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When was the last time a horror film horrified you? And I mean horrified zoomed in, rather than just perturbed, disgusted, or amused. Black Death is a real horror film, targeted towards adults instead of hyperactive teenagers. I would even say it is safe to wager that many adults would be horrified by it. And it is not just due to the gore even though there is a good amount of it but rather because it takes one dire deep deep into the heart of darkness, and you might not appreciate the outcome.
Anglo German production here is the fourth film for Bristol raised director Christopher Smith, and so far it seems he has been improving since his feature debut ‘Creep’, which was a tribute to this British cult shocker film Death Line also known as 1972. Following that was Severance and the sci-fi thriller ‘Triangle’, so Smith seems to know what he is doing inside that mound of interrelated genres described by the French as ‘fantastique’.
Neil Marshall (The Descent) and Michael J. Bassett (Solomon Kane) appear to have inadvertently emerged as the leading figures of a New Wave in British horror cinema, alongside Smith. The genre is likely to be enriched by the talents of James Watkins (Eden Lake), Tom Shankland (The Children), and Steven Sheil (Mum & Dad). Smith black death marvelously appears as the distant hand of history: It is for the first time he is tasked with transforming a script into a screen portrayal. The screenplay is by Dario Poloni, the man behind the film Wilderness for Basset.Â
The film is set in a vaguely defined European region in the year 1348. It was filmed in Saxony, which comes across as medieval by European standards. The setting of the film lies in the aftermath of the known world being ravaged by the bubonic plague. Eddie Redmayne, cast as the Tyro monk, believes in God but is still questionable. The monk is appointed to his position by elder David Warner, who also assigns him the task of guiding Sean Bean, dressed as a devout Christian knight with eclectic followers, towards a secluded village. The village has a reputation for practicing necromancy, and the occupants include Carice van Houten, who was featured in Paul Verhoeven’s Black Book.
You may have sensed their possible inclination from the preceding paragraphs. Each of these snapshots is nothing less than a short film by itself. Smith’s signals are repression to the point of impending doom, which is a common adaptive behavior for viewers they do not want the ‘bad men’ to reach this village. The current events seem to indicate that crossing the threshold will lead to their undoing, and how deep the tracks sink is up to the audience’s imagination. Some may have to peek through their fingers. The lines, ‘Bring out the horses!’ sound wildly inappropriate in the current context.Â
While it is tempting to lend Smith the premise of the story, one is better off without it. The hardest questions of fate are left for the audience to figure out after the film ends. One wonders what a simple line like that can do to a person. In and of itself, the line is subtle and innocent, but when coupled with the ominous mass it hints, it makes ones hand dash for the nearest popcorn holder. Perhaps the antagonists have managed to hide the plot as well because the media willfully forgets the occult. Amongst all the films i have witnessed in my existence, the most terrifying ones are the ones which have duly featured some form of a religious zealot. I find them infinitely more colder than any amount of vampires, zombies or werewolves.
I wouldn’t say it’s an overestimation of Black Death to consider it shares some themes and the same unwavering bleakness with British horror classics Witchfinder General, The Wicker Man (the 1973 original, not the glorified version), during which the fine details of religion are treated within the confines of the English Civil War or explored within a remote pagan society on an island off the coast of Scotland.
In all honesty, Smith’s film could virtually be an addition to the Witchfinder General collection with his absolutely heartbreaking coda, give or take 300 years. It also has a lot in common with Alejandro Amenabar’s recent historical drama Agora which, in its own way, tries to look at the phenomenon of extremism and tackles it with the same intensity. Hypatia, the heroine of Agora, is an Atheist who comes at the turning point in Black Death brining most of the cynicism and godlessness making her the sole voice of reason. You may not notice her at first because such moderate voices often get submerged under oceans of rants and dogma that surrounds everyone.
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