The Reaping
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: April 5, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
36
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
10
Negative:
12
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
An effectively unsettling mix of Southern gothic and Old Testament hugger-mugger, with shades of "The Exorcist" and even "Rosemary's Baby" thrown in. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
One either likes this sort of thing or not. Even fans might not buy the ending in which more people get wiped out than in Hurricane Katrina. Read full review
60
VarietyJustin Chang
Revisiting the book of Exodus in a feverish Southern-gothic context, this lurid, often ludicrously entertaining slab of Biblesploitation builds an earnest case for spirituality in a skeptical age. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesMichael Ordona
The seeds of most Biblical horror movies are sown in the Book of Revelations; The Reaping at least gets marks for originality for springing from Exodus. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
For genre fans, the horde-of-locust sequence may alone be worth the price of admission. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
The Reaping is Bible camp, pure and simple. And for bad-movie lovers, it's manna from heaven. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Swank and Elba work hard for their paychecks, but Rea quite literally phones in his performance. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
The script, which is rarely smart and barely scary, offers little more than a checklist of panic-inducing plagues, from locusts to boils to bad Southern accents. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle Smith
This stuff is strictly run of DeMille. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Notable for its enthusiastic abandonment of any semblance of narrative coherence. Read full review
40
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
The only remotely notable thing about this particular jumble of boos, bangs and door creaks...is that it tries to wed the horror trend with the heated-up God market. Read full review
38
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
It's hard to say what is more responsible for the film's utter failure: Hopkins direction, the editing, or the screenplay. The result is such a muddle that one assumes each aspect deserves part of the blame. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Ludicrous and overstuffed, it plows through the Big 10 of Biblical plagues. Read full review
38
PremiereLaine Ewen
Some of the effects are squirm-worthy, if not actually frightening. Amid all the fake profundity, those moments -- you know, when the film is actually entertaining -- are rare. Read full review
33
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
No belief on earth can rescue Swank from a film that's a chain of disaster chintz masquerading as a sermon. Read full review
30
Village VoiceScott Foundas
Those two age-old foes--science and blind faith--tango yet again in this noxious slice of Biblical horror about a series of Old Testament plagues being visited upon a Louisiana bayou backwater. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleMarrit Ingman
Pardon the pun, but audiences will reap little from this satanic backwoods juju thriller. Read full review
30
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
The Reaping isn't a total failure. Swank is never less than competent. Read full review
30
Washington PostDesson Thomson
If only The Reaping had the decency to be coherent. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
Although The Reaping' borrows elements from classics of the genre -- rips them off might be more accurate -- it fails to build the psychological tension that made them so creepily good. Read full review
25
USA TodayClaudia Puig
As if this drivel weren't bad enough, the ending blatantly threatens a sequel Read full review
12
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Long-delayed, pitiful excuse for a horror film. Read full review
10
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
This high-decibel shocker is an insult to intelligence and faith alike. Read full review
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