Black Death (2010)

This movie is set during the Middle Ages when the plague was ravaging Europe, wiping out entire villages.  We are introduced to our main character, Osmund, a monk with a girlfriend.  So right off we know that something isn’t right!  Anyway Osmund sends her off to safety (or at least he thinks so) and not long after volunteers to serve with a knight that is heading in the same direction.  Seems that there is a village said to be under the spell of a necromancer.  This is bad because no one is dying there and the church is afraid they will lose followers to the necromancer because of it.  Along the way brigands attack them and Osmund discovers that his girl has been killed and carried away.  When they finally reach the village they do find a plague free village lead by a mysterious woman.

And that is where I’m going to leave the plot synopsis.  I really don’t want to spoil the movie because it is worth checking out.  I though about ways that I could talk about what happens, but just couldn’t do it without ruining it.  What I can say here is that Black Death is interesting and kept my attention from start to finish.  The characters are appropriately gritty and not entirely likeable, even Osmund.  It takes a lot of guts to make a movie like this.  I’ve seen far too many movies with unlikable characters that I’ve never been able to get into and enjoy.  Here they pull it off nicely. 

So how do they do it?  Well I’ve already said that the story is interesting.  Let me expand on this.  I though that I had a handle on where the movie was heading with it pretty realistic take on the knight and his group.  Then some things happen that takes it more towards a magic or fantasy sort of story.  And then we have the ending, which changes the story altogether.  But don’t get me wrong.  This isn’t one of those movies that just throw twists at you to keep you confused.  There is no gimmick here.  After watching the movie everything that happens makes sense, though in a slightly depressing way. 

Something else that Black Death does well are the action scenes.  We get several fight sequences and they are brutal.  You see arms and heads getting lopped off as well as many throats being cut.  This movie spills some serious blood.  Most movies set in this time don’t do a great job of capturing the brutality of men fighting with blades and bludgeoning each other.  This one does.  Toss in some gruesome stuff with the bodies piling up from the plague and you get a movie that is surprisingly gory. 

I’m going to recommend that you guys give Black Death a chance.  This is one of those rare movies that combines a good story with some good action.  It is available from Magnet and you can check out their website for a trailer and more information at http://www.magnetreleasing.com/

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer

© Copyright 2011 John Shatzer