Two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank is in final negotiations to star in Dark Castle Entertainment's latest horror entry, "The Reaping," for Warner Bros. Pictures.

Dark Castle is Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis' horror shingle. The two will produce, along with Susan Levin and Herb Gaines.

"Reaping" is a supernatural tale centering on a myth debunker (Swank) who travels to a small, religious town in Texas to investigate occurrences that appear to be the 10 Biblical plagues.

James Cox is directing the script, which is based on a spec by Brian Rousso that has been rewritten by Chad and Carey Hayes. The Hayes brothers wrote the upcoming Dark Castle production "House of Wax."

Steve Richards and Erik Olsen are exec producing.

Jessica Goodman is overseeing for Warners.

"This is exciting for us," Silver said. "She is fantastic, and it's a great opportunity to do something special with a really great actress."

Although Dark Castle is known for such genre fare as "House on Haunted Hill," "Thirteen Ghosts," and "Ghost Ship," it also has turned out a higher-end horror movie in 2003's "Gothika," starring Halle Barry.

According to Silver, A-list talent will sign on for a scary movie if the project is smart and intelligent. "These higher-end actresses, like Halle and 'Gothika' and Nicole (Kidman) with 'The Others,' they look at these movies and say, let's see if we can do something great," he said.

Swank is readying to shoot "The Black Dahlia" for Brian De Palma. She is repped by CAA, Untitled Entertainment and attorneys Karl Austen and Jeff Bernstein.