The Reaping (2007)
Directed by Stephen Hopkins
Katherine Morrissey, a former Christian missionary, lost her faith after the tragic deaths of her family. Now she applies her expertise to debunking religious phenomena. When a series of biblical plagues overrun a small town, Katherine arrives to prove that a supernatural force is not behind the occurrences, but soon finds that science cannot explain what is happening. Instead, she must regain her faith to combat the evil that waits in a Louisiana swamp.
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What critics compared The Reaping to
Called “The Reaping,” it consists of children being randomly selected to fight to the death in what has been known as, for the past 73 years, The Hunger Games.
At “The Reaping,” a boy and a girl between the ages of 12 and 18 are taken from each district—with odds determined by age and the number of rations they accept throughout the year—and thrown into a controlled arena, where they’re forced to kill each other until only one survives.
All these clichés were delivered to us just a few years ago in the Kate Hudson thriller The Skeleton Key, and now here they are again.
Their understanding of the occult world is so rigorous and methodical (they debunk several misconceptions early on) as to inspire immediate confidence in the scripting smarts of brothers Chad and Carey W. Hayes (who also collaborated on 2007’s less effective Bible-thumping thriller “The Reaping”).
The Conjuring comes our way courtesy of horror director James Wan ( Saw , Insidious ) and twin brother horror/thriller writing duo Chad and Carey Hayes ( The Reaping , House of Wax ).
But before the main action begins, screenwriters Chad Hayes and Carey W. Hayes ( The Reaping , Whiteout ) provide a glimpse of an especially creepy past case of the Warrens’ involving that scariest of horror totems, a doll.
Five kids is more than the story really needs, but it gives Wan and his writers, twin brothers Chad and Carey Hayes (The Reaping, House of Wax), multiple vehicles for mysterious events.
With “The Conjuring,” he clearly set out to create old-school frights and cleverly tips his hat to “The Exorcist,” “Poltergeist,” “The Amityville Horror” and Alfred Hitchcock (“Psycho,” “The Birds”) throughout the film written by Chad and Carey Hayes (“The Reaping”).
Director James Wan ("Saw," "Insidious") continues to move away from the 'splat pack' with his latest horror outing that relies more on good old-fashioned style scares than gore, but do not mistake that this 'based on a true story' screenplay by Chad Hayes & Carey Hayes ("The Reaping," "Whiteout") is any closer to reality than the film made of the Warrens' most famous case in Amityville.