Magnet Releasing has put out some very good films in the past few years. I have to admit that whoever is making the decisions at the company about the kinds of films that are being purchased for distribution has a good eye for cinema, especially when it comes to horror, thrillers and action films. I was fortunate enough to be given the honor of reviewing this film; Black Death before it hits theaters in March for a limited release and goes on demand on February 4th.
Black Death takes place in Europe in the year 1348. The plague known as the Black Death is sweeping the continent and the Catholic Church is losing its grip on the people. Fear and superstition are on the rise, many think it’s the work of the devil, while others simply lose their belief in god. There are rumors that a town on the out skirts of the marshlands that are clean of the plague. It is said that the people there are free of disease. However, there are also talks that the town is under some kind of demonic control, a necromancer that can bring the dead back to life. The Church enlists a knight named Ulric (Sean Bean) to investigate the rumors. Along with a team of warriors and a monk named Osmund (Eddie Redmayne), they will embark on a journey that will lead them to the source of the rumors, however what they will find, will take them into a place where their faith will be tested, a place where they might not make it out alive.
I love any kind of medieval stories that bring us back to a time when men were savages and people believed any story they heard. There is a scene in the film where one of the warriors gets the plague, and all the men surround him, some get close up in his face and other hug him, before they relieve him of his duties. As a person who knows that the true cause of the plague is an air borne virus; I was screaming at my television set for the characters to get away from him. However, we all know that in that time they blamed anything to do with disease on witches, curses demons and anything to do with wrath of God. In which case, that is the belief of the characters in this film. I find it fascinating that people believed these things all those years ago when all they needed was a can of Lysol and a scientist with a vaccine.
This film plays out very similar to the way a lot of mid-evil films do, however its production value is very good and the look of the film is dark and grim. Without out sounding to cliché being that Sean Bean is in the film, its atmosphere reminded a lot of the Lord of the Rings movies minus the orcs, elves, and hobbits. It had a nice set design, the locations were perfect and that over all dark feel really captured the dark times that the story took place in. The effects are good in the film but don’t expect there to be an over abundance of nasty gore infested, over the top, horror effects. The make-up and special effects are done well, for being a period piece; a lot of the really violent scenes are done using the less is more method, taking place off screen. However, most of the battle scenes involve skull crushing, sliced necks and sword stabbings in very well choreographed action sequences.
The acting in the film is really good. Sean Bean along with talent such as Eddie Redmayne, David Warner, Carice Van Houten, Kimbereley Nixon, Tim McInnerny, Johnny Harris and Andy Nyman give performances that believable. I did not for one second feel that any one of them dropped character as is so common with period pieces. Director Christopher Smith has done such great horror films as Triangle and Creep really does a great job directing his actors in this film. I have to give him a lot of credit.
Overall, Black Death is a great film about the madness of men and religion. Where a tiny virus threatened the world and made people believe that evil was involved. In the case of this film, that might be the case, but you’ll have to see it to find out. The ending for some people might come as a surprise, but the more I think about it, the more fitting it becomes for a certain character to be the way he is, and the man that he becomes because of what he find out. I recommend this film; it is not like your traditional medieval film where people are talking in some dialect that after a while drives you insane. There is no cheesy colorful armor for the knights to wear, and there is no princess in distress. What we get is a dark and grisly film that portrays the time period as it probably was. When people believed the devil was all around them and that God was the only one that could stop the evils that had been bestowed upon the lands. Check this one out, it’s worth the time.
– Horror Bob
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- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
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