The Reaping DVD Review

Former Christian missionary Katherine Winter (Swank) has lost her faith and now travels the world scientifically disproving miracles. When Doug (Morrissey) from the small Louisiana town of Haven asks for Katherine’s help with what the town’s people believe is the first of the ten plagues sent by God. After the death of a local boy, the town’s river turned blood red and they blame the boy’s twelve year-old sister Loren (Robb) but when Katherine and her assistant Ben (Elba) arrive their experiments prove that what is going on in Haven might actually be real.

The wrath of God has always being all-powerful in the horror genre but can ‘The Reaping’ bring the ten plagues of the Exodus back to the silver screen?

Horror is going through a renaissance in Hollywood and it is now becoming a draw for big name actors. Two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank is the next to be drawn into the world of evil but even her considerable talents can save us from plagues of bad acting, awful storylines and a finale that the Devil himself would cringe at.

The premise of the ten plagues of the Exodus coming to a small town in Louisiana and a creepy twelve year-old girl who seems to be bringing them to pass, has all the horror hallmarks that you need to provide some decent scares but ‘The Reaping’ doesn’t utilise them to their strengths. Rivers turning to blood, swarms of locust, boils, fire from the sky, the death of the first born and more are all here but none of them really instils the fear they should have.

Hilary Swank is arguably one of the best actresses of her generation. Every time she appears in a movie you have to take notice, as she has created some extremely memorable characters and performances but her role as Katherine Winter will be one that she will want to forget. While there is nothing wrong with the character, as she is a strong female lead with her own demons to face, the actress gives her all but never completely convinces in the horror genre. Whether this is to do with the script or a lack of understanding of how to play horror and fear convincingly, Hilary Swank doesn’t really feel comfortable in the role and in this type of movie. David Morrissey still has to convince Hollywood that he can be the next British actor to make it big in the US. After his appalling performance in the terrible ‘Basic Instinct 2’ and then his role as small time teacher Doug in this movie, it is getting hard to remember his appearances in ‘Captain Corelli's Mandolin’ and ‘Stoned’ which got him noticed in tinsel town in the first place. The rest of the cast don’t do much better with Stephen Rea seriously underused, Idris Elba deserving better and only young, up and coming starlet AnnaSophia Robb making any real impact as the creepy Loren.

‘The Reaping’ is another example of how bad ‘Dark Castle Entertainment’ can actually be. After failing to set the horror genre alight with films like ‘House on Haunted Hill’, ‘Thir13en Ghosts’, ‘Ghost Ship’, ‘Gothika’ and the remake of the ‘House of Wax’, ‘The Reaping’ doesn’t do anything change that but it is an improvement over all of these, but not my much.

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1 with a Dolby Digital 5.1, the movie is presented well.

BONUS FEATURES

Science of the Ten Plagues (16.00 mins) Eminent professors and scholars debate if the ten plagues of the Book of Exodus could have actually happened and the scientific evidence to back it up.

The Characters (6.58 mins) Director Stephen Hopkins, producers Herb Gaines and Joel Silver, writer Brian Rousso and stars Hilary Swank, David Morrissey, Idris Elba and AnnaSophia Robb talk about the characters of the movie and what the director brings to the movie.

A place called Haven (5.03 mins) Writer Brian Rousso, production designer Grace Walker, location manager Peter Novak and star Hilary Swank talk about creating the small Louisiana Bible town, the plantation house and the other main locations in the movie.

The Reaping: The Seventh Plague (1.07 mins) Idris Elba reveals what it was like working with hundreds of locusts.

OVERALL

The DVD treatment for ‘The Reaping’ is about as disappointing as the movie. The featurette are extremely average but the scientific look at the ten plagues of Exodus is worth a watch. This aside, this is still a disappointingly average DVD.