Reviewed by Jay Antani
(March 2011)
Directed by: Christopher Smith
Written by: Dario Poloni
Cast: Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne, Carice van Houten, Kimberley Nixon, David Warner, John Lynch, Andy Nyman, Johnny Harris and Tim McInnerny
The pall of fear and death hangs over thriller-maker Christopher Smith’s “Black Death.” It’s 1348, and we’re in England’s bleak, mist-encircled countryside. The bubonic plague stalks the population, killing off entire villages and infecting those who’ve evaded it with constant dread. The Church finds itself losing ground to the Plague as it fails to deliver its followers of their suffering.
For callow monk Osmund (Eddie Redmayne), the crisis of faith in God is less about the heartless decimation of innocent lives and more about his personal struggle to reconcile his pledge to God with his irresistible love for a woman, Averill (Kimberley Nixon). To keep Averill from the Plague’s clutches, Osmund...
(March 2011)
Directed by: Christopher Smith
Written by: Dario Poloni
Cast: Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne, Carice van Houten, Kimberley Nixon, David Warner, John Lynch, Andy Nyman, Johnny Harris and Tim McInnerny
The pall of fear and death hangs over thriller-maker Christopher Smith’s “Black Death.” It’s 1348, and we’re in England’s bleak, mist-encircled countryside. The bubonic plague stalks the population, killing off entire villages and infecting those who’ve evaded it with constant dread. The Church finds itself losing ground to the Plague as it fails to deliver its followers of their suffering.
For callow monk Osmund (Eddie Redmayne), the crisis of faith in God is less about the heartless decimation of innocent lives and more about his personal struggle to reconcile his pledge to God with his irresistible love for a woman, Averill (Kimberley Nixon). To keep Averill from the Plague’s clutches, Osmund...
- 3/8/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Magazine
Reviewed by Jay Antani
(March 2011)
Directed by: Christopher Smith
Written by: Dario Poloni
Cast: Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne, Carice van Houten, Kimberley Nixon, David Warner, John Lynch, Andy Nyman, Johnny Harris and Tim McInnerny
The pall of fear and death hangs over thriller-maker Christopher Smith’s “Black Death.” It’s 1348, and we’re in England’s bleak, mist-encircled countryside. The bubonic plague stalks the population, killing off entire villages and infecting those who’ve evaded it with constant dread. The Church finds itself losing ground to the Plague as it fails to deliver its followers of their suffering.
For callow monk Osmund (Eddie Redmayne), the crisis of faith in God is less about the heartless decimation of innocent lives and more about his personal struggle to reconcile his pledge to God with his irresistible love for a woman, Averill (Kimberley Nixon). To keep Averill from the Plague’s clutches, Osmund...
(March 2011)
Directed by: Christopher Smith
Written by: Dario Poloni
Cast: Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne, Carice van Houten, Kimberley Nixon, David Warner, John Lynch, Andy Nyman, Johnny Harris and Tim McInnerny
The pall of fear and death hangs over thriller-maker Christopher Smith’s “Black Death.” It’s 1348, and we’re in England’s bleak, mist-encircled countryside. The bubonic plague stalks the population, killing off entire villages and infecting those who’ve evaded it with constant dread. The Church finds itself losing ground to the Plague as it fails to deliver its followers of their suffering.
For callow monk Osmund (Eddie Redmayne), the crisis of faith in God is less about the heartless decimation of innocent lives and more about his personal struggle to reconcile his pledge to God with his irresistible love for a woman, Averill (Kimberley Nixon). To keep Averill from the Plague’s clutches, Osmund...
- 3/8/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Network
After the release of Christopher Smith’s 2009 haunting boat trip gone wrong flick Triangle, I was a bit surprised to hear that for his follow-up he was heading to the medieval time period for Black Death, which can be described as Black Hawk Down meets Wicker Man (and not the Nic Cage version either).
While doing his press rounds for his latest project, Dread Central had the opportunity to chat with the British filmmaker about his work on Black Death, how this film is unlike any other period piece you’ve seen, and what it is about the horror genre that keeps bringing him back for more.
Smith’s journey to get Black Death made started while he was still at the helm for the Melissa George vehicle Triangle in Australia. “Halfway through Triangle the original director pulled out of Black Death so the producers contacted me and sent me the script.
While doing his press rounds for his latest project, Dread Central had the opportunity to chat with the British filmmaker about his work on Black Death, how this film is unlike any other period piece you’ve seen, and what it is about the horror genre that keeps bringing him back for more.
Smith’s journey to get Black Death made started while he was still at the helm for the Melissa George vehicle Triangle in Australia. “Halfway through Triangle the original director pulled out of Black Death so the producers contacted me and sent me the script.
- 2/7/2011
- by thehorrorchick
- DreadCentral.com
Black Death, the medieval plague and witchcraft film that premiered at Screamfest, has found a distributor in Magnet Releasing. Director Chris Smith, actor Sean Bean, cinematographer Sebastian Edschmid, and composer Christian Henson all picked up awards at the annual horror festival in Los Angeles. "Black Death simmers with a kind of terror that's all the more haunting cause it's real," said Magnet Svp Tom Quinn in a press release. "It's another great example of why Chris Smith is one of the most versatile directors working today." After the jump, check out the trailer and full synopsis. Bean stars as Ulric, a grim emissary from the Church, who leads a young monk (Eddie Redmayne) and...
- 11/18/2010
- FEARnet
Yann Gozlan's Caged Featuring Zoé Félix, Eric Savin, and Arié Elmaleh, Yann Gozlan's Captifs / Caged won Best Picture honors on Sunday, Oct. 17, at the 2010 edition of ScreamFest La Horror Film Festival. Co-written by Gozlan and Guillaume Lemans, Caged tells the story three humanitarian aid workers kidnapped for mysterious reasons somewhere in Eastern Europe. As per the 2010 ScreamFest La website, "held captive, cared for and kept alive in an oppressive and sinister setting, the three prisoners soon discover with horror what their kidnappers truly have in store for them…" Set in Medieval England during the plague and revolving around the exploits of a daring knight and a beautiful satan worshiper, Chris Smith's Black Death won four awards: Best Director, Best Actor (Sean Bean), Best Cinematography (Sebastian Edschmid), and Best Musical Score (Christian Henson). Also in the cast: Eddie Redmayne and Carice van Houten. Full list of 2010 ScreamFest La...
- 10/21/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Magnet Releasing continues its quest to purchase rights to fairly obscure movies, and they have just obtained the rights to the Christopher Smith film 'Black Death'. The film is part historical thriller and part horror (term used loosely). Read the details below and check out the trailer at the bottom of the page as well.
From the Press Release:
The Wagner/Cuban Company's Magnet Releasing, genre arm of Magnolia Pictures announced today that it has acquired Us rights from HanWay Film to Christopher Smith’s Black Death. Starring Sean Bean (The Lord of the Rings), Black Death is a creepy, pitch perfect medieval period film that expertly channels such UK classics as The Wicker Man and Witchfinder General. Christopher Smith’s cult hit Severence was distributed by Magnolia in 2007.
Black Death made its Us debut last week at La’s Screamfest, where it took home several major awards:...
From the Press Release:
The Wagner/Cuban Company's Magnet Releasing, genre arm of Magnolia Pictures announced today that it has acquired Us rights from HanWay Film to Christopher Smith’s Black Death. Starring Sean Bean (The Lord of the Rings), Black Death is a creepy, pitch perfect medieval period film that expertly channels such UK classics as The Wicker Man and Witchfinder General. Christopher Smith’s cult hit Severence was distributed by Magnolia in 2007.
Black Death made its Us debut last week at La’s Screamfest, where it took home several major awards:...
- 10/21/2010
- by admin
- MoreHorror
Magnet Releasing, the genre arm of Magnolia Pictures, has picked up Us rights to Christopher Smith’s "Black Death." The film stars Sean Bean (The Lord of the Rings), and is a creepy, pitch perfect medieval period film that which harks back to UK classics like The Wicker Man and Witchfinder General. "Black Death" debuted in the U.S. last week at La's Screamfest and took home Best Director (Chris Smith), Best Actor (Sean Bean), Best Cinematography (Sebastian Edschmid) and Best Musical Score (Christian Henson). Bean stars as Ulric, a grim emissary from the Church, who leads a young monk (Eddie Redmayne) and a band of violent vigilantes and war veterans through the English countryside. Armed with blood-chilling torture devices, their mission is to stamp out suspected paganism in a village that remains untouched by the black plague, even as the rest of Europe grimly succumbs to the pestilence.
- 10/21/2010
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Magnet Releasing, the genre arm of Magnolia Pictures, announced today that it has acquired U.S. rights from HanWay Film to Christopher Smith’s Black Death. The medieval chiller made its U.S. debut last week at La’s Screamfest, where it took home several major awards: Best Director (Smith), Best Actor (Sean Bean), Best Cinematography (Sebastian Edschmid) and Best Musical Score (Christian Henson).
- 10/20/2010
- by gingold@starloggroup.com (Allan Dart)
- Fangoria
The Wagner/Cuban Company's Magnet Releasing, genre arm of Magnolia Pictures, announced today that it has acquired U.S. rights from HanWay Film to Christopher Smith's Black Death . Starring Sean Bean ("The Lord of the Rings"), Black Death is a creepy medieval period film that channels such U.K. classics as The Wicker Man and Witchfinder General . Christopher Smith's cult hit Severence was distributed by Magnolia in 2007. Black Death made its U.S. debut last week at La's Screamfest, where it took home several major awards: Best Director (Chris Smith), Best Actor (Sean Bean), Best Cinematography (Sebastian Edschmid) and Best Musical Score (Christian Henson). Bean stars as Ulric, a grim emissary from the Church, who leads a young monk (Eddie Redmayne) and a band...
- 10/20/2010
- Comingsoon.net
Los Angeles' Screamfest wrapped its 10th annual genre film festival on Sunday. Christopher Smith's Black Death took home four awards in the Best Director, Best Actor (Sean Bean), Best Cinematography (Sebastian Edschmid) and Best Score (Christian Henson) categories. The French film Caged won Best Picture and Zoe Felix scored a Best Actress award. Best Horror Short category went to Jerome Sable's The Legend of Beaver Dam and The Pack scored Best Editing and Best Special FX. Meanwhile, Best Makeup was awarded to Needle . Finally, Controlled , by Craig Cambria, took home a Best Screenplay award in Screamfest's screenplay competition. Unlike previous years, an "audience choice" award was not granted this year.
- 10/19/2010
- shocktillyoudrop.com
On Sunday, October 17th, this writer hosted – along with the lovely Jonna Jackson - the tenth annual Screamfest Horror Film Festival Awards. Held at an intimate location in the mountains above Burbank, CA, the stormy evening celebrated the ten days of original horror programming which had preceded it, most notably director Chris Smith’s apocalyptic Black Death and Yann Gozlan’s French-shocker Caged (Captifs), two features which proved to be festival-judge favorites.
Screamfest, which is spearheaded by founder and director Rachel Belofsky, has built a reputation over the last decade as having its finger on the pulse of the horror genre. Recent films programmed at Screamfest that have garnered a lot of attention include Let the Right One In, Trick r Treat, Splinter, Martyrs, The Signal, and Paranormal Activity.
Below is a full list of the evening's winners.
Best Film: Caged (Captifs), director Yann Gozlan Best Short: The Legend Of Beaver Dam,...
Screamfest, which is spearheaded by founder and director Rachel Belofsky, has built a reputation over the last decade as having its finger on the pulse of the horror genre. Recent films programmed at Screamfest that have garnered a lot of attention include Let the Right One In, Trick r Treat, Splinter, Martyrs, The Signal, and Paranormal Activity.
Below is a full list of the evening's winners.
Best Film: Caged (Captifs), director Yann Gozlan Best Short: The Legend Of Beaver Dam,...
- 10/19/2010
- by SeanD.
- DreadCentral.com
The Last Station, directed by Michael Hoffman (Game 6), revolves Russian author Leo Tolstoy and his work. The man was certainly a legend; considered one of the greatest authors of all time, his novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina are absolute masterpieces.
Rather than form a biopic around the author’s whole life (which would most likely not be possible in only 2 hours), it instead focuses on the later years of his life; more specifically on his troubled marriage and the conflicts he came across as he neared the end of his life. While the premise sounds boring enough to put any teenager to sleep, the film was generally well-received and the performances were all critically-acclaimed. Now that the film is on Blu Ray we get a chance to travel back to Russia, circa 1910 and reflect on a great artist’s life.
The film centers around two major conflicts: Tolstoy...
Rather than form a biopic around the author’s whole life (which would most likely not be possible in only 2 hours), it instead focuses on the later years of his life; more specifically on his troubled marriage and the conflicts he came across as he neared the end of his life. While the premise sounds boring enough to put any teenager to sleep, the film was generally well-received and the performances were all critically-acclaimed. Now that the film is on Blu Ray we get a chance to travel back to Russia, circa 1910 and reflect on a great artist’s life.
The film centers around two major conflicts: Tolstoy...
- 6/18/2010
- by Matthew Tyler
- The Film Stage
Release Date: Jan. 15 Director: Michael Hoffman Writers: Michael Hoffman (Screenplay), Jay Parini (Novel) Starring: James McAvoy, Christopher Plummer, Helen Mirren, Paul Giamatti Cinematographer: Sebastian Edschmid Studio/Run Time: Egoli Tossell Film. 110 mins. Tolstoy’s final war Despite its wandering backstory and revisionist depiction of a germinating religious movement helmed by one of the greatest authors of the 20th century, The Last Station features brilliant performances by both Christopher Plummer as the aged Leo Tolstoy and Helen Mirren as Sofya, his long suffering wife and working partner of 48 years....
- 2/5/2010
- Pastemagazine.com
Sirocco Prods.
PARK CITY -- Only someone who grew up on an Israeli kibbutz could have made "Sweet Mud". Screenwriter-director Dror Shaul infuses this almost-memoir with a sweet melancholy. A viewer gains a real appreciation for the spirit and romantic idealism of a commune -- and how things can go so wrong. This is a film from the heart, from a firsthand familiarity that yields conflicted emotions over the gap between an ideal and its realization.
"Sweet Mud", the Israeli entry for the foreign-language Oscar, has limited though solid art house potential in North America because it touches on such coming-of-age issues as identity and first love along with the central issue of communal vs. individual needs.
Shaul said the film "is not an entirely true story" but admits he plumbed childhood memories as a Boy Born and raised on a kibbutz. The story he tells is of 12-year-old Dvir (a resourceful Tomer Steinhof), who enters his bar mitzvah year in 1974 in an isolated kibbutz. Like all children, he is raised collectively by the community, sleeping in the "children's house" and assigned farm chores. His solitude is more extreme than most, however, since his father has died -- in circumstances pointedly kept from him -- and his mother Miri (an extraordinary Ronit Yudkevitch) has only recently returned from a mental hospital. An older brother gets distracted by young women and military service, while most of the community is uncomfortable around the mentally fragile Miri, who no longer fits the kibbutz ideal.
A visit by Miri's boyfriend, a much older Swiss gentleman (Henri Garcin), brings things to a head. Just when Miri is happiest, her dreams get dashed and with them her spirit. Dvir must grow up fast to take care of his beloved mother and to understand his growing affection for a young French girl, who suffers from a similar alienation from her parents and community.
Shaul has cinematographer Sebastian Edschmid shoot the kibbutz and surrounding countryside in warm, earthen tones that make the rural community hugely inviting. The utopian spirit is certainly inviting at first, but the discord and small tyrannies become clear over time. Shaul steps through this delicate minefield adroitly, seeing things for what they are yet understanding the ideals that makes utopian communities seem so viable. What the film makes clear is that such collectives have no real way to deal with truly vulnerable individuals.
PARK CITY -- Only someone who grew up on an Israeli kibbutz could have made "Sweet Mud". Screenwriter-director Dror Shaul infuses this almost-memoir with a sweet melancholy. A viewer gains a real appreciation for the spirit and romantic idealism of a commune -- and how things can go so wrong. This is a film from the heart, from a firsthand familiarity that yields conflicted emotions over the gap between an ideal and its realization.
"Sweet Mud", the Israeli entry for the foreign-language Oscar, has limited though solid art house potential in North America because it touches on such coming-of-age issues as identity and first love along with the central issue of communal vs. individual needs.
Shaul said the film "is not an entirely true story" but admits he plumbed childhood memories as a Boy Born and raised on a kibbutz. The story he tells is of 12-year-old Dvir (a resourceful Tomer Steinhof), who enters his bar mitzvah year in 1974 in an isolated kibbutz. Like all children, he is raised collectively by the community, sleeping in the "children's house" and assigned farm chores. His solitude is more extreme than most, however, since his father has died -- in circumstances pointedly kept from him -- and his mother Miri (an extraordinary Ronit Yudkevitch) has only recently returned from a mental hospital. An older brother gets distracted by young women and military service, while most of the community is uncomfortable around the mentally fragile Miri, who no longer fits the kibbutz ideal.
A visit by Miri's boyfriend, a much older Swiss gentleman (Henri Garcin), brings things to a head. Just when Miri is happiest, her dreams get dashed and with them her spirit. Dvir must grow up fast to take care of his beloved mother and to understand his growing affection for a young French girl, who suffers from a similar alienation from her parents and community.
Shaul has cinematographer Sebastian Edschmid shoot the kibbutz and surrounding countryside in warm, earthen tones that make the rural community hugely inviting. The utopian spirit is certainly inviting at first, but the discord and small tyrannies become clear over time. Shaul steps through this delicate minefield adroitly, seeing things for what they are yet understanding the ideals that makes utopian communities seem so viable. What the film makes clear is that such collectives have no real way to deal with truly vulnerable individuals.
- 1/22/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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