive effects toward the end. The score was originally supposed to be written by noted composer Philip Glass, but he was replaced by John Frizzell (Alien: Resurrection, Thir13en Ghosts), whose work here is blandly by the numbers.
The cast helps sell the film despite the premise. Swank is believable as Katherine, who wants to debunk religious phenomena because she's angry at a God she claims not to believe in anymore. This may not be the best film she's worked on, but she's a professional and doesn't just phone it in. Morrissey, Elba, Robb, and Andrea Frankle as Loren's mother are also solid. Stephen Rea as a priest who used to know Katherine is wasted in limited screen time, and that subplot could have easily been removed.
Based on how many bad reviews The Reaping had received, I expected it to be a disaster, but instead I was pleasantly surprised to find it's an above average film in its genre. If Biblical prophecy horror is your thing, it's worth a viewing.
[3.5 out of 5 stars]
This is a surprisingly effective entry in the Biblical prophecy subgenre of horror films.
Professor Katherine Winter (Hilary Swank) is a former Christian missionary turned professional debunker of miracles and other religious phenomena. After a science teacher (David Morrissey) tells her about a blood-filled river near his hometown in rural Louisiana, she and her associate Ben (Idris Elba) travel there to prove that it has a scientific explanation but find themselves being drawn into a series of plagues that recall the story of Exodus, and it all leads back to a pubescent girl named Loren (AnnaSophia Robb).
Stephen Hopkins (A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, Predator 2) provides competent direction of the screenplay by Carey and Chad Hayes (House of Wax), based on an original screen story by Brian Rousso. It's not the most original film and its premise is a bit absurd, but it's an above average entry in the genre and effectively holds your interest for 96 minutes, with a couple of unexpected plot twists at the end. Although there's an over-reliance on jump scenes to generate scares, it's really more of a supernatural mystery than an outright horror film.
Cinematographer Peter Levy (who frequently works with Hopkins) and production designer Graham Walker (Pitch Black, Queen of the Damned) set the table with a creepy Southern Gothic atmosphere that Hopkins uses to its full advantage. Veteran visual effects supervisor Richard Yuricich (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Blade Runner) earns his money with some impressive effects toward the end. The score was originally supposed to be written by noted composer Philip Glass, but he was replaced by John Frizzell (Alien: Resurrection, Thir13en Ghosts), whose work here is blandly by the numbers.
The cast helps sell the film despite the premise. Swank is believable as Katherine, who wants to debunk religious phenomena because she's angry at a God she claims not to believe in anymore. This may not be the best film she's worked on, but she's a professional and doesn't just phone it in. Morrissey, Elba, Robb, and Andrea Frankle as Loren's mother are also solid. Stephen Rea as a priest who used to know Katherine is wasted in limited screen time, and that subplot could have easily been removed.
Based on how many bad reviews The Reaping had received, I expected it to be a disaster, but instead I was pleasantly surprised to find it's an above average film in its genre. If Biblical prophecy horror is your thing, it's worth a viewing.
[3.5 out of 5 stars]
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