Black Death 2010

Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times: Slams Christians against pagans with little love for either. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: When your bubonic-plague movie manages to avoid the specter of Monty Python's Flying Circus ("Bring out'cha dead!"), it's definitely doing something right. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: Smith effectively recreates the chaos of the medieval era, where the educated and ignorant alike make life-and-death decisions based on superstition. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: There's something here for just about everyone, or at least for everyone who looks back fondly on the similarly themed Wicker Man from 1973. Read more

Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: Religion and morality are both found wanting in this medieval horror-drama devoid of good guys. Read more

Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times: Early on "Black Death" falls victim to its own sluggish sickness, its narrative drive proving no match for the aggressively rotted pallor, dour acting and tiresomely handheld you-are-there aesthetics. Read more

Ian Buckwalter, NPR: "Going medieval" on your enemies isn't just a figure of speech in Christopher Smith's stylish spatter-horror exercise, which uses desperation-fueled religious fervor to interrogate the intersection of fear and faith. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Though deadly serious, Christopher Smith's European-made bubonic- plague melodrama provides good value with lots of blood and guts, as well as a solid cast. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Smith keeps the fog, mist and rain machines working overtime, but to such little purpose that Black Death often looks like outtakes from Fiddler on the Roof. Read more

Nigel Floyd, Time Out: This is bracing, often brutal stuff, set in a world where, as Ulric says, 'God has slipped over the horizon.' Read more

Mark Holcomb, Village Voice: The movie's real coup is in how it repeatedly shifts our allegiance from Christians to pagans, interrogating the unfathomably still-popular notion that barbarism is best countered with more of the same. Read more