An effectively unsettling mix of Southern gothic and Old Testament hugger-mugger, with shades of "The Exorcist" and even "Rosemary's Baby" thrown in.
60
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
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.
60
VarietyJustin Chang
VarietyJustin Chang
Revisiting the book of Exodus in a feverish Southern-gothic context, this lurid, often ludicrously entertaining slab of Biblesploitation builds an earnest case for spirituality in a skeptical age.
50
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Swank and Elba work hard for their paychecks, but Rea quite literally phones in his performance.
It's hard to say what is more responsible for the film's utter failure: Hopkins direction, the editing, or the screenplay. The result is such a muddle that one assumes each aspect deserves part of the blame.
33
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
No belief on earth can rescue Swank from a film that's a chain of disaster chintz masquerading as a sermon.
30
Village Voice
Village Voice
Those two age-old foes--science and blind faith--tango yet again in this noxious slice of Biblical horror about a series of Old Testament plagues being visited upon a Louisiana bayou backwater.