Black Death (2010)

April 17, 2015 10:14 AM

Set during the time of the first outbreak of bubonic plague in England, a young monk is given the task of learning the truth about reports of people being brought back to life in a small village.

This is the MeFi Horror Club pick for April 17. Sean Bean, y'all.

posted by Etrigan (2 comments total)

Actually, the monk is asked to lead soldiers to the village. The soldiers are the ones tasked with finding the truth of the village--or to be more accurate--tasked with killing non-Christians (or as the move calls it, "returning people to God").

I found this tedious until the last 10 minutes. There wasn't much action and the soldiers weren't sympathetic at all. They're self-confessed murderers, rapists, torturers, etc. But at least they're Christians? Anything you do is fine, no matter how reprehensible, as long as it is done in the name of God. Frankly neither side was especially sympathetic.

I can't even appreciate that the witch got away since it was at the expense of countless women later murdered by the monk in his quest to find her. Being taunted by the witch with the concept that there might be neither God nor Satan causes the monk to turn into an ardent witch-hunter, torturer, and killer. The surviving soldier also appears to admit that God sent the plague to the Christians and non-Christians as vengeance but that's okay because religion.

Honestly, the best thing the villagers could have done was just murder the soldiers after they'd been drugged. Don't drug then bathe your captives. It will not wendell.

At least some people were able to pay their rent with this movie and it's definitely not the worst film I've seen.

I did like that the monk's girlfriend was never really dead. That made me laugh. I loved it. The monk's grief was amusing after his self-righteous and judgmental behavior.
Witch: [Your girlfriend] was never dead. She was alive. I drugged her! You killed her.
Monk: Bring her back! I beg you, bring her back!
Witch: No, I can't. Pray to your God, see what he can do.
Monk: Weeps and weeps and weeps.
Me: Laughs and laughs and laughs.

Favorite quote: I will fight Ulrich for the right to die first.

Nitpick: The "witch" was the necromancer not the guy who got carted off to the bishop in a full-body torture chamber.
posted by Ik ben afgesneden at 8:44 PM on April 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

This movie felt like a cross between Wicker Man (1973) and two decent episodes of Game of Thrones. Although I know it predated GoT, it shares two actors who play similar roles.

I liked getting to know the fighting company, I thought they were all fairly well-drawn characters. The stuff in the village was predictable enough, but enjoyable. I foresaw the twist that the girl was actually not dead, but I was surprised by the twist that Osric became a delusional witchhunter. I'm a sucker for movies that make religious fanatics look bad. Though this Guardian review points out that the witchhunting thing is not right for the time period.

Overall I'd say it was a pretty good movie. I watched it twice. I liked it more than A Field In England.
posted by isthmus at 7:21 PM on April 27, 2015