Written by: Neil Marshall, Charlotte Kirk, and Edward Evers-Swindell Based on “Red Hex” by Antony Jones & Edward Evers-Swindell
Directed by: Neil. Marshall
Starring: Charlotte Kirk, Sean Pertree, & Steven Waddington
From the box: 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.
BONUS FEATURES
- Deleted Scenes
This is an interesting film. I almost didn’t make it through it to be honest. It’s almost relentlessly grim. I honestly was not interested in watching a woman get tortured for nearly two hours. The horror in this movie doesn’t come from fear, it comes from violence. It comes from men treating women in the most inhumane ways because they got rebuked or in the name of some righteous crusade. Historically accurate? Probably. Scary? No. Horrific? Yes.
The real problem is that I’m not entirely sure what this movie wants to be. It has elements of horror, that aren’t really explained or even seem to matter at the end of the day. It almost comes across that the events of the film were premeditated by the heroine. Which, also makes no sense
It’s just a baffling plot trying to feel like an old Hammer movie almost. That said, the lead performance from Charlotte Kirk was wonderful. Although, her face always looking perfect and untouched was an odd choice.
Is it worth watching? I mean someone will like it. I didn’t hate it, I was just perplexed by it, and will probably never need to see it again. It’s a rare miss from Shudder, at least based on what I’ve seen from them so far.
The Reckoning is available now on Bluray and will be debuting on Shudder May 13!
Garon Cockrell is the Founder and Editor of Pop Culture Beast and host of The Pop Culture Beast Show. He founded the site over seven years ago to have a place on the internet to write about the things he loved. Since then, Garon has become a best-selling author (Demonic and Other Tales), an award winning screenwriter (Best Screenplay 2013 Motor City Nightmares Film Festival), and a cast member on the top rated podcast, Never Not Funny.