As our intern Ben said in an e-mail for the press screening, “Black Death is Season of the Witch by people who give a shit.” He was right. Season of the Witch is a great insult to witches, demons and any other evil beings. Black Death was overall a good film. So rest easy witches, your honor has been restored.
As our intern Ben said in an e-mail for the press screening, “Black Death is Season of the Witch by people who give a shit.” He was right. Season of the Witch is a great insult to witches, demons and any other evil beings. Black Death was overall a good film. So rest easy witches, your honor has been restored.
This film takes place during the plague in 1348 where all are dying except one lone village. The village is believed to be an unholy place where they bring back the dead. The King sends in a witch hunting SWAT team to get these creeps back in line. So stop the crazy undead hijinks or get some sword yielding Knights! Oh yeah they need a young monk as a guide through the Dagoba system. So his faith will be tested!
I was not that fired up for this film but it wore on me a little, because the director, Christopher Smith, had put in a lot of effort in the look of it. Overall I’m not that into med-evil horror films but this was interesting. The look of the film put me inside the time and mood of what I would expect witch hunting knights to be during a pandemic.
I get a little squeamish so some of the battles were gory, but well choreographed and shot. I get tired of too much hand-held action sequences where I don’t know what the hell is going on. Black Death didn’t give me a headache. Just a desire to send these Knights to M. Knight’s Village and plunder that dumb script.
As the film progressed, the themes of religion, science, faith and control came to light. It was an interesting way to ask these questions of how religion is used for control of the population and when faith transcends it. All of this made for a unique ending. This gave me the impression that this English film shot in Germany with a mostly German crew, was made by people who actually give a shit. No hair plugs or bad accents. Just solid filmmaking.
Black Death may not be everyone’s cup of plague tea but worth the VOD price. I mean if you want evil slaying Knights to help a monk escape from Witch Mountain, then do it. And PALM STRIKE Nick Cage unless he’s in Kick Ass.
–Graham Elwood, not squeamish about Palm Striking Nic Cage’s hair
