Tuesday, January 30, 2007

The Reaping Makeover

In July 2006 I wrote a post about the film The Reaping, an incredibly cheesy film staring Hillary Swank which deals with the ten plagues of Exodus hitting a small Louisianna town.

This film originally scheduled for release August 11, 2006 originally made my vomit enducing film list last May, but of the 17 films on the vomit list, this was the only film that was not released last summer.

The Reaping is now scheduled for release March 30, 2007 and in the meantime they have made up a new poster, and have replaced the hideously aweful tagline, or at least the wordy first part.

The new ominous red poster is pictured above. The original poster showing Hilary Swank is also pictured, as well as it's horrible tagline. The two taglines are posted below. The newest tagline has a much better flow. Also, they have added a 2nd headline saying "What Hath God Wrought?"

It's clear that the 2006 campaign had a tone that was off, and this film was simply weak. But it is also clear that 2006 was a good year for the horror genre, in fact studios were milking it with multiple horror movies coming out every month, even films like Black Christmas in December.

Even this Spring before the Reaping is even released... Lionsgate is releasing the Abandoned in February and Captivity in March, while Sony/Columbia also have Sandra Bullock's Premonition coming out in March, Universal is releasing Dead Silence, and Fox Atomic is releasing the Hills Have Eyes II.

Is there room for films like The Reaping?

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9 comments:

Jon said...

That new tagline is so much better. It just flows and is much more visual. I'm surprised the first one even made it on to the poster...

Southern (in)Sanity said...

This film seems like it will be a bit like "Stigmata," perhaps - trying to put a "real-life" spin on it.

I, for one, will probably see it.

layne (herman) said...

perhaps your comments last year prompted the studio to re-think the release of this film... and now with setting their eyes upon a second opportunity to release the film (with the only change as i understand it being the poster) they will come across your words again and be prompted to nix the whole idea... either that, or go straight to video.

i guess at the conclusion of this year we will see what direction the studio took.

?????????????

Kimberly Ann said...

this new tag is so much better than the other. you know your tagline is bad when the reader gets confused b/c of the word choice.

Paula said...

Oh, man. I'm not really into the "horror" genre, and this film looks so incredibly cheesy.

But is there room for it? Yes. I'm sure there'll be plenty of room in the theatre, whatever seat you want.

Glenn Dunks said...

As the original barer of bad news in regards to that ridiculous poster and tag line (what were they thinking?) I feel I should comment:

Tag Line - Much better. Just doesn't feel as if they're putting the first three pages of exposition onto the poster.

Poster - ...? It looks like a bad book cover, actually. When I first saw it I thought this was a post about a book called "What Hath God Wrought".

When the tagline is bigger than the title, I have a problem.

Anonymous said...

This trailer really didn't catch my attention but the story sounds like something totally up my alley.

I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt but I'm not holding my breath.

Kind of reminds me of the "Pathfinder" debacle.

AWG said...

I remember them filming this when I lived in Louisiana. Hmm. Doesn't look like my kind of film. I'm more into quirky dramas and comedies.

F.J. Delgado said...

Wow, does NOT look very promising at all!