A medieval murder mystery film starring Tom Hardy is now available to stream on Apple TV, and fans have called it a “horror masterpiece”. The Reckoning was released in 2004 and is set in 14th-century England. The story follows a priest named Nicholas, played by Paul Bettany, who flees his parish after a serious sin.
He joins a group of travelling actors, led by Willem Dafoe’s character Martin, and together they stumble into a village where a woman is about to be executed for the murder of a boy. The group decides to stage a play based on the crime, hoping to uncover the truth and challenge the local authorities. The cast also includes Gina McKee, Brian Cox, and Vincent Cassel, alongside a young Tom Hardy who plays one of the actors.
Filmed in parts of England and Spain, the movie is based on the novel Morality Play by Barry Unsworth.
It combines elements of drama, horror, religion, and crime, and offers a dark but fascinating look at justice and power in the Middle Ages.
Viewers have praised the film for its atmosphere, storytelling, and performances.
One person wrote on IMDb: “I’m not sure why some people rate the film so low. For me, it was a horror masterpiece full of raw emotion. It’s all about the people and you can feel the connection from the start.”
Another added: “Everything in the setting and art direction of this nicely done dramatic mystery is of Academy Award calibre. So why was it not nominated? It should have been.”
The film has also been praised for its realism and historical depth.
“The Reckoning captures – best of all ‘medieval’ films I have seen – the atmosphere of medieval society. This is gloomy, and the characters feel like real people,” wrote one reviewer.
Another said: “The Reckoning is a fantastic film that embraces all the aspects of a period piece, a drama, and a mystery.
“The plot is a beautiful mixture of good vs. evil, man vs. man, man vs. himself, and man vs. God.”
One fan even compared it favourably to big-budget thrillers, writing: “Once in a while, you find a film hardly anyone else around you knows of that has a brilliant cast and is ten times more exciting than the average Hollywood thriller.”
The Reckoning is now streaming on Apple TV, according to JustWatch.