The Reaping

Competent horror flick. Harkens back to some of the ones I regard as classics of the 70s - Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist, The Omen, even gave me some flashbacks to Deliverance and Southern Comfort with dead things floating around in swampy water. Shows once again what I keep harping on - less is more: not much gore in the whole thing (and what there is isn't even involved in any fatalities, but just kind of an ordinary household item or setting turning all gory, which is more effective and creepy), and not even much of anything happens for the first 45 minutes (pace could've picked up a bit sooner, I'd say, especially since the whole thing clocked in at 99 minute). Two twists at the end, both of which I saw coming, at least as to their general direction, but not disappointing, just kind of confirming. A little humorous how many minutes of the film are spent lovingly, longingly gazing at Ms. Swank's derriere. I guess she's in the gym a lot and wants us to notice, but gratuitous shots always make me snicker. Like how does the director even call that? "Okay, now zoom, hold....hold...that's right....hold...hold...and...hold....and...CUT! That's a wrap!" Oh - and the other thing that makes me laugh sometimes are the previews they show, as they indicate what they must think are the demographics of what they're showing. For this they showed trailers for 28 Weeks Later (horror - looking pretty fine), and In the Land of Women and Lucky You (romantic comedies). So I guess The Reaping was supposed to be a date movie? Funny.