The cumulative effect is likely to make viewers weary, but not so weary that they can't manage a chuckle or two during the film's cheesed-out final minutes.
Comment
05/28/07
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The Reaping (2007)
8
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:25
Fresh:2
Rotten:23
Average Rating:3.8/10
Consensus: It may feature such accomplished actors as Hilary Swank and Stephen Rea, but The Reaping also boasts the apropos tagline "What hath God wrought?" It's schlocky, spiritually shallow, and scare-free.
Theatrical Release:2007
Box Office: $25,083,945
Synopsis: In this thriller from director Stephen Hopkins (LOST IN SPACE, UNDER SUSPICION), Oscar winner Hilary Swank is Katherine Winter, a college professor who refutes mysteries and so-called miracles with... [More]
Starring: Hilary Swank, David Morrissey, AnnaSophia Robb, Idris Elba
Director: Stephen Hopkins
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Reviews for The Reaping
Top CriticWhat could Swank really have done with such a cliche-ridden screenplay, except turn it down?
04/10/07
Top CriticThe Reaping isn't quite bad enough, or even New Testament enough, to qualify as a sign of the impending apocalypse. But by the time it's over, you know you're getting close.
04/09/07
Top CriticA slick-looking but incredibly schlocky horror film.
04/09/07
Top CriticThe only remotely notable thing about this particular jumble of boos, bangs and door creaks is that it tries to wed the horror trend with the heated-up God market.
04/05/07
Top Critic[Swank's] deft gestures and subtle inflections ring false, thanks to a script that forces her to follow the cliches of the genre, not break free of them.
04/05/07
Top CriticNote to respected actors: If the movie involves dodging swarms of sparrow-sized locusts, tromping about in a creepy, blood-red river or facing down a scary little girl believed to be possessed by Satan, run, don't walk, out of the studio meeting.
04/05/07
Top CriticThe movie's pacing feels off and when the explanations do start to come, they feel far-fetched, even for a horror film.
04/05/07
Top CriticThe film succumbs to the plague of clichés -- things suddenly leaping into the frame, screeching sound effects, and a gag that must have been old by the time Moses hit puberty: Look at this freaky stuff! Oh, it's only a dream.
04/05/07
Top CriticWhile The Reaping looks handsome -- you've never seen a prettier locust attack, believe me -- it's dumb enough to make your brain implode.
04/05/07
Top CriticA worthy genre entry and certainly better than most recent horror movies -- thanks mostly to its lead.
04/05/07
Top Critic[Director Stephen Hopkins] must have decided that horror needn't be technically horrifying, just flashy and programmatic and full of woo-woo choral bits that loudly command our spines to tingle. Stubborn little thing, mine didn't. And neither will yours.
04/05/07
Top CriticNotable for its enthusiastic abandonment of any semblance of narrative coherence. Lately, lonely women in Hollywood movies are particularly vulnerable to attacks by multiple montages and random sound effects.
04/05/07
Top CriticNo belief on earth can rescue Swank from a film that's a chain of disaster chintz masquerading as a sermon.
04/05/07
Top CriticFrom spooky prelude to investigative twaddle to surprise ending and double-surprise coda, it's as if director Stephen Hopkins is following the handbook of Satanic hooey.
04/05/07
Top CriticDirected by Stephen Hopkins, the film begins gracefully, judiciously. Sadly, in its final 20 minutes, it throws its admirable caution to the wind.
04/05/07
Top CriticWhy were they ... ? Did she ... ? Couldn't he have just ... ? Since I have no intention of watching the movie two more times to sort it all out, I'm left disgruntled. It's almost enough to make you lose faith in horror movies.
04/05/07
Top CriticAn insult to intelligence and faith alike.
04/05/07
Top CriticStephen Hopkins directs The Reaping according to the Satanic horror manual, right down to the choral chanting on the soundtrack. The lighting is often too dark to see what's happening, and the editing makes a mess of even the most tolerable scenes.
04/05/07
Top CriticAn effectively unsettling mix of Southern gothic and Old Testament hugger-mugger.
04/04/07
Top CriticLatest News for The Reaping
August 30, 2008:
OtherCool.com: Swank pouts her way through The Reaping as a disillusioned minister turned cynical professional globe trotting religious miracle debunker. 
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