Katherine Winter doesn't believe in miracles--she believes in facts. A former minister, Katherine turned her back on the cloth after losing her young daughter and husband while doing missionary work in the Sudan, and now seeks answers through scientific investigation rather than prayer. As a university professor, she has become the foremost debunker of supposed miracles, called to sites all over the world to investigate weeping statues, wall stains resembling saints and palms that bleed. And so far, there is no divine mystery she hasn't solved. But when small-town schoolteacher Doug Blackwell seeks her help with a series of bizarre occurrences the townspeople believe to be sent by God, Katherine and her partner Ben come to learn that sometimes miracles can be treacherous, and the line between faith and superstition is dangerously thin. Hidden among the woods and swamplands of Louisiana, Haven is a town where the rules of reason seem to have been rewritten. A child has died and the river has turned to blood, which is only the beginning of what appears to be a revisiting of the Biblical ten plagues upon the town. For the first time in her professional career, Katherine can't explain these phenomena with science. The townspeople believe an enigmatic child named Loren McConnell has brought God's wrath to their doorstep, but what they see as a harbinger of evil, Katherine sees as a lost child needing her help. The more she is drawn into the dark heart of the mystery, the more Katherine discovers her own role in a conspiracy that threatens to shroud the world in darkness. - skip ad - Genres: Science Fiction/Fantasy, Suspense/Horror, Thriller and Politics/Religion Running Time: 1 hr. 38 min. Release Date: April 5th, 2007 (wide) MPAA Rating: R for violence, disturbing images and some sexuality. Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures International Cast And Credits Starring: Hilary Swank, AnnaSophia Robb, David Morrissey, Idris Elba, Stephen Rea Directed by: Stephen Hopkins Produced by: Erik Olsen, Steve Richards (III), Bruce Berman

If you were to put together a horror film by committee, it would look a lot like "The Reaping." Someone would suggest borrowing from "The Omen," which would lead someone else to propose lifting from "The Exorcist" and perhaps a third person would pitch an ending twist reminiscent of "Rosemary's Baby."

The Louisiana bayou would make a nicely mysterious location. Everyone knows that decadent, inbred Southerners live in antebellum mansions while poor white trash occupy shacks in the swamp. People there fear an Old Testament God, yet devil worshippers are everywhere. Throw in 10 biblical plagues, and you've got "The Reaping."

The only question is: What is two-time Oscar-winning actress Hilary Swank doing in this fanciful rubbish? Her name and the promise of hordes of CGI locusts probably mean the film will scare up a crowd for its opening weekend. But whether this religious horror will sustain the release in subsequent weeks is a real question.

&q"Reaping" never tips its hand as to how seriously it wants to be taken. The film comes from Warners-based Dark Castle Entertainment -- Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis' company that makes tongue-in-cheek genre movies, a kind of We're Just Kidding Prods. But the writers, brothers Casey W. and Chad Hayes, and director Stephen Hopkins, who cut his teeth on HBO's "Tales From the Crypt," play things straight, taking the religious miracles more or less at face value.

Swank certainly acts as if the stakes were real rather than camp. Her Katherine Winter has made a profession of being a nonbeliever. Once a minister, she lost her faith and family in tragic bloodshed in the Sudan, the result of narrow-minded religious fanaticism. So she spends her days debunking supposed miracles. Can that actually be a job? She also lectures at LSU about religion-as-nonsense, but you do wonder in what department she teaches.

A science teacher (David Morrissey) from a backwater town called Haven -- yes, that's the name -- comes to this debunker with a problem. Haven's river has turned blood red, and a child has died. Katherine and her assistant Ben (Idris Elba) agree to take a look. It takes only one spooky day and night for Ben to declare, "We are witnessing biblical events." Fish die in the bloody waters, frogs fall from the sky, and cows keel over.

Town folks believe a little girl named Loren (AnnaSophia Robb) brought God's wrath down on Haven because she killed her brother. They mean to "destroy" her. Meanwhile, in a sanctuary far, far away, a priest (Stephen Rea) reads the signs and warns Katherine that she is in mortal danger.

Hopkins pulls all the usual horror-film tricks. He keeps his camera inches from his actors so any person, object or animal entering the frame causes a cheap jolt. Most investigations take place in the dead of night, electricity fails at a crucial moment, and many things go bump in the night. This is hokum with a capital H.

Swank looks justifiably perplexed, but there is no emotional depth to her character. Each fright sequence triggers a flashback both to the Sudan and to the little girl's recent experiences. You wonder how a character can have the memories of two people, but -- whoops -- here comes another plague to distract you from such thoughts.

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. The tech departments lay on the Old Testament fireworks with appropriate flash, but the characters get thoroughly lost in the CGI blizzard.