The Reaping (2007)

Centuries old plagues are spooking a small community, and the girl they suspect of bringing about the evil is the only one with the key to their salvation.

Hilary Swank (P.S. I Love You, Million Dollar Baby) stars in this Stephen Hopkins (Lost in Space, The Ghost and The Darkness) directed film as Katherine, a renounced Christian missionary who now works to debunk religious miracles as simply scientific phenomena. Along with her assistant Ben (Idris Elba, Obsessed, The Unborn), they visit a small Louisianna bayou town at the request of the town's priest, Doug (David Morrissey, Derailed, Basic Instinct 2), who believes that perhaps they are being smitten with Biblical plagues. Surrounding all the controversey, the town blames a young girl named Loren (AnnaSophia Robb, Race to Witch Mountain, Jumper) for all the strange occurences. But not only is Loren responsible for the plagues, but the town itself is responsible for Loren, as Katherine uncovers their dark secret fights with her own beliefs to determine if what's happening is really going on.

Surely I find myself in the majority of people who saw this movie expecting complete crap, and were amazed and how bad it isn't. Still not great, not a "must see"... but definitely a "watch if don't have anything better." I really enjoyed the modern twist on the age old plague story, and this story is not something that would be deemed out of place for the setting... I could actually believe it. Decent acting with a well rounded cast with good production value seemed to really go a long way for this film.

5.7/10

Rated: R
99 mins