Too over dramatic for a "horror" film. Ended up switching it off.

2020's 'The Reckoning' is a film which ultimately fails to deliver on the violent historical times it's trying to depict. SYNOPSIS: 'Grace, a young widow haunted by the recent suicide of her husband Joseph, is falsely accused of being a witch by her Landlord after she rejects his advances.' This is not director Neil Marshall's (The Descent) best film by a very long way and it feels very cheap in its production. Yes he likes to create films which are different to the norm but he's lost his way here. 'The Reckoning' just isn't a very good film which suffers from being boring, lacklustre, and so poorly constructed from start to finish it's just a waste of your time. There's a lot of torture in this film but none of which is as bad as the torture of watching it. 2/10

Weak story, could have done much more with it. Reminds me of Tim Curry's demon in Legend.

Started bad and ended worse. How bad did it start? Well, we see the protagonist's house. It's quite large for the times, there's glass in the windows and the house is in good condition. We go inside and everything's spotlessly clean- the protagonist, her house, her child, the table she's sitting at reading a letter written on paper. And oh look! She's wearing a gold wedding ring! So clearly she's wealthy by the standards of the time. Her family are obviously landowners- merchants or minor gentry. But no! Shortly afterwards, the film tries to tell me she's a poor tenant farmer. And from there it just got worse. It gloried in torturing women, but in the most unrealistic way it could. Seems it couldn't decide if the protagonist was an everywoman or a superhero. I'm going with superhero, considering the immaculate hair and makeup in the face of days and days of torture, not to mention her ability to enact physically revenge after being quite literally torn apart inside. Absolute garbage- and garbage of the worst kind.

Overall, The Reckoning makes a substantial effort as a horror film. It gets a few elements right, such as its dark visuals and fun audio track, which made me jump several times. But unfortunately, performances, for the most part, are just ok. The film second act is an ultimate letdown as it drags on far longer than it needed and feels repetitive even when it's building towards a final showdown in its third and last act.

Buena película. Tiene un gran defecto y es que estando caratulada en el genero terror directamente no asusta, si es buena historia y te mantiene entretenido en sus casi 2 horas de duración pero no es ese tipo de film que te vaya a hacer saltar del asiento.

Uninteresting story desperately trying to condemn misogyny using witchcraft as a theme. Mediocre acting from the main actress.

The Descent and Centurion were excellent movies in multiple respects. This flick felt like a B-movie from the start and it didn't get better. Very weak, very disappointing.

Neil Marshall has always been a director I've always considered one of the best when it comes to horror movie direction. I absolutely loved Dog Soldiers, it's probably my favourite horror movie of all time, and The Decent is also a very well crafted entry into horror... I admit 'Doomsday' was probably a wee bit hit and miss, it was certainly watchable but not quite up there with his first two features. Other films he did like 'Centurion' and 'Hellboy' were still well directed and fairly entertaining to watch despite them both being a bit side stepped from the horror genre. This latest entry that goes back to the horror genre is in my opinion probably a very slight step above 'Doomsday' but falls very very short of his first two masterpieces. The visual direction is brilliant, I've always loved him for that and he never seems to disappoint. The story itself gets a bit screwy however, more so toward the end. More of a 'well why is this even happening?' with several things that come about in the climax and the ending. But aside from this it's a fairly straight forward story and an enjoyable watch, with great acting performances, particularly from Pertwee and the lead

If you like (bad) overacting, story elements that are just there and have no purpose and an overall bad story paired with historical falsehoods, than you will love this movie.

The more Neil Marshall films I see, the more I'm convinced that Dog Soldiers (2002) and The Descent (2005) were complete flukes. Doomsday was the last film of his I saw which I thought was fairly decent, but unfortunately every effort since then just... isn't good. The Reckoning has a certain level of competency and interest to it, but ultimately that just causes the film to come across painfully dull and mediocre rather than enjoyably poor. In many ways, this is the worst sin a film can commit. Let's not even start on how perfectly clean and coiffured everyone looked for a film set during the Black Death, or the costume and set design that looked like cosplay at a medieval tourist attraction. The only real positives I can draw out of this is that some of the cinematography is pretty nice and Sean Pertwee as usual is good, even if his character is fairly cardboard cut-out and moustache twirling (complete with actual moustache). We can only sit and hope that Marshall manages to recapture the form he displayed at the start of his filmmaking career. If you want some great period horror, watch The VVitch instead.

Grace is left alone with her baby after she finds her husband hanging from a tree soon after he discovers he has caught the great plague. When she spurns the advances of the local landlord he hides his embarrassment and shame by accusing her of witchcraft and passes her into the custody of England's most ruthless witch-hunter, Judge Moorcroft. While enduring physical and mental torture she maintains her innocence, refusing to give in to the misogyny and brutality of men until she eventually discovers an opportunity for escape and vengeance. After Neil Marshall's misstep with his Hellboy remake, I felt he has gone back to his dark horror / thriller roots with this one as this one feels closer in style to his 'classics' Dog Soldiers and The Descent. The story works well, looking at the blind fantaticism of men who struggle to control a situation beyond their control, instead believing the word of religious zealots who have their own agendas to fulfill. The standout in the film was most definitely Sean Pertwee who was perfectly cast as the witchfinder John Moorcroft, a man who so believes he is fulfilling the will of God he will go to any extremes to achieve his goal. The film does have a few flaws, mostly the appearance of the lead actress who still seemed to look glamourous throughout despite all of the torture she had endured and living in a dungeon which took away some of the realism so the director might want to reassess who he hires for hair and make-up in future. The film is very dark and brutal and not for the feint of heart but I really enjoyed it, a different kind of horror from anything else making the rounds at the moment.

Ooft this is terribly acted, terrible script, terrible dialogue and everything seems out of place. It feels like a hallmark or channel 5 movie, but not as good. The main actress was so mis-cast and poorly directed. This film isn't what it thinks it is or wants to be!

I don't know if I'd call THE RECKONING the return of Neil Marshall but he's back with another movie. The Reckoning is a medieval tale where women are treated like s#!+ and hanged, burned and tortured for being witches. The story kept me watching ot the end, which kind of kicks @$$ and is satisfying but doesn't happen soon enough. that's not to say the story is too long but that there's not enough ass-kicking. I mean, Marshall's 'Descent' and 'Centurion' had a lot of ass-whuppin' and drama that made them both fun and believable. The Reckoning's story is complemented by the torture, simply because we don't see all t he torture - we mainly see the result, which lets our imaginations fill in the rest and is a sound story-telling technique. There are problems in the over-melodramatic cinematography, with sweeping camera work in enclosed spaces that's more disruptive than enhancing. The acting seems a bit hollow, lacking sincerity except for all the @$$-hole bad guys, who sincerely seem to be @$$-holes - as in, I bought they were @$$-holes. The production design is pretty stark, which enhances the mood, the mood being driven by the farcical religious court w/out due process. Then there's that kid - all the sudden he started kickin' @$$ out of nowhere! I mean, Jesus (who had nothing to do w/this movie)! What was his story? There's blood, there's legislative psychopathy, the medieval plague is rampant, there's a little action and the devil makes a guest appearance. If that's your thing you might enjoy sitting through this one. Ultimately, however, it's flaws prevented me from taking it seriously. Me, I'm looking for Marshall's full-length feature from his Oats Studios shorts - the one with the crazy lizard aliens and whatever the hell else that was about.

The trashiest trashy trash I've watched in awhile. This is so bad it may become a cult classic. Directed by Uwe Boll, ... Just kidding. It might as well have been. Actually directed by Neill Marshall, who had a great run in the first decade of 2000 with Dog Soldiers, The Descent (a masterpiece), Doomsday and Centurion, The Reckoning stars his BFF Charlotte Kirk in her first leading role who also (un)auspiciously has a co-writing credit. It's basically misogynistic torture porn. The most interesting thing about the movie is that Kirk had affairs with and apparently singlehandedly toppled Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara and NBCUniversal Chairman Ronald Meyer. Now that's probably a more interesting movie.

Tonally all over the place, and all very neat at the end, but I certainly wasn't bored!

The Reckoning is a dull and boring horror film. The acting is very serviceable. Not awful but nothing to write home about. The story is very uninteresting. The opening has a lot of chaotic editing, and not in a good way. The film has some brutal violence, but a lot of the role it felt like the film was being violent just for the sake of it. A lot of the violence was also against women and it just felt very icky. There was one very well done kill, but other than that the so called horror just wasn’t memorable. The climax of the film is kinda interesting and at least has some action. But it really feels like too little too late. Overall, this was very bad. How this was made from the same guy who made The Descent baffles me. This didn’t seem like it was made by someone who understands the genre. It was just lazy and overlong. Check out The Descent because that’s a great film. Skip out on this turd.

Not one of Neil Marshall's best but touches of flair and some good gore make this film a watchable Friday night fare.

Poor choice with main character, not suited for this kind of role and definitely not properly guided to interpret it ( without mentioned how horribly that modern haircut is matching the setting - did everybody got blind on set not to see how inappropriate that was)

A simple, at times disturbing by design (while remaining largely and somewhat surprisingly ungratuitous), compelling tale of witch hunters and their victims. It could have more narrative flesh on its dark bones, but what there is is better than the reviews indicate. Nowhere near Marshal's terrifying THE DESCENT, but far, far better than his dismal take on HELLBOY.