Product Details

• Actors: Hilary Swank, David Morrissey, Idris Elba, AnnaSophia Robb, Stephen Rea
• Directors: Stephen Hopkins
• Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed: French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• DVD Release Date: October 16, 2007
• Run Time: 99 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (100 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000U7169M
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,895 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "The Reaping" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Reaping capitalizes on cheesy clichés to begin with, rendering it even less scary than predecessors like Children of the Corn, The Devil's Rain, Satan's Blood, or All the Colors of the Dark. Overuse of CG special effects ruin this already bad film about Louisiana State University scientist Katherine Winter (Hilary Swank), who heads to the bayou to investigate what at first she denies is a Biblical plague. The river has turned to blood, frogs fall from the sky, cattle die, and the townspeople keel over covered with red bumps, while Katherine, who happens to have been an ordained minister before she became a university professor, struggles to justify these horrendous events sans religion. Eventually, Katherine's skepticism places her in danger, as the town lays blame on Loren McConnell (AnnaSophia Robb), bewitched daughter of a local Satan worshipping family, and the one whom Katherine tries to protect since Loren recalls her own deceased daughter. As Katherine and Loren battle as angel and devil, they learn to instead forge Team Faith against the townsfolk who are all part of a sinister, inbred, Satanic cult. The film is badly cast, and the acting is horrendous, save Hilary Swank, who at least looks sexy traversing the swamps with a hunting knife hooked through her belt. The Rosemary's Baby ending is the icing on the cake. There is nothing original about The Reaping, except that it might be the biggest rip-off of previous Satanic cult films ever made. —Trinie Dalton

Product Description

Investigative scholar Katherine Winter (Hilary Swank) is a debunker of modern "miracles," bringing scientific light to superstition and fraud. But events in tiny Haven, Louisiana, defy even her expertise. There, the 10 Biblical Plagues seem to be reoccurring. And the more she seeks answers, the more she questions her own beliefs. Two-time Academy Award (R) winner Swank headlines this electrifying Dark Castle Entertainment production that reaps locusts, frogs, a river of blood and more - all to eye-filling, fear-inducing, heart-probing, must-see effect.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly entertaining September 15, 2007

By M. Nelson

Format:DVD

Considering the big critics' reviews of this film (which I almost let dissaude me from seeing it in the theatre), I thought it a very pleasant surprise.

Clearly hiring Swank blew the budget, but fortunately, she was fabulous as always (not just looking, but also acting) and carried the film through the drier parts (of which there were few).

On the other hand, the CGI left much to be desired and as to be expected, there's more than a heaping helpin' of it in this biblical plague flick. I guess it wouldn't be practical to dye an entire swamp red but the blatant phoniness of the water-into-blood scenes greatly diminished the awe effect. And the supernatural hellstorm at the end could've been footage ripped wholesale from My Science Project - cutting edge 20 years ago, but Flintstonic by today's standards. Yet, I didn't much care.

The screenplay was well-written and coherent (something that cannot be said of many recent entries in this genre) and even the now obligatory "twist" ending strengthened rather than detracted from the story.

As defined by my "time-check" count, this film pulled a strong zero. And whenever I can make it through 100 minutes of cinema without so much as glance at the watch, something's gotta be right. Not a fantastic film by most measures, the Reaping is nevertheless an entertaining way to spend a couple of hours.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Way Better Than People Are Saying - Solid Horror With Spiritual Overtones April 15, 2008

By Stephen B. O'Blenis

Format:DVD

A supernatural/otherworldy 'good vs. evil' horror movie in the general vein of The Exorcism of Emily Rose - Unrated (Special Edition)The Exorcist - The Complete Anthology (The Exorcist/ The Exorcist- Unrated/ The Exorcist II: The Heretic/ The Exorcist III/ The Exorcist: The Beginning/ The Exorcist: Dominion), "The Reaping" is an underated film, not as scary as 'Exorcist' or 'Emily Rose' but very good nonetheless, nowhere near as campy as its critics say. Its style moves closer at times to suspense thrillers than other movies of its type, and may open it up to be enjoyed by fans of that kind of movie as well as by horror fans.

Hillary Swank plays a former Christian aid worker turned ardent atheist; teaching at a university she now specializes in 'debunking' miracles and other paranormal phenomena. Having achieved some not in certain academic circles, she's contacted by a man on behalf of a small Southern bayou town where a host of ominous and apparantly supernatural events are taking place. Tensions are running high in the community, and the mayor and his colleagues really want for somebody to come in, find a scientific explanation for everything, and hopefully calm the townspeople down, some of whom are starting to think about taking matters into their own hands. What's happening in this little rural corner appears to be nothing less than the ten Biblical plagues re-occuring, and bearing the blame for this is a little girl who lives off in the swamp with her mother, and is believed by some to be evil incarnate. Some are starting to fear that townspeople's anxieties are running so high that the little girl's life may be in danger.

Once Swank's character and her assistant are in town, the phenomena quickly prove to be more difficult to discredit than other events the two have investigated. And eventually it starts to come out that there may be even more to the story than what they've been told. There are some good twists towards the end; some of them are actually surprising, and beyond that, they're quite affecting on other levels too. There's a good mix of characters you like right off the bat, ones you dislike right off the bat, and ones you have mixed feelings about right from the start. The cast does a good job with their roles and the story is well told with a good interplay of different angles and elements; one area that could have admittedly used some improvement was the special effects, but these only play a major role during a couple of the movie's scenes. Definately better than its reputation, and fans of Exorcist, Omen and Exorism Of Emily Rose should really make it a point to see this one. 8.5 out of 10

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars The Reaping Starring Hilary Swank July 24, 2008

By L. A. Vitale

Format:DVD

"The Reaping" is for the most part a good supernatural/horror film..... That is until the last 20 minutes of the storyline went completely haywire and the over-the-top special effects & the "End of Days" type theme killed the movie.

The Pros: Hilary Swank does a fine acting job in this film. I also liked the initial theme of "The Reaping", where Swank's character, Katherine Winter, is a LSU theology professor who goes around debunking so called "religious phenomenon" with her partner as there is usually a scientific explanation(s) for the religious phenomenon being reported..... Hence, Swank's character along with the help of her partner are then able to debunk the "religious phenomenon". Then Swank's character along with her partner are called to the small town of Haven to solve a lot of inexplicable "religious phenomenon" that have the townsfolk upset. Just when you think that Swank's character along that of her partner are going to be able to debunk these "religious phenomenon" with scientific evidence, the complete reverse happens and we find that the "religious phenomenon" can not be debunked with scientific evidence.

The Cons: The last 20 minutes of "The Reaping" was bad. As I mentioned above, the storyline goes haywire towards the end and the special effects were way too over-the-top.