Neil Marshall has directed some straight up bangers like Dog Soldiers, The Descent (This is a personal favourite of mine and that ending still crushes my soul into pieces), Doomsday, and Centurion. He has directed episodes of Game of Thrones, Black Sails, Constantine, Hannibal, Timeless, Westworld, and Lost In Space. And I think that he has receive quite a bad rap for helming Hellboy because a) nobody asked for that remake and it stopped Guillermo del Toro from completing his trilogy and b) it was a poorly made movie. But that doesn’t mean that it has suddenly turned him into a bad director. He’s still awesome and The Reckoning might be proof of that.
The official synopsis for the movie reads: “After losing her husband during the Great Plague, Grace Haverstock (Charlotte Kirk) is unjustly accused of being a witch and placed in the custody of England’s most ruthless witch-hunter, Judge Moorcroft (Sean Pertwee). Forced to endure physical and emotional torture while steadfastly maintaining her innocence, Grace must face her own inner demons as the Devil himself starts to work his way into her mind.” In addition to Kirk and Pertwee, The Reckoning features Steven Waddington, Joe Anderson, Rick Warden, Mark Ryan, Bill Fellows, Suzanne Magowan, Leon Ockenden, Sarah Lambie, Emma Campbell-Jones, and Ian Whyte as The Devil.
The Reckoning had its world premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival on August 20, 2020, its UK premiers at the London Fright Fest Film Festival on October 23, 2020, and its US premiere at Beyond Fest in October 2020. It received good reviews. I mean, it has a 5/10 on IMDb but I think we know that that’s not a very trustworthy site nowadays. And going by the trailer, to be honest, it looks pretty dope. I don’t think I don’t have to point out the parallels between the COVID-19 pandemic going on right now and the plague that’s being show in the movie and how people are looking for someone to blame instead of actually dealing with the problem. Pretty poetic.
Cover artwork by Bhavya Poonia/Mashable India
