Monday, October 19, 2009

The Reaping



(2007)

I went into this movie with a chip on my shoulder. Hillary Swank bothers me for two reasons. 1) JPX and I caught Million Dollar Baby at the Cinema Pub a few years back. Our evening plan of sharing a few beers and laughs was beaten to death with a depression stick. 2) I caught her hyping The Reaping on the Today Show and she talked about her faith in God with a vacant smile on her face. *shudder*

On the other hand, I do love me a good devil/apocalypse movie. If you want to impress me all you really have to do is throw in an antichrist child, a plague or two and a Bible quote. Throw in a human sacrifice and I’ll make you breakfast.

Swank plays a professional skeptic who travels the world debunking miracles. There’s some supernatural shit going on in Louisiana. That’s the plot. The Reaping is nothing more than another mediocre entry in a long list of supernatural horror movies. It adds absolutely nothing new to the genre that began with Rosemary’s Baby and continued with The Exorcist, The Omen and a slew of garbage like Gothika. But at least this one has a big budget, A-list acting and a couple of good creepouts.

JPX thought it was pretty good too.



"I am the worried guy that you should be taking seriously."

5 comments:

JPX said...

"If you want to impress me all you really have to do is throw in an antichrist child, a plague or two and a Bible quote. Throw in a human sacrifice and I’ll make you breakfast." I love it because it's true.

I don't recall too much about this except that it made for an entertaining rental. That's so true about our Million Dollar Baby experience. It was such a bleak film that I almost couldn't finish my beer.

Almost.

Catfreeek said...

Nice review, I liked the river of blood, very cool effect. I've also acquired some fulgurite to make a wind chime but haven't gotten around to it yet. I loved the sound the chimes made.

Trevor said...

It had a good ending, but I found one of the biggest problems here was Swank herself - not the most gripping protagonist.

Octopunk said...

Sometimes I think I'll compile a feature list of horror movies from the last few years in which big-time celebrities come a-slumming. But the idea depresses me.

This would be one of those.

DKC said...

Her face just bugs me. I think she's weird looking. Happy to hear the movie doesn't totally suck though!

Malevolent

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