Critic Reviews
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Carla Meyer, Dallas Morning News
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.
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Nigel Floyd, Time Out
I prophesy an early exodus from cinemas.
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Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle
What could Swank really have done with such a cliche-ridden screenplay, except turn it down?
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Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News
The 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.
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Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper
A slick-looking but incredibly schlocky horror film.
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Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York
Religious horror will always be with us, but if The Reaping connects, it'll only be because we sinned on the ticket line.
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Steve Newton, Georgia Straight
He lays the photos out on the floor and the burn marks form a cross with a hook at the bottom, the unmistakable emblem of '70s hard rockers Blue Oyster Cult. Hey, didn't they have a big hit called "(Don't Fear) the Reaping"?
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Rossiter Drake, San Francisco Examiner
At no time does director Stephen Hopkins give us reason to care.
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Cynthia Fuchs, Common Sense Media
Violent thriller has dark religious themes.
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Steve Biodrowski, ESplatter
Although terrible, this film does raise ... interesting questions: Why does Hollywood keep ripping off THE OMEN? Why would anyone continue hiring Stephen Hopkins to direct a movie? Why would two-time Oscar-winner Hilary Swank agre to be in this mess?
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Prairie Miller, Critical Women
Menstrual blood and unprotected sex get the occult curse treatment.
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Bill Gibron, DVD Verdict
The Reaping is the motion-picture equivalent of the senior class skank who, while good at her core, comes to the prom pregnant, wasted, and carrying along her ex-con, non-baby-daddy date
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James O'Ehley, Sci-Fi Movie Page
Atheists should probably complain more than other religious (or is that non-religious?) group about being misrepresented by Hollywood.
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John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis
The longer The Reaping is on the screen, the cornier and more predictable it becomes.... (HD DVD and DVD Combo Edition)
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John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis
I did like the bugs.
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Stax, IGN Movies
If The Reaping had been sown with fresher ideas, you might actually care if the devil went down to Georgia, er, Louisiana.
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Karina Montgomery, rec.arts.movies.reviews
Is this movie a good old-fashioned good versus evil potboiler or a newfangled political statement about anti-intellectualism? The Reaping could have gone either way, but it did neither, and it did so spectacularly.
Read all 17 critic reviews
Featured Audience Ratings
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Was expecting a far worse movie than I got with this one. Enjoyed it from beginning to end. A good supernatural flick with a lot of twists and turns. I kept thinking that i was right on the reveal but only part right. Good twist.
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Katherine Winter: Ten plagues. Ten scientific explanations.
"What Hath God Wrought?"
The Reaping is ass. It falls under the trap of what kills every bad horror film. It is predictable. There shouldn't be a one of us that can't see the "twist" coming.… More
Katherine Winter: Ten plagues. Ten scientific explanations.
"What Hath God Wrought?"
The Reaping is ass. It falls under the trap of what kills every bad horror film. It is predictable. There shouldn't be a one of us that can't see the "twist" coming. This is a terrible movie, but it really shouldn't have been. It had everything set up perfect to be a cool and unique film. It had a good premise, a solid lead, and amazing visuals. Weak directing and even weaker writing ultimately killed this shit fest.
Katherine is a born again atheist. She used to be a missionary, but when she lost her daughter, she went to the dark side. Hmm... very original. Now she specializes in the debunking of "miracles." She is always able to find the scientific explanation behind every single "miracle" people proclaim. She gets an invite to come take a look at a river that has turned red. That is the first plague. The people of this town are all God crazy and think a little girl is behind everything. Katherine comes in to give them a logical explanation for everything going on. But can she?
In the end, this movie is nothing more than a waste. A waste of a good idea. A waste of Hillary Swank. But worst of all, a waste of my time. I always have trouble liking Religious Horror films. There's occasionally a good one, like The Exorcist, but for the most part, it is a garbage sub genre. I can't recommend not watching this though because Hillary Swank is Hillary Swank and she's always worth watching. Plus there is a locus scene that almost makes up for all the crap you have to wade through to get there. Just know that you're getting yourself into a truly terrible film.
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Good acting cannot lift this typical eerie goth horror outing as science lady (she blinded me with science sexy Hillary Swank!) meets Biblical plagues down in godforsaken "you goin' to hellfire sure and damnation Yankee liberals, doncha even believe in THE damned BIBLE,… More
Good acting cannot lift this typical eerie goth horror outing as science lady (she blinded me with science sexy Hillary Swank!) meets Biblical plagues down in godforsaken "you goin' to hellfire sure and damnation Yankee liberals, doncha even believe in THE damned BIBLE, don't you?" swamp country.
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Director Stephen Hopkins does visually splendid job with this film. The colours and the mood are just perfect and so is Hilary Swank, but it has a little too cliched script and the climax is way too over the top. Still it is above average and actually quite good.
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It's not a bad movie and is certainly not as "god" awful as everyone says it is. We can all agree that Hilary Swank performed enthusiastically to pull The Reaping out of it's apparant pit. The truth is there is no pit for the film to be pulled out of. It's… More
It's not a bad movie and is certainly not as "god" awful as everyone says it is. We can all agree that Hilary Swank performed enthusiastically to pull The Reaping out of it's apparant pit. The truth is there is no pit for the film to be pulled out of. It's full of exciting twists and turns and maintains a mysterious atmosphere. Its not terrifying, but its cool and its interesting.
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Great Movie. A nice mix of Occultism, Thriller and Mystery.
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The reaping is a fairly decent film. It's not the type of film that keeps you guessing, as the film is pretty predictable from the get go. Hilary Swank prevents the film from being a boring film, and the film does have some pretty good special effects. A good enough film to be… More
The reaping is a fairly decent film. It's not the type of film that keeps you guessing, as the film is pretty predictable from the get go. Hilary Swank prevents the film from being a boring film, and the film does have some pretty good special effects. A good enough film to be entertained, just don't expect anything spectacularly horrifying and great. The film though tense at times doesn't do anything new or that interesting to horrify. The film is decent, but lacks the intrigue to make this film truly memorable, with that in mind The Reaping is simply a film to watch when there's nothing good to watch. A well made film to say the least, The Reaping is simply put a film with minimal scares, and relies too often on special effects. In the end, it's simply an average film to watch.
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The twist at the end was good. Overall the movie was okay.
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It's not as bad as the critics are saying. OK, I will admit that the story does lack, but it is definately one of the most jumpy movies of the decade. Hilary Swank brings some good acting to the table in the Reaping, however, it is greatly brought down from the story and style.… More
It's not as bad as the critics are saying. OK, I will admit that the story does lack, but it is definately one of the most jumpy movies of the decade. Hilary Swank brings some good acting to the table in the Reaping, however, it is greatly brought down from the story and style. It was fun, but I'm lucky to rate it as high as I have.
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An interesting premise and a strong first half make this film fairly watchable but towards the end the whole thing turns sour and into predictable god fearing nonsense. A real shame and a wasted opportunity but ok if it?s on TV.
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Wow this movie isnt liked!
which is weird because i really liked this movie not to shore why!
i thought it was a compelling ad different movie that explains the 10 plagues scientifully!
i really likedthis movie hilary swank as good probably not her best movie but certainly not her… More
Wow this movie isnt liked!
which is weird because i really liked this movie not to shore why!
i thought it was a compelling ad different movie that explains the 10 plagues scientifully!
i really likedthis movie hilary swank as good probably not her best movie but certainly not her worst!
ses plays a scientist who goes to a remote place to ty and explain some weird and unexplained happenings!
a good movie worth a watch!
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Finally I have seen a film that all my friends here on Flixster have watched. I think I am rating it a little higher then most of my friends, but I for one did enjoy this movie, I am not sure if its because I have spent time down in Louisiana or the fact that I like the bayou, or the… More
Finally I have seen a film that all my friends here on Flixster have watched. I think I am rating it a little higher then most of my friends, but I for one did enjoy this movie, I am not sure if its because I have spent time down in Louisiana or the fact that I like the bayou, or the fact that the little twist at the end got me. Most films I can figure out but this one GOT ME. Enough said you have to watch it to figure that out. The plague's really caught my interest, the river of blood, the frogs falling out of the sky, which no one seem to bring up, they just brought up dead frogs. Idis Elba played an excellent part, He was better in the HBO Series the Wire. oh by the way I am one of those religious freaks but I do enjoy horror and everything else I watch. I have to give this one a 4 stars and I will add it to my collection.
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It's hard to put my finger on what's wrong with this movie, but there seems to be something a little off. Which is a shame, because the idea behind it is a pretty good one, really. An ex-theist has dedicated her life to debunking religious superstition and phenomena and… More
It's hard to put my finger on what's wrong with this movie, but there seems to be something a little off. Which is a shame, because the idea behind it is a pretty good one, really. An ex-theist has dedicated her life to debunking religious superstition and phenomena and comes upon a town where apparently the ten plagues are apparently afflicting the area. I like the whole Rosemary's Baby/Wicker Man element to this film, but I think that the effects and character designs weight down this movie and lend it an inescapable ugliness. The performances by the actors are also a little off-putting, making an otherwise interesting story seem cheesy. This movie does succeed however in being relatively scary, even for a rather jaded horror fan.
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A scientist specializing in debunking religious "miracles" is called in when a sleepy bayou town seems to be undergoing a Biblical plague. The Omen meets The X-Files in this supernatural chiller based firmly in the old school (or should that be Old Testament...?) It fulfills… More
A scientist specializing in debunking religious "miracles" is called in when a sleepy bayou town seems to be undergoing a Biblical plague. The Omen meets The X-Files in this supernatural chiller based firmly in the old school (or should that be Old Testament...?) It fulfills the usual expectations of the genre including tragic back story as to how Ms Swank "lost her faith", a sidekick who is a believer, portentous dreams (or are they?) and religious imagery. But the fact is, it actually works quite well. It is VERY like one of the religious mythology based X-Files stories, but a good one. The imagery is very well done, particularly the river of blood and a very good scene portraying the swarm of locusts (which reminded me a lot of The Mummy) and it works as an off beat thriller. Of course it's all very hokey, and it annoys me that the basis of this kind of thing is always the fact that The Bible was right and disbelieve at your peril, but if you enjoyed Constantine or The Gift, you'll more than likely enjoy this. Surprisingly entertaining.
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Not even a great performance by Hillary Swank could save this cliche, predictable and entirely UN-scary horror film.
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A Christian Convincing Horror movie. It's hard to make a movie that is pushing Christanity worth really watching, but the myth of the devil is probably the scariest folk tale in human history. It works to an extent, but that's about all.
The actors are good but the… More
A Christian Convincing Horror movie. It's hard to make a movie that is pushing Christanity worth really watching, but the myth of the devil is probably the scariest folk tale in human history. It works to an extent, but that's about all.
The actors are good but the storyline could of been better. It's fairly predictable if you know anything about the myth of the plagues in the bible (I do love how they show the scientific explaination for that one) but at the end there's a nice surprise that gave me more respect for the movie than I had through out it.
Watch it once, maybe twice with a friend or two and that's probably about all you'll need of this one.
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Hilary Swank is a truly brilliant actress. It is fair to say that her talent nearly always outshines the mediocre material that she works with. "The Reaping" is another example of this phenomenon. This time around Our Lady Swank plays Katherine Winter, a disillusioned… More
Hilary Swank is a truly brilliant actress. It is fair to say that her talent nearly always outshines the mediocre material that she works with. "The Reaping" is another example of this phenomenon. This time around Our Lady Swank plays Katherine Winter, a disillusioned minister (with the requisite Tragic History) who makes a living demonstrating how science can debunk alleged miracles. She and her associate Ben (Idris Elba) are invited to a remote Louisiana town in order to explain why a stretch of water appears to have turned to blood after a local boy was murdered. Katherine barely has time to unpack before each of the Old Testament's ten plagues start to recur in their original sequence. To make matters worse, the superstitious locals believe that their misfortunes are caused by the sister of the murdered child - and are getting psyched up to lynch her.
This is a solid, entertaining, but basically unexceptional supernatural thriller. There are some very suspenseful moments and a couple of neat plot turns. The underrated Stephen Rea ("The Crying Game") also appears in a supporting role. However, though "The Reaping" tries hard to entertain, it never amounts to anything more than a good DVD rental.
<b>3/5</b>
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It was pretty good, creepy enough for me.
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I'm not sure what to think of this movie. As a horror show, it is not as creepy as the Omen (the 1976 one). Katherine is a scientist, yet for what is happening in this movie, she concludes that it is the work of God and the devil. I didn't mind the entertainment and the… More
I'm not sure what to think of this movie. As a horror show, it is not as creepy as the Omen (the 1976 one). Katherine is a scientist, yet for what is happening in this movie, she concludes that it is the work of God and the devil. I didn't mind the entertainment and the ending leaves the door open for a sequel.
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Although I thought, a likeable character played by Hilary Swank, the actual storyline became a little boring, this may due to the theme being similar to Stigmata, which in comparison was a much better film.
There were some good effects in a couple of the scenes, but all in all, not… More
Although I thought, a likeable character played by Hilary Swank, the actual storyline became a little boring, this may due to the theme being similar to Stigmata, which in comparison was a much better film.
There were some good effects in a couple of the scenes, but all in all, not a film I shall be re-visiting.
Read all 20 featured audience ratings
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