The only event of biblical proportions in The Reaping is the disastrous career choice of one of our finest actresses.  One has to wonder what would compel two-time Oscar-winner Hilary Swank (Boys Don’t Cry, Million Dollar Baby) to waste her formidable talent on such a piece of dreck as this B-grade thriller. 

Swank portrays Katherine Winter, a former believer who has lost her faith after her family was martyred on the plains of Sudan.  Choosing to proclaim  the gospel of reason and science over faith, she dedicates her life to debunking faith and miracles as a professor at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge.  Her reputation as an “expert” in phenomena earns her a call deep into bayou country to investigate a backwoods town visited by a recurrence of the 10 biblical plagues of ancient Egypt.

Accompanied by her devout and Christ-affirming friend Ben (the solid Idris Elba), she is briefed on the creepy going-ons by local yokel Doug (the laughably stiff David Morrissey).  She also encounters a variety of typical, southern bumpkins who spout their jargon-laced Christianity with all the gentleness and respect of a bull in a china shop:  the town preacher,  speaking about Katherine, tells Ben “Well, some folks just don’t want to go to heaven.”  Even worse, the little country church has this little ditty on its sign: “Our Lord is a Gentle Lord—Don’t Push It!”  

No wonder that Loren (AnnaSophia Robb), a waify supernatural teen whose brother ends up dead, is labeled as pure evil by the self-righteous townfolk.  When rivers turn to blood and bloated frogs rain from the sky, it only seals the deal as the judgment of God. 

Katherine, haunted by her unreconciled past and unable to explain the phenomena, begins to get her faith back—either that or she is just really, really scared.  By now, however, the bloody rivers, sick cattle and boil-ridden locals are just a parade of CGI-overkill.  To say that this film lacks subtlety is an understatement. 

What began with an interesting premise, and an even more-promising examination of faith versus reason and the supernatural versus science, resorts to cliched horror movie hi-jinks.  Cheap thrills, things going bump in the night and creepy little kids send The Reaping spiraling into cookie-cutter territory.

It’s a shame because with a defter touch it could have been so much more effective.  The film can only pit faith against reason as if the two are mutually exclusive—and even there it doesn’t do much unless you count Swanks’ soliloquy on her miracle-debunking resume: “48 miracles, 48 scientific explanations!”  The only indication here of the supernatural is to credit these plagues not to God but to the evil one who mimics the works of the Lord.  The only trace of God’s grace and mercy are demonstrated by Ben’s tender compassion for the apostate Katherine and her own acceptance of the demonized Loren. 

Other than that, there is no grace to be found here—only a ridiculously contrived ending that allows for the frightening possibility  for The Reaping 2.  God help us.