By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Historical films tend to be dramas of romantic costumes or radical war epics, although sometimes a film presents itself that dares to do something different and takes an era that the studios are too afraid to kiss. This is the case with Black Death, a surprise streaming hit Max, not only is it fixed at the height of the plague, but it is a darker and more grumpy vision of medieval life than we are used to seeing it. It is not a costume drama or a story of kings either. Instead, it’s a historic action horror film, and there is nothing else like that.
Medieval men on mission
Black Death Follows a group of beaten soldiers (including Sean Bean) and a neophyte monk (Eddie Redmayne) while they are heading for an isolated village that the disease has not touched. Although desperate to find a remedy, the real mission is to dismantle a necromancer using the black magic that ravaged the village and could be the source of the plague. The journey to the village is not only dangerous and deadly, but it is beautifully turned with all the signs of death, decomposition and rot that embody the time, but so rarely represented on the screen.
Once they reach the village, the group meets its leaders, Hob (the incredibly prolific Tim Mcinnerny) and the alleged Necromancer, the beautiful Lavigna (Game of Thrones The Red Priestess, Carice Van Houten), who makes a miracle in front of the monk, testing her faith. Together, the pair obtains one on the soldiers, and Black Death Takes a horrible problem with folk horror with a lot of blood. In the end, viewers will join the soldiers when they wonder how real is and if the devil is among the villagers.
Black death is the right type of going back
With very few CGI effects, Black Death looks like and feels like a horror of the 70s with the number of bodies to match. Directed by Christopher Smith, who also directed the Thriller to fold in the underestimated time TriangleThe film took advantage of its modest budget by turning in rural Germany. Although he was never released in the United States, the film immediately found fans online, and today it has 72% of costs Rotten tomatoes Evaluation of criticisms, and 49% of fans, which may seem negative, but it is a courageous film that is not afraid to make big swings and push the limits: it is not for everyone, and that does not try to be.
Over the years, Black Death Quietly gathered the following cult, partly due to the growing popularity of Eddie Redmayne, Sean Bean and Carice Van HoutenBut also because of its unique visual style and its disturbing history. Now it’s another streaming Hit on max and shoot more eyeballs than the films that have cost four times more to produce, proving that quality can still gain at the end. If you have never seen this unique medieval film, and you think Saw is for children, you owe yourself to discover the dark and grainy world of the plague where life is brutal, short and ugly.
Black Death is now streaming on max.
