The Reaping
Director: Stephen Hopkins
Actors: David Morrissey, Hilary Swank
Release Date: Monday 30th November -0001
Genre(s): Horror
Running time: 96 minutes
Katherine Winter (Swank), a former belter of the bible belt but now a professor who specialises in debunking religious phenomena, is persuaded by Doug (Morrissey) to help defend the life of 12-year-old Loren (Robb), a child blamed for the mysterious biblical plagues ravaging a small town in the south. Winter reluctantly agrees but on arrival in the town, she realises she's in over her head as she's never come across something on this scale before. Winter doesn't have an answer for the river of blood, flying frogs and maggots that beset the town and time is running out as the superstitious townsfolk are calling for Loren's blood. Is the town holding a dark secret? Who cares when a story is this boring? The Reaping has an interesting set-up, but it dips in the middle and sinks without a trace in the last third. Shooting the majority of the scenes in the heat of the midday sun was a bad idea by director Hopkins (The Life And Death Of Peter Sellers), as the film looks too bright, killing the dark theme it tries so desperately to convey. So with mood out the window, it was left to the performances and the dialogue to save it from damnation. Although the performances are middling with nothing too awful on show, no one seems prepared to sweat for their role, which, in that heat, was nigh-on impossible. The dialogue slows everything up: like The Da Vinci Code, there are far too many scenes where people stand around discussing religion and filling in back stories. The only plus point is the river of blood, which looks cool.
