It brings some fresh ideas and blends together unconventional concepts, yet its pacing fails to get you to engage with the material or leave much of a lasting impressing.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 20, 2023

For those willing to stomach harsh realism from a gloomy period in history and confronting notions on religion, Smith has delivered a rewarding film surprisingly bereft of the typical downfalls usually present when mixing horror and history.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 31, 2023

Black Death's Europe is one of dirt, blood, violence and mist.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 6, 2019

A savage, genuine reflection of the Middle Ages, allowing for maximum nastiness and a few excitingly bloody moments.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | May 7, 2019

Black Death has all the makings of a cult film -- if it gets an enduring following, it will be well-earned.

| Original Score: B+ | Feb 16, 2019

I'll wager grown-ups will be duly horrified by it. Not because of the gore -- although it does have a fair amount of that -- but because it takes you on a real journey into the heart of darkness, and you might not like what you find there.

| Nov 27, 2017

Black Death definitely isn't a rollicking, bloody good time, but it is a haunting study in the capacity for cruelty in people when they're scared, and the lingering effects that cruelty can have.

| Jun 24, 2017

In Black Death, Christopher Smith effectively creates a creepy and unsettling atmosphere with great production values. He shows lots of potential as a director and I'm looking forward to seeing what he does next.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Jul 24, 2013

Acts as if no one ever thought to make a movie about the bubonic plague before.

| Original Score: C+ | Jun 22, 2013

It shows the worst things that people do to each other in the name of religion. This could have been more of a thought-provoking film, but it turns into a gore porn display.

| Original Score: C | Feb 2, 2012

Bean owns this movie.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jan 27, 2012

An entertaining, if by-the-numbers, entry to the sword-and-shield genre, Black Death features lots of blood, disease, and the seemingly requisite Sean Bean.

| Original Score: 60/100 | Jan 2, 2012

A film without the ideas or guts to bring hell to life onscreen.

| Original Score: 4/10 | Dec 18, 2011

What could be more cheerful than a graphic bubonic plague picture?

| Original Score: C+ | Nov 18, 2011

Smith isn't presenting a peace offering so much as a reminder of the ease with which we slip into violence.

| Oct 25, 2011

Smith's excellent, tension-building style is complemented by powerful performances from broadsword specialist Bean and Redmayne

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 30, 2011

Black Death is the feel bad movie of the year, a film with an unrelentingly bleak view of humankind's barbaric nature and the notion that, no matter what your creed, violence only ever begets more violence.

| Original Score: 6.5/10 | Jun 21, 2011

This movie had a lot of potential, but missed the mark for me, which is almost worse than a film being a complete waste of time.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 29, 2011

This film bathes in bloody, brutal ambiguity, intelligently casting both Christians and pagans as murderous creeps in a way that looks back objectively at 14th century ignorance while shining an ugly, knowing light on contemporary religious arrogance, too.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 4, 2011

There are bright spots in this dark-ages movie

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 31, 2011