Other movies in this series:
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The tyranist's thoughts
It seems like it was years ago that Rish and I started seeing trailers for this in the usual places. Then the release date came and went and no movie arrived. The premise looked promising and Hilary Swank looked unusually good. So what was the deal?
Katherine (played by Swank) is a debunker of miracles. She specifically targets Christian miracles, probably because she was an ordained minister at one point. When a particularly interesting miracle shows up in the Louisiana swamps near the school she teaches at, she can't resist checking them out. And then things get biblical. And then they get a bit confusing. And then the whole thing sort of falls apart.
I really, really liked the premise of this one. Religious horror is one of my favourite sub-genres. In this case, it wasn't quite the normal angels and demons type stuff, but was mostly focused around the plagues visited upon Egypt during the captivity of the Israelites. As a premise for horror, it was really nice. I disliked Swank's character at first, but gradually came around. It wasn't the best acting job she's ever done, but then I'm not much of a fan. The movie started out with some really frightening stuff, but as it wore on, things were less and less scary. Which is unfortunate. Toward the end, all of the air went out of the threat and the movie just sort of peters out.
And that leaves me wondering what could have been. The movie was obviously tampered with. Rish and I spent at least an hour, probably 2, afterward going over the movie and trying to pick out which bits had been added after what must have been a truly disastrous test screening. Unfortunately, we couldn't really figure out what had been taken out so that we could decide whether the original movie would have been better than what we finally got. Somebody's vision got left on the cutting floor and while I have no idea whether it would have been better than what we ended up with, what we got certainly wasn't worth the wait.
So in the end, I can't really recommend it. The premise is awesome, but that is about as far as it goes. The movie ends up being lost and confused and not really much of a movie at all.
Posted: May 21, 2007

Rish's Reviews
At last year's San Diego Comic-Con, there was a presentation of The Reaping, complete with clips, applause, and Hilary Swanks. Everyone in attendence got a ticket that they could exchange for "a special gift." That gift turned out to be a life-size plastic locust. Ain't America great?
You know, I quite wanted to see this movie, but we missed it when it was first released. Luckily, it opened at the neighbourhood second-run theatre and tyranist was kind enough to sacrifice his night so we could see it together.
I wish it had been as good as the previews. Or at least as good as a toy locust. Making movies must be hard.
I've become something of a low-level Swank fan since meeting her on the set of Freedom Writers a while back, and call me crazy, but I've started finding her attractive. She's certainly a talented actress and a likable one (though her charms apparently don't work on tyranist, who commented almost immediately on how unlikable her character was).
This is one of those movies with a twist ending that requires listing the Threat be a spoiler. But ah well. I do not think--and tyranist agrees with me--that you could sit through this a second time, knowing how it ends, without realising you've been manipulated and practically lied to.
It is a scary film, though, and part of the film's effectiveness depends on how afraid you are of creepy little girls. Even if you happen to love creepy little girls, they do manage to shroud her in eerie effects and jump-inducing sound effects.
In my experience, a good filmmaker can make pretty much anything scary.
I was not at all satisfied by The Reaping, and the ending was probably the weakest part. As tyranist pointed out, it stunk of last-minute additions and test audience changes, and aspects that weren't really organic with the rest of the story (and if it was always part of the story, then a hell of a lot was deleted that would've helped the ending make sense). I'm sad about that, because the trailer promised a really good movie and there was certainly the potential for one here. But something somewhere fell apart. Like I said, making movies must be hard.
Posted: July 4, 2007

Total Skulls: 16

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc.
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?