X
- 2011
- R
- Magnet Releasing
- 1 h 42 m
- 2011
- R
- Magnet Releasing
- 1 h 42 m
Summary The year is 1348. Europe has fallen under the shadow of the Black Death. As the plague decimates all in its path, fear and superstition are rife. In this apocalyptic environment, the church is losing its grip on the people. There are rumors of a village, hidden in marshland that the plague cannot reach. There is even talk of a necromance...
Directed By: Christopher Smith
Written By: Dario Poloni, Christopher Smith
- 2011
- R
- Magnet Releasing
- 1 h 42 m
- 2011
- R
- Magnet Releasing
- 1 h 42 m
Black Death
71
6.6
Where to Watch
Summary The year is 1348. Europe has fallen under the shadow of the Black Death. As the plague decimates all in its path, fear and superstition are rife. In this apocalyptic environment, the church is losing its grip on the people. There are rumors of a village, hidden in marshland that the plague cannot reach. There is even talk of a necromance...
Directed By: Christopher Smith
Written By: Dario Poloni, Christopher Smith
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
71
70% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
30% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
71
70% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
30% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Here, excessive piety and rampant paganism are equally malevolent forces, the film's baleful view of human nature mirrored in Sebastian Edschmid's swampy photography. As is emphasized in a nicely consistent coda, the Lord's side and the right side are not necessarily one and the same.
Black Death embraces its horror roots with ample bloodshed, at which point the silly costumes and anachronistic dialogue no longer seem so absurd.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 77 User Ratings
6.6
60% Positive
46 Ratings
46 Ratings
29% Mixed
22 Ratings
22 Ratings
12% Negative
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 77 User Ratings
6.6
60% Positive
46 Ratings
46 Ratings
29% Mixed
22 Ratings
22 Ratings
12% Negative
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
I'm giving Black Death a 10 because 6.3 doesn't do it **** might discourage some from watching it, which would be a **** dripping with atmosphere..A grim 14th century atomosphere of dreariness, damp and disease. Not an out and out horror but enough here to make a few feel uncomfortable and give everyone a sense of foreboding..Every actor **** one weak performance which is high praise I think. If you enjoy the game of thrones..then you'll get a lot out of this. Sean Bean is excellent as usual. I'm an unabashed Sean Bean fan. Will watch anything with him in **** Redmayne who I haven't seen before is one I will look out for in the future..
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Excellent movie. Absolutely loved it. Sean Bean is a master of the craft. Story kept me guessing. I highly recommend this one. Not sure how it got a 6.2, but thats an atrocity. Script is magic. Unfortunately, because of simpletons that score this movie low, the likelihood of another thinking man's/women's movie getting made becomes more slim by the day. Make room for Transformer 18.
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A moderately creepy, often garishly violent action horror film frontloaded with heretics, Christians, mercenaries, witches, witch-burners, and necromancers. There's something here for just about everyone.
While managing to deliver enough suspense and bloodletting to appease gore fans, steadily improving helmer Christopher Smith ("Severance") and screenwriter Dario Poloni smuggle in a merciless critique of religious delusion.
Though deadly serious, Christopher Smith's European-made bubonic- plague melodrama provides good value with lots of blood and guts, as well as a solid cast.
Horror film buffs like to giggle as much as scream but there're no giggles here.
An encouraging set-up soon descends into a grubby muddle, leaving you wishing you were just rewatching "The Name Of The Rose" instead.
So what can I say about this movie in general - it has gore, faith, death, **** that order.
I wouldn't say it's a horror movie, it takes more from movies like The Wickerman rather than typical horror flicks, though the amount of gore it has makes me think it was also influenced by The Saw movies. The Good - plot **** to watch unravel, it's thrilling, I wouldn't say the ending was predictable(coming from a guy, who likes movies with a twist), it was however logical.That much death, violence and deceit can seriously damage a human's mental **** characters were believable, non-stereotypical(imo). The Bad - maybe too much gore, though it was important to show the violence.After all the medieval times weren't a picnic, but more like a gritty day-to-day fight for survival.
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This film takes us to one of the most tense moments in European history: the Black Death was the great pandemic par excellence, it killed millions of people in a few months without any effective measure being consciously taken, because nothing is known about viruses. If today we face considerably more benign pandemics with a certain degree of confidence and knowledge, we owe it to these moments. Outbreaks of plague would be recurrent all over Europe until the 18th century, but none were like the one in 1348. And honestly, it's hard for me to think that one day our civilization might have to go through something like this again. We are no longer psychologically prepared for such a high degree of mortality.
In this film, a monk tries to save the woman he loves, and then leaves the monastery to join her, taking advantage of the passage of a military escort who goes to a swampy area, where it is said that there is a village that, by Demon's evil spells conjured by a witch or necromancer, has managed to escape the advances and retreats of the disease. Of course, the soldiers' mission is to hunt the necromancer, even if that means massacring the village.
The great value of this film, for me, is the deft way it creates and builds the ambience of a historical period when, for most people, the world were living on the brink of the Armageddon. With the Church unable to stop the disease and all the masses, processions and prayers being ineffective to combat such a great evil, the people believed that they were facing one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and God was punishing the World. Fear and superstition reigned, and the film dexterously deals with it. There are, however, errors of anachrony, and several characters that sound strange for the unmedieval way in which they think and act, but I'm willing to pardon some of these flaws.
Of the cast, Sean Bean is the actor who stands out the most. He's becoming one of those actors specializing in period movies (he's done "Lord of the Rings", whose ambiance couldn't be more medieval, and the "Game of Thrones" series) and is competent when wearing the armor. The actor naturally stands out in this film and gives us another good job. Eddie Redmayne is convincing as a monk, even though his way of acting sometimes has very little medieval. Carice van Houten is charismatic and elegant, but too pretty and young for the character, as her leadership role in the village called for an older figure. In that period, the elders were an important authority to follow.
Technically, the film has several positive points, starting with the excellent cinematography and film work, which makes the best use of natural light, cloudy days and fire shadows to thicken the atmosphere of supernatural tension. Interestingly, there is nothing in this film that is supernatural, apart from the witch and the resistant Germanic paganism. Good choice of filming locations and satisfactory construction of sets and costumes helped.
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A brutal and grim medieval drama.
Not a great movie with issues in the story narrative, but I was entertained enough to stay with it.
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Rubbish. Tonally reminded me of Hammer Horror's Witchfinder General (1968), a medieval snuff masquerading as an action film. The story is meaningless, though if all that was to be accomplished by the writing is the notion that all sorts of religious people kill other religious people for no good reason, then mission accomplished.
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This is understandably a dark and bleak watch. The plot pace is a little slow to build and there's some quite jerky/wobbly camerawork used, adding to the sense of unease, apprehension and panic, although I know some people can't stand jerky camerwork, so I thought I'd mention it. It felt a little forced for my taste, personally.
For a film categorised on some sites as a horror, its not fast paced enough, or gory enough, for me to regard it as such - IMDB classify it as an action, adventure and drama film, which seems more appropriate but given its title and cover image, I'd imagine most people would assume it to be a horror film. There is certainly bloody violence present, don't get me wrong but it felt more, to me, like perhaps a mysterious part thriller, part period drama film. It didn't appear to have a big budget, having the feel of a TV film I'd say but I thought it was generally reasonably watchable, that is if your ok with the disorientating aspect of the often shaky camerawork during the faster paced scenes (there are some) and the not entirely clear plot direction.
I thought it was interesting to see Eddie Redmayne play the role of one of the main characters - Osmund, an adolescent monk hoping to find the truth behind tales of people cured from the bubonic plague. He did pretty well playing someone still somewhat growing up, trying to gauge what might be out there, what truth(s) there may be and so on but the camerawork did put me off and I wish the plot direction was a little more solid (it seemed a little directionless at times). Its not a really awful watch per se but its by no means great either - an ok watch overall, at the best. I also wouldn't say its not at all spooky or sinister in tone but it seemed a little too bland mid way through - I wasn't convinced we were going to reach any real conclusions as such.
Would I recommend it? if your a big fan of Eddie Redmayne and would like to see him play such a role, then it may be worth watching for that reason but otherwise I wouldn't go out of your way to see it, no.
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Production Company
Egoli Tossell Pictures,
HanWay Films,
Zephyr Films,
Ecosse Films,
The Post Republic
Release Date Mar 11, 2011
Duration 1 h 42 m
Rating R
Tagline In an age of darkness one man will face the ultimate battle against evil.
Awards
Fangoria Chainsaw Awards
• 6 Nominations
Screamfest
• 3 Wins & 3 Nominations
Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
