Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘The Reaping’

Written by Scott Edwards

​One thing has to be said about small towns, they have got it right. When one of their neighbors is down on their luck, the town tries to help make it right again by giving up whatever they can. You just don’t see this in large communities, where a buck a month can turn into ten thousand dollars very quickly. I would hope that most people would try to do the right thing when someone is in need and while many of us choose a great charity to sponsor or a trusted GoFundMe page to contribute to, just sitting back and doing nothing to help can always make you wonder what if and leave your conscience unsettled. 

Moving away from the church for several years now, Katherine has made a name for herself in debunking miracles around the world. Of the forty-eight investigations that she has been called in on, she has used science to disprove every last one of them. Losing her faith years back, she is wide eyed to see what is happening to people and wants to help them understand that God may not be behind everything that happens on earth. Landing a great teaching job at the University, Katherine shares her findings and experiences with the youth of the school and makes sure they understand that everything has a reasonable explanation behind it.

Seeing an unfamiliar face in class, the stranger in question has a problem in his home town of Haven that would be right up Katherine’s alley. With the river turning red for no reason, he believes that the teacher would be able to help his neighbors understand that God is not coming to punish them, as the town believes this may be the start of the ten plagues. With research assistant Ben by her side, Katherine is ready to pull out the big guns and when trying to sample the river water, the two get a result that they have never seen before. Needing to send their samples back to the university to be tested a little more thoroughly, the two can only do so much while waiting and Katherine wants to do something to disprove the mumblings around town that a young girl is behind what is happening.

As the plagues start to add up with frogs dropping from the sky, flies appearing out of nowhere and livestock dying off, Katherine finds herself in a hurry to find out what is really happening around the small town. As Ben runs some of the tests that he can on site, Katherine heads into the back woods to find a little girl named Loren McConnell, who is supposedly behind all of the madness. As the little girl does not talk, her mother is ready to give up her daughter’s life for the greater good, but Katherine is not ready to take that step just yet. Not heeding a warning from her former priest, Father Costigan, about new signs pointing to her, Katherine finds out that there is more to the town of Haven than she could have ever expected and must challenge her own faith to find the strength to defeat the evil that has been laid out before her.

As far as a ten plagues movie goes, this is a pretty good one and with only one person controlling them, well, it makes you open your eyes to what is happening all around a small town. I must admit that I love the reaction shots in this movie best of all, since everyone is so serious with their work and not looking too happy, but when someone lets out a joke, it is magical. I liked how the ten plagues of Egypt were brought into modern times when everyone is looking for an explanation that does not have to do with a higher power. The journey that Katherine is forced to go on should have broken her and while it seems like she could have been defeated from the first scene of the movie, she has a fire in her that no one can put out. With a river of blood, frogs dropping out to the sky, some locusts and fire raining down on a small town, it is joyous ride into what can and should be done, whether or not you have faith. Stay Scared.

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