Caffeinated Clint
After doing its very best to lose its audience in the first hour, with the usual frightener themes, a contrived plot and some hackneyed and poorly executed horror tricks-of-the-trade, “The Reaping” at least managed with some success to draw us back into the tale in the last quarter with some well-placed suspense and creepiness.
Hilary Swank, David Morrisey, Idris Elba, AnnaSophia Robb, Stephen Rea, William Ragsdale, Burgess Jenkins
Nothing Ventured, Nothing Reaped
After doing its very best to lose its audience in the first hour, with the usual frightener themes, a contrived plot and some hackneyed and poorly executed horror tricks-of-the-trade, “The Reaping” at least managed with some success to draw us back into the tale in the last quarter with some well-placed suspense and creepiness.
Katherine (Hilary Swank) is a former religious minister, Louisiana State University professor and expert in disproving reported religious miracles (of course she is).
When a boy is found dead in the river of a backward country town called Haven (how perfect), and as the river turns entirely blood red, she is called in to investigate.
The townsfolk have already started claiming that the boy’s younger sister, Lauren (AnnaSophia Robb – “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”) is not only responsible for the death, but is also possessed by the devil and is bringing down the plagues to destroy them all.
As Katherine arrives with her sidekick Ben (Idris Elba), who is naturally the believer in all things Godly, she of course has all the sling-shot scientific explanations for the occurrences at the ready (admittedly these do add credibility to the story). But as they continue to occur with increasing eeriness, and as she delves a little deeper into the sordid life of young Lauren and her disturbed family, she eventually concedes that what is going on is an act a little beyond the realms of the physical, all just in time for things to start getting very sticky.
“The Reaping” never strays from the formula, as if the filmmakers were ticking off boxes as they went along. So although you don’t feel overly cheated by the end for any failed/sorry attempts at originality that seem to plague wannabe horror filmmakers of today, you still leave feeling disappointment for having not gained anything of significance or having witnessed anything new.
The acting performances, for the most part were quite impressive, particularly that of Swank, who at some points, makes the implausible seem plausible.
Special effects were a little disappointing at times. The river looked red but not blood-red, and not without affecting the hues of the remainder of the frame. The shaking legs of the dying cattle (look out for it) were a little unconvincing and a tad comical, while the religious statue that appears in shadow on a wall before bursting into a plague of flies was also a little on the humorous side. And I must also mention the barbecuing fish that explode into flies and maggots before the very eyes of our main characters as they’re about to tuck in – their follow-up response being equivalent to ‘that was a bit weird’. But the timely and dramatic inclusion of the plague of locusts was perhaps the shining light of the film.
With all this in mind however, Director Stephen Hopkins does well to keep the story moving freely; at no point will you feel like the film is harping too long on any particular plot point, and the pacing also aids the films flaws: you’re given little time to ponder on the film’s shortcomings before it moves on to the next bit of suspense.
There were a number of spooky scenes and sudden surprises to keep thrill seekers contented; but those who think they’ll be getting something new or unique will be sorely disappointed.
All in all, “The Reaping” is not a deplorable attempt at a genre film like many of the other ‘horror’ pictures to come out recently. But don’t expect any new ground to be covered here either, from script right through to post-production.
Rating : 
Reviewer : Davin Sgargetta
