The Reckoning

If you told a horror fan in 2005 that Neil Marshall—the man who gave us the claustrophobic nightmare of The Descent and the hairy, hilarious thrills of Dog Soldiers—would eventually release a film that looks like a high-budget shampoo commercial set during the Great Plague, they’d probably assume you’d spent too much time in a dark cave yourself. Yet, here we are with The Reckoning. It’s a film that exists in that strange, modern limbo: a period piece that feels aggressively contemporary, a horror movie that struggles to be scary, and a production that feels more like a showcase for its lead actress than a descent into historical madness.

I watched this on a Tuesday evening while my neighbor was loudly practicing the scales on a trumpet, and honestly, the brassy discordance next door felt more aligned with the film’s tonal shifts than the actual score did. The Reckoning is a "witch-hunt" movie, a subgenre that usually relies on dirt, grime, and the suffocating weight of religious paranoia. Think The Witch (2015) or the classic Witchfinder General (1968). But Marshall’s 2021 outing takes a different route, one that feels suspiciously clean for a world supposedly ravaged by the Black Death.

The Grime and the Glamour

The story centers on Grace Haverstock, played by Charlotte Kirk (who also co-wrote the script with Marshall). After her husband, Joseph (Joe Anderson), falls victim to the plague in a truly harrowing opening sequence, Grace is left to fend for herself on their farm. When she rejects the predatory advances of her landlord, Squire Pendleton (Steven Waddington), he does what any sensible 17th-century villain would do: he accuses her of witchcraft.

What follows is a grueling—yet oddly polished—process of incarceration and interrogation. This is where my first major hurdle appeared. While the production design is technically impressive, everything feels a bit too "theatrical." Grace’s hair remains remarkably voluminous and her makeup perfectly intact despite days of torture and dungeon life. It’s a stylistic choice that pulls you out of the 1665 setting. In an era where contemporary horror often leans into hyper-realism or "elevated" dread, the plague victims here look like they’ve just had a slightly rough night at a glow-stick rave rather than suffering from a world-ending pestilence.

Pertwee Saves the Day

The film finds its footing whenever Sean Pertwee is on screen. Playing the veteran witch-hunter John Moorcroft, Sean Pertwee brings a much-needed gravity to the proceedings. He’s a man who truly believes he’s doing God’s work, which is always more terrifying than a villain who knows he’s evil. His performance reminded me of his father, Jon Pertwee, but with a jagged, cynical edge that suits the "English Civil War" aesthetic Marshall is clearly aiming for.

We also get some supernatural flourishes. Grace begins to hallucinate (or actually see) the Devil himself, played by the towering Ian Whyte (who many will recognize as the giant Wun Wun from Game of Thrones). These sequences allow Marshall to flex his horror muscles, using practical effects and creature design that hint at the director we used to know. However, these moments feel disconnected from the central drama. Is it a psychological study of a woman pushed to the brink? Or is it a creature feature? By trying to be both, it frequently misses the mark on either.

Pandemic Echoes and Production Trivia

There is a strange irony in The Reckoning being released in 2021. It was one of the first major productions to wrap during the initial COVID-19 lockdowns, and the "fear spreads like the plague" marketing hit a little too close to home for audiences who were literally living through a global health crisis. Despite the timely hook, the film struggled to find an audience, pulling in a meager $596,806 at the box office. Much of its life has been spent on streaming services like Shudder, where it fits comfortably as a "Friday night curiosity" rather than a genre-defining staple.

Interestingly, the film’s origins are as dramatic as its plot. It’s well-known in industry circles that this was a deeply personal project for Neil Marshall and Charlotte Kirk, intended to be a gritty feminist reclamation of the witch-hunt narrative. While Grace’s defiance against a patriarchal system is a strong theme that resonates with current #MeToo discourse, the execution feels a bit ham-fisted. It’s basically 'Witchfinder General' if it were directed by a fashion photographer on a bender. The nuance of the era’s genuine religious terror is often replaced by slow-motion hero shots and a screenplay that tells rather than shows.

Ultimately, The Reckoning is a bit of a head-scratcher. It’s far from a disaster—the cinematography by Luke Bryant is sharp, and the score by Christopher Drake tries its hardest to inject some gothic grandeur into the mix—but it lacks the "soul" of Marshall’s earlier work. It feels like a film caught between two worlds: the gritty, low-budget British horror roots of its director and the glossy, high-style ambitions of a modern streaming thriller.

If you’re a die-hard Sean Pertwee fan or someone who enjoys "witch-sploitation" films regardless of their flaws, there’s enough here to keep you occupied for 111 minutes. Just don't expect the visceral, heart-pounding terror of The Descent. It’s a curious artifact of the pandemic era of filmmaking—a movie that wants to be an epic statement on female resilience but ends up being a somewhat muddled, albeit pretty, revenge flick. If you find it while scrolling through a streaming menu on a rainy night, it’s worth a look for the creature effects alone, but it won't be the film that restores Marshall to his throne.