The Reaping (2007)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Katherine Winter	Hilary Swank
Doug	David Morrissey
Ben	Idris Elba	½
Loren McConnell	AnnaSophia Robb
Father Costigan	Stephen Rea	½
Sheriff Cade	William Ragsdale	½

Review

This predictable horror yarn from the not too successful director Stephen Hopkins boast surprisingly renowned people considering the all too contrived script by the Hayes twins (House of Wax). But Oscar-winners Hilary Swank and Robert Zemeckis can't prevent The Reaping from only arriving at "somewhat interesting". The standard religious dichotomy (good/evil, God/Satan) portrayed through the sacrificial and pietistic traditions in a rural town seems insipid and irrelevant today. In order to justify it all, the film is set in the American south, where stereotype has it these sorts of things could still go on, but the situation seems forced and this definitely affects the scariness of the film. On its way to a rather ridiculous finale (that looks like something out of a mediocre 80s fantasy series), Hopkins adds all the familiar elements, such as the desolate forest, the enigmatic scribblings in old books and the spooky little girl, but he fails to add the necessary inspiration.