05 Feb 2021
If you’ve ever dreamed of a film where Sean Pertwee rides a horse in slow motion, wearing a huge hat, to a booming organ score and, frankly, who hasn’t? then
The Reckoning is for you. Neil Marshall’s first film since his lacklustre
Hellboy adaptation sees the filmmaker return to British-based, small-scale horror (and Pertwee). Pulling a fictional yarn out of both the Great Plague and the English 17th-century witch hunts,
The Reckoning follows a recently widowed mother falsely accused of being in league with the devil. Marshall’s approach eschews both the grim, compelling qualities of the similarly themed
The Reckoning : Review: Neil Marshall Returns to Traditional Horror With Routine Tale of Witch-Hunting
The film s punchy visuals are undercut by a meandering story that strains credibility.
Richard Kuipers, provided by
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Director: Neil Marshall
With: Charlotte Kirk, Sean Pertwee, Steven Waddington, Joe Anderson, Suzanna Magowan, Sarah Lambie, Ian Whyte, Callum Goulden, Leon Ockenden, Emma Campbell Jones, Mark Ryan, Bill Fellows, Oliver Trevena.
Running time: Running time: 111 MIN.
Courtesy of RLJE Films
Following the misfire of 2019’s “Hellboy” reboot, “The Descent” director Neil Marshall returns to his traditional horror roots with “The Reckoning,” an uneven melodrama about an innocent young widow accused of witchcraft during the Great Plague of London, 1665. Striving to be a rousing tale of female empowerment in the face of brutal patriarchy and religious extremism, “The Reckoning” has some powerful moments but relies too heavily on fa