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Black Death

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Germany, United Kingdom · 2010
Rated R · 1h 42m
Director Christopher Smith
Starring Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne, Carice van Houten, Kimberley Nixon
Genre Action, Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller

As the plague decimates medieval Europe, rumours circulate of a village immune from the plague. There is talk of a necromancer who leads the village and is able to raise the dead. A fearsome knight joined by a cohort of soldiers and a young monk are charged by the church to investigate. Their journey is filled with danger, but it's upon entering the village that their true horror begins.

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What are critics saying?

40

Empire by

An encouraging set-up soon descends into a grubby muddle, leaving you wishing you were just rewatching "The Name Of The Rose" instead.

83

IndieWire by Eric Kohn

Black Death embraces its horror roots with ample bloodshed, at which point the silly costumes and anachronistic dialogue no longer seem so absurd.

90

The New York Times by Jeannette Catsoulis

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.

60

Time Out by Joshua Rothkopf

With unexpected supernatural restraint, the movie approaches a religious parable; am I being unfair in wishing it had a touch more apocalyptic hysteria to it?

70

Variety by Leslie Felperin

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.

63

New York Post by Lou Lumenick

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.

83

The A.V. Club by Noel Murray

Black Death bears some similarities to a zombie movie in the way the plague inevitably overtakes the populace, and it also has one foot in the "creepy community" genre, alongside films like "The Wicker Man" and "Two Thousand Maniacs!"

75

Christian Science Monitor by Peter Rainer

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.

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