Review of Black Death (2010) by Betty Z — 19 Sep 2011

I'm surprised to see the relatively-speaking rave reviews here. I found this to be one of the worst, most-predictable, flat movies I've seen in quite a while. Or is it simply because there's an obvious paucity of this sort of movie set in the Middle Ages?

The story itself is unremarkable, reflecting obvious fears, prejudices and superstitutions regarding the Black Death in medieval Europe. So, necromancy is assumed when a village off yonder has thus far been untouched by the scourge. Off the group of less then desirable men go to the village, to kill and convict the guilty, which turn out to be pagans, too, or wait, necromancers are pagans, or just god-deniers. Unfortunate for the film, pagans are not the opposite of Christians, and indeed a substantive movie would've portrayed villagers holding to older, indigenous beliefs and defending themselves against the superstitious blood-thirst of their visitors from beyond the swamp. But, no, it's just God's fault, the Old Testament, vengeful God wreaking havoc on the innocent world. There is nothing novel, interesting, thought-provoking here.

There was nothing remarkable about this movie, except the need to avoid watching it. I wish I hadn't.