"We are witnessing biblical events!"
So yelps Ben (Idris Elba), a rattled tough guy, as he and his boss, miracle-debunker Katherine Winter (Hilary Swank), run around the mossy bayous of the South.
Since arriving in sleepy Haven, La., the duo have been swarmed by locusts, pelted by frogs, freaked by dead cows, and grossed out by a lovely river turned to blood.
It's the plagues of Exodus, all right, and they're coming to a theater near you - just in time for Passover and Easter!
Although the rational, nonbeliever Katherine has a spotless track record - she's checked out 48 supposed miracles, proving each and every one to have a scientific basis - this one's going to be a toughie. Lice, check. Darkness, yup. Boils? Even the mayor's got 'em.
An effectively unsettling mix of Southern gothic and Old Testament hugger-mugger, with shades of The Exorcist and even Rosemary's Baby thrown in, The Reaping asks the question (it's right there in the ads): What hath God wrought?
What, indeed?
If anyone's going to find out, it's two-time Oscar-winner Swank. The actress' Katherine is a one-time missionary who lost her faith in God and found it again in Science. Now, she's a professor at Louisiana State University.
So when a handsome schoolteacher (David Morrissey) arrives from Haven, with talk of the plagues, Katherine and her assistant, Ben, decide to take a look.
Katherine and Ben collect samples from the river, from the maggots, from the expired livestock and floating fish. They're a crack forensic team, surveying the crime scene for clues. The townsfolk, understandably spooked, have their own theory as to what's going on: A weirdo family on Haven's outskirts belongs to a cult - and its devil-worshipping ways are responsible for these horrors. The family's 12-year-old girl, Loren (AnnaSophia Robb), is said to have killed her older brother - dead first-borns are another of the plagues.
Director Stephen Hopkins knows how to make audiences jump. Peter Levy's cinematography is especially fine, with lush and startling overhead shots.
Swank projects toughness and resolve - and also deep wounds of loss and grief. Elba is wry and muscular as her able assistant. Morrissey's a bit of a cypher. And it's little Robb's silence that makes her menacing.
No self-respecting Bible-themed horror flick can function without the presence of a priest, and here the job goes to Stephen Rea (no relation). His Father Costigan lives in a Philadelphia monastery. There are dire signs regarding the fate of Katherine, with whom he worked in Africa, and he appears now and again, eyes full of worry as he seizes a phone and says, "You're in great danger, Katherine."
Indeed.
Contact movie critic Steven Rea at 215-854-5628 or srea@phillynews.com. Read his blog, "On Movies Online," at http://go.philly.com/onmovies.
The Reaping *** (out of four stars)
Directed by Stephen Hopkins, written by Carey W. Hayes and Chad Hayes, photography by Peter Levy, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.
Running time: 1 hour, 38 mins.
Katherine Winter . . . Hilary Swank
Ben . . . Idris Elba
Doug . . . David Morrissey
Loren . . . AnnaSophia Robb
Father Costigan . . . Stephen Rea
Parent's guide: R (violence, plagues, profanity, adult themes)
Playing at: area theaters
