Day 103: "We have the tools, we have the will, we travel into Hell."

Still having the itch for a decent horror film, I tapped into the foreign market and found the surprisingly creepy and gory Black Death.  Set in the relative beginning of the outbreak, 1348, the story follows a group of church endorsed warriors investigating a small village that the Plague has not hit.  The Catholic Church, being the Catholic Church, believes that this is because that entire village has forsaken Christianity and God in general.  Amazingly, this was one time they were right.  A nice, independent horror film, Black Death doesn't fall into the trap of a grandiose, completely out-of-left-field explanation and explosive climax that bigger productions tend to fall into.  A very tight story moves toward the eventual horrifying climax that occurs without having to rely on cliches and anachronistic solutions to resole the plot.  Without giving anything away, the true horror of this film does not lie in the gore or terror created by the environment, but in the effect the environment has on the characters.  It was chilling.

The only actor of note (to Americans, at least) was Sean Bean as the paladin leader of God's brigade.  He played the character very well, balancing the brutal soldier with the righteousness of his beliefs.  The remaining cast was very good, but Eddie Redmayne stood out as the young monk Osmund.  His transformation over the course of the film was staggering.  I'm going to have to look out for more work from this young talent.

This movie scratched the horror itch I have been feeling for the last week or so.  Released theatrically in the U.K and Germany, it was, unfortunately, relegated to direct-to-video status here in the States.  Too bad, I would have liked to have seen this on a big screen.  Not the splatterfest or serial killer in a hockey mask kind of horror film, but a more subtle, real horror film.  This is something that could have conceivably occurred at some point in human history, and that made it more horrifying.  7.75/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!