One thing that really sucked me into watching this film was a modern take on the ten deadly plagues of Egypt found in the Exodus book of the Bible, but each of these plagues is happening in modern time. That’s something I really found interesting, along with the intelligent scientific explanations for the plagues that happened in the Bible. That being said, I hated the idea that all of these Bible-thumpers immediately thought the plagues were happening thanks to Satan. I grew up on the Bible. I know those plagues very well. If they were to happen today, I wouldn’t think of Satan. I would think God’s doing it again, and there’s no real reason to think otherwise. So, their explanation that it’s the devil inside this young girl was fun and all but made no logical sense from a religious standpoint. That’s just my first impressions, though. Let’s dig deeper and break down _**The Reaping**_ to interpret the stars. **PEOPLE SCORE – 8/10** _Acting – 2|Characters – 1|Casting – 2|Importance – 2|Chemistry – 1_ First, we look at the people category, which did an alright job. In general, the film seems to have a good understanding of what it wanted to do – so a lot of the acting is actually pretty decent all around. I wouldn’t say the characters are very memorable, though. They’re all fine, but they just aren’t unique enough to remember. Casting-wise, I’m slightly shocked at their ability to cast some very well-known actors in this film. Especially since it’s partially considered a horror film. Everyone, memorable or not, had a pretty important part to play in the film and added to the film. That being said, I didn’t think it was a very chemistry-centric film, so there wasn’t a lot of that. **WRITING SCORE – 9/10** _Dialogue – 2|Balance – 1|Story – 2|Originality – 2|Interesting – 2_ Onto the writing category! Remarkably, they did a pretty good job here. I would say the one area that could’ve used improvement was probably the actual balance. I think it went a little too far with strange side stories about a possible antichrist, visions, and nightmares – when I was solely interested in the plagues and scientific explanation storyline. Like I said before, I liked the scientific explanations throughout the film, which goes into the dialogue, full points there. What’s the story? Modern biblical plagues…that’s awesome – and a story I want to hear. Why? Because that’s not only interesting, but it’s original, too. We’ve seen plenty of modern day Noah’s Arc stories – not enough plague stuff. **BTS SCORE – 8/10** _Visuals – 2|Directing – 2|Editing – 2|Advertisement – 1|Music – 1_ Alright, behind-the-scenes was also done pretty well, but it was slightly false advertisement…for a couple of reasons. First of all, I found this on a list of films about possession, which there’s none to be found. I also thought it’d be more about the plagues than the evil entity crap – which it’s unfortunately not, either. That being said, we’ve got some really nice visuals surrounding the film. You know most of the plagues are CGI, but they’re done pretty well. There were some definite challenging points between the directing and editing – as they seemed like a lot of thought went into making it look good on a natural level, which it definitely does. I wish the music was a little more memorable to fit with everything else in this category, but alas, it isn’t so. **NARRATIVE ARC SCORE – 9/10** _Introduction – 2|Inciting Incident – 2|Obstacles – 2|Climax – 2|Falling Action – 1_ Another nearly perfect score for the narrative arc category. The one place where it falters is during the falling action, which it sort of teases something – which isn’t a perfect return to a new norm. Everything else works really well. The introduction lets us get acquainted with the scientific angle behind biblical “miracles” and the woman responsible for finding them out. The inciting incident is when she travels to the town of Haven to investigate the plagues. The obstacles are, well, the plagues. The climax is a decent culmination of everything else before it. Everything here is pretty decent. **ENTERTAINMENT SCORE – 5/10** _Rewatchability – 2|Fun – 2|Impulse/Buy – 0|Impulse/Talk – 0|Sucks you in – 1_ As far as how entertaining _**The Reaping**_ was? I’d say decent enough, but could be better. I definitely consider this rewatchable because it’s really fun to just watch. It almost sucks you in throughout the film, too, if it weren’t for the weird side story about the devil worshiping cult. Other than that, I have no impulse to buy this, own this, or talk about it with anyone. **SPECIALTY TOTAL – 20/50** _Mind Control – 0|Possession – 0|Horror – 5|Plagues – 5|Halfway Decent – 10_ Here’s what makes a potentially high-scoring film…low-scoring – expectations. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I found this movie among a list for demon-possessed films, and that’s not what it is…at all. That means both the mind control and possession themeed categories get zero points. As for being listed under horror? I can see the idea surrounding the devil and cults to be potentially scary, but it…isn’t. Half points for trying! I also thought there’d be more plague discussion than there actually was…half points as well. Finally, was it halfway decent? For this, I’ll say yes. They had an exact idea behind this film – and they achieved what they wanted to do. **TOTAL – 59/100**

I think the most telling thing about "The Reaping" is that I can't remember much about it shortly after watching it. I do remember seeing some terrific special effects and some enjoyable performances by Hilary Swank and Idris Elba. But I also recall being frustrated with all of the confusing "visions" that Swank's character was experiencing. In fact this whole "what is real" and "what's a dream or vision" thing in movies is getting a bit overwhelming. It really took away from my enjoyment of this movie...a lot. The ending was rather dull it was supposed to shock but didn't. "The Reaping" also failed to be what it was trying to be and that's scary. It wasn't.

The Reaping (2007) is what happens when you hire Hilary Swank and Idris Elba—two actors with actual gravitas—and then trap them in a movie that plays like Biblical Disasters: The Theme Park Ride, except the map is missing and the ride operator is whispering, “Don’t think about it.” The effects are occasionally awesome (frogs! locusts! rivers doing… things!), but the plot is so confusing it feels like the script got hit by its own plague somewhere around page 12. And spare a thought for David Morrissey, whose job description seems to be “enter scene wearing the exact facial expression of a man who definitely knows more than he’s saying”—so of course you spend the whole movie pre-blaming him, and honestly, you’re not wrong to. By the time the big twist arrives, it’s less “Aha!” and more “Sure, why not—add it to the pile.”

Just awful. They couldn't be bothered to make a decent movie so I'm not going to put in the effort for a review. Avoid.

Hilary Swank and Idris Elba lead the cast in the apocalyptic horror thriller The Reaping. When a small-town starts experiencing biblical plagues they seek the help of college professor Katherine Morrissey, who specializes in investigating and disproving religious phenomena. The script is a little uneven and does a rather poor job at revealing Katherine’s mysterious backstory. However, Stephen Hopkins’ directing adds a lot of tension and suspense, as does the score. And AnnaSophia Robb is especially good as a creepy little girl. The Reaping is formulaic and a bit clichéd, but it delivers some chilling scares.