Black Death is a 2010 action horror film directed by Christopher Smith from an original screenplay by Dario Poloni.

[1] In 1348, during the Black Death in Medieval England, novice monk Osmund has a secret relationship with a young woman named Averill who has taken sanctuary in his monastery.

Shortly afterwards, Ulric, an envoy for the regional bishop, arrives at the monastery seeking a guide through the forest to reach a remote marshland village untouched by the plague.

Taking Ulric's arrival as the sign to leave, Osmund volunteers to serve as the guide and joins his group, which consists of soldiers Wolfstan, Griff, Dalywag, Mold, Ivo, and Swire.

The journey to the village leads to the deaths of Griff and Ivo, while Osmund finds Averill's blood-stained clothing and believes she has died.

The members of the group are bound and placed in a water-filled pit where Hob and Langiva offer freedom to those who will renounce God.

In the following years, the village becomes afflicted by the plague (its relative isolation being the true source of protection) while Wolfstan loses contact with Osmund, but hears rumours of him becoming cold and cruel as he dedicates himself to finding and punishing Langiva- however, he executes many innocent women due to his mind causing him to see Langiva when he looks at them.

[7][8] After he was attached to direct Black Death, Smith suggested Carice van Houten, Tim McInnerny, and John Lynch for their respective roles.

[10] Technical elements included production design by John Frankish, a spartan score by composer Christian Henson, and cinematography by Sebastian Edschmid.

Amongst other deals, Revolver Entertainment/Sony acquired the rights for the UK and planned a release on 28 May 2010,[13] while Wild Bunch distributed the film in Germany.

The critical consensus states: "Black Death delivers the fire and brimstone violence its subject matter warrants while posing some interesting questions of faith and religion.

[16] In an advance review, Leslie Felperin of Variety wrote "A savvy, stylish horror-actioner that's more than the sum of its genre parts, Black Death manages to deliver enough suspense and bloodletting to appease gore fans... Use of grainy stock and a preference for special effects rather than visual or CGI effects gives it a pleasingly retro feel, as does its willingness to explore uncomfortable moral ambiguities.