EXCLUSIVE: Writer-director Neil Marshall has firmed his next action thriller, The Reckoning**. He has set Joe Anderson (The Crazies), Steven Waddington (The Imitation Game) and Sean Pertwee (Gotham) to star alongside Charlotte Kirk (Vice).**

Marshall, whose films include The Descent and Dog Soldiers, also has set Leon Ockenden (Mr. Selfridge), Emma Campbell-Jones (Doctor Who), Callum Goulden (Ghost Stories), Suzanne Magowan (Samantha), Indianna Ryan (The A List), Mark Ryan (Transformers), Oliver Trevena (The Angel) and newcomer Sarah Lambie to join previously cast Bill Fellows, Emma Holzer, Rick Warden and Ian Whyte.

Highland Film Group is selling world rights on the picture, from a script by Edward Evers-Swindell (The Descent), Kirk and Marshall. Steffen Wild of Fourth Culture Films and Daniel-Konrad Cooper of Rather Good Films are producing, with Esther Turan of Moviebar Productions and Sean Wheelan of Filmgate Films co-producing. Exec producers are Goldrush Entertainment’s Eric Gozlan and Richard Iott, BondIt Media Capital’s Matthew Helderman and Luke Taylor, Empire Studios’ Jamie McLeod-Ross and Charley McDougall, and Calico’s Michael Marks and Vaughan Adams.

Set against the backdrop of the Great Plague and subsequent Witch-Hunts against women, Grace Haverstock (Kirk) grapples with the tragic death of her husband Joseph (Anderson) in a society completely consumed by fear and death. Because she rejects the advances of her landlord Squire Pendleton (Waddington), she is falsely accused of being a witch and thrown in jail for a crime she didn’t commit. Grace must endure physical persecution at the hands of England’s most ruthless witch-hunter Judge Moorcroft (Pertwee) and face her own inner demons as the devil himself starts to work his way into her mind.

“The Reckoning is more than just a movie to me,” Marshall said. “It’s a story, based on real events, that needs telling, but most of all it’s a chance for me to return to my horror roots and, just as I did with Dog Soldiers and The Descent before it, scare the proverbial sh*t out of audiences around the world! This film is the product of a unique and highly creative collaboration, and I have assembled an incredible array of talent, both in front of the camera and behind, to bring this powerful story to life. So be warned, The Reckoning is coming…”

Anderson is represented by United Agents; Waddington by 42; Pertwee by Hamilton Hodell and Untitled; Ockenden is Creative Artists Management and Seven Summits Pictures & Management; Campbell-Jones is repped by Hatch; Goulden by Northern Lights Management; Magowan is Keddie Scott Associates; Indianna Ryan is Mostyn & Cross; Mark Ryan is Waring and McKenna and Rothman/Andrés; Trevena is Innovative and Bx2 Entertainment; and Lambie is repped by Rebecca Singer.