The Reaping (2007)

"A former Christian missionary, who lost her faith after her family was tragically killed, has since become a world renowned expert in disproving religious phenomena. But, when she investigates a small Louisiana town that is suffering from what appear to be the Biblical plagues, she realizes that science cannot explain what is happening, and she must regain her faith to combat the dark forces threatening the community."

If I had watched this in the cinema, I would have walked out within 10 minutes nursing a migraine and vowing never to watch another movie by Stephen Hopkins again. I couldn't bear watching the screen jump about all over the place anymore.

As it was, I watched it at home and so had nowhere to escape to. I tried hard to fall asleep to escape the shaky handheld camera which refused to stay still for a moment but, alas, I failed and ended up watching the whole disgraceful, motion-sickness inducing, mess in short bursts to avoid puking my guts up all over the carpet.

It was an hour and 10 minutes in before the story itself picked up from being dull as ditchwater to mildly entertaining and then everything just started rushing by with all sorts of cliché-ridden twists.

The scene with the CGI locusts was quite exciting but the ending just made me angry. This turned out to be just another "Wicker Man" and "The Omen" ripoff with more than a few similarities to "Signs" as well.

I wanted to like it, I really did, but it was honestly one of the worst things I've seen this year.

It wasn't horror. There was nothing scary, no gore, and no real sexiness. I am not a fan of David Morrissey, the poor man's Liam Neeson, at all. I hate Stephen Rea as an actor even more though, so at least it got an emotional response out of me.

Who the hell is Hilary Swank anyway? I've never seen her in anything else and I don't think I ever want to see her again either.

This movie sucked. I'll give it 1 out of 10. It was an interesting story but very badly presented.