![]() In Witch, church elders are portrayed as cartoon villains, capable of just about any evil in the name of a vengeful God, but the elders do get the bit about devils right -kick-ass demons are out there bent on destroying humankind. In both films, the church, seeing its grip on the population severely loosened by this inexplicable plague, sends Christian knights into a remote region to determine if witches, demons or non-believers are the source of this frightening scourge. The coincidence of storylines between Season of the Witch and Black Death is rather striking and in every instance Black Death is the superior film. Sure enough, Christopher Smith ( Creep, Severance) plays with the notion of necromancers and demons lurking within the pestilence, but winds up retreating into a kind of historical morality tale told with documentary flourishes and a grim attraction to violence and cruelty. Yet what a strange land for a horror filmmaker to pitch camp in since he has little to add when horror is a fact of everyday life. The story is set in 1348, after all, when the plague began to sweep through Europe, decimating its populace by as much as half and spreading panic to every corner. The film is black all right, pitch black, and death is everywhere. You can’t quarrel with that title, Black Death. ![]()
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