Slowly emerging as one of Britain’s most interesting directors, Christopher Smith follows up his successes with Severance and Triangle by heading back to medieval England. Thus, in Black Death, we meet Sean Bean’s Ulric, a knight who, in conjunction with a monk by the name of Osmund, is off on a mission. That quest? To find a necromancer. However, as you might expect, things don’t go to plan at all.

While the setting may be a change for Smith, his skill behind the camera matures further with Black Death. He’s stretching a low budget here, but you’d be hard pushed to spot that for long periods of the film, as he evokes a dark, unpleasant period of history, and uses it as the basis for a very gritty film. Refusing to hide away from the violence and horrors of the time, it’s engrossing, but not for the faint of heart.

Smith’s cast serve him well, too, with Sean Bean reliable in the lead role. He’s joined by an ensemble that includes Black Book star Carice van Houten, Tim McInnerny and David Warner amongst others, and the ensemble pulls together terrifically well. The end result is a film that comfortably punches above its budgetary weight, and continues an interesting streak of films from its director.

And as you might hope, its qualities are accentuated by its high definition release. The picture quality here is quite excellent, making use of the period setting that Smith recreates. It doesn’t shirk with its active sound mix, either, proving that you don’t need to be a big budget blockbuster to make the most out of a Blu-ray release. Black Death, then, comes happily recommended. --Jon Foster

Special Features
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• Commentary with Director Christopher Smith
• Deleted Scenes (with optional commentary)
• Behind the scenes footage
• Bringing Black Death to Life Featurette
• Theatrical Trailer
• Photo Gallery
• Interviews with cast & crew (including Director Christopher Smith, Producer Jens Meurer, Producer Phil Robertson and Sean Bean)