*** - Taking place in a 14th century Europe that is beset by the titular epidemic, this 2010 adventure/thriller/horror flick captures the time period pretty well while also presenting a relatively watchable narrative for most of its length. The story follows Boromir from the LOTR films as he and a band of about a half dozen outlaws/crusaders are on the trail of a necromancer who they – for no reason in particular – blame for the plague that has beset the land. They stop off at a monastery where they – again, for no particular reason – ask for a monk to come along with them. The smallest, skinniest, nerdiest of the monks volunteers and joins the party as they journey toward a town on the other side of a marsh. And that pretty much covers the first hour of the movie. It plays out kind of like watching somebody else complete a few quests in any given RPG set in medieval times. That may not sound all that compelling, but it was actually pretty enjoyable. However, once they reach the village and finally figure out what is going on, the horror part of the movie starts and it just shows a series of somewhat graphic torture scenes for the next little while. I can’t say that that particular aspect of the film won itself a fan in me. In the end, there is no real conclusion and the story just kind of peters out, as the surviving main characters return to the monastery, look at each other awkwardly, and the leave. It is followed by a vague and tacked-on epilogue that was kind of silly and left me wondering what point exactly the movie was trying to make. I’ve seen worse, though.
