Dir: Stephen Hopkins
With: Hilary Swank, David Morrissey, Stephen Rea
Star rating: *

And lo, it came to pass that a great darkness fell upon the earth. A young, double-Oscar-winning actress named Hilary was offered a script about a debunker of religious quackery who is called upon to investigate a town stricken by biblical plagues. Hilary sayeth unto her agent: "I'm not sureth about this," but the agent, seized by a powerful demon, replieth: "You've got the credibility to pull it off."

Oh dear. Fun in a so-bad-it's-good way, Stephen Hopkins's film is a blend of The Omen and Scooby Doo, with lashings of locusts, fireballs, creaky doors and bad perms. Helping with the general air of B-movie insanity is David Morrissey as a Southern redneck with a Lancashire accent, and Stephen Rea as a priest who helpfully sees symbols of hell everywhere. The divine Ms Swank can only frown and sweat heroically as chaos reigns. "That's how Satan works," explains one character as he helps her process one of the wilder plot twists. Hollywood too, mate.