Any movie that shows violence toward children is going to be hard to watch. Often since children are young and therefore small and unable to protect themselves they are used as scapegoats by adults and others who have power over them. Traditionally, movies have shied away from depicting violence toward children, so to see this violence, even in passing, especially in a mainstream PG-13 rated movie, is shocking. Nevertheless all of the acting in this movie, even from the bit players, is good and thus the actors inhabit their roles and make the events more believable. Essentially the movie is about a woman who was once an ordained minister but she lost her family and her faith and now she spends her days working to disprove accounts of miraculous events around the world.

That premise alone is enough to pique my interest, and the movie has some well-known actors in lead roles, which speaks to a quality script that might go along with the good premise, which is even better. Hilary Swank plays the woman who has lost her faith, and when she hears of another event, perhaps not a miracle but a very suspicious and supernatural event occurring in a small town, she must investigate.

Hooked yet? I was! This movie has a lot of violence for a PG-13 movie. Not much gore, but it's not conspicuously absent; in other words, it's not like people die bloodless deaths and you can tell the blood is cut out to retain the PG-13 rating, it's all very stylishly done and in spite of a few missteps with some atrocious CGI the special effects are quite impressive. I've heard comments decrying the terrible effects in this movie, but trust me, no one is more critical of CGI than I am and it really didn't bother me, it's no worse than you see in most movies and overall it's far more effective in most scenes than I would have hoped or expected. Another common comment is that this movie isn't original, but I really fail to see how it's unoriginal. What other movie features a resurgence of the ten biblical plagues and a town that wants to sacrifice a little girl for its sins?

I know there have been quite a few supernatural horror films lately and many that deal with young girls but I haven't seen this particular story before ever, not to mention that the twists that take place near the end threw me for a loop in a way that hasn't happened since the original “The Wicker Man” nearly made me choke on my popcorn. Perhaps I should have seen it coming but I didn't, and I was impressed that the movie performed such great sleight of hand that I was paying attention to what one hand was doing all the while the plot twist was being built with the other. And it's not like some recent movies that promise a big twist ending but fizzle out or insult our intelligence with ridiculous nonsense that masquerades as a surprise ending, this one is well documented with flashbacks and events form the rest of the movie and it works pretty well, not to mention how disturbing it is when it finally unfolds.

Any movie that has the balls to address the topic of religion and how it can turn its followers into psychopaths who are oblivious to the effects their actions have on others is enough to impress me. And that this movie has enough candor to handle this subject well impresses me even more. I believe that's all I'll say; I don't want to spoil the movie any more than I have to. Just see it; it's worth a watch or two (or three or four...)

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