The medieval horror thriller Black Death moves into the  River Oaks Three for a limited midnight run on April 1 and 2. Set in England in 1348 at the outbreak of the bubonic plague the story follows a group of religious zealots who are hunting down a necromancer. They believe that a society in a hidden village has the power to raise the dead and they want to raze said village to the ground.

Led by Ulric (Sean Bean) and with Osmund (Eddie Redmayne) a young monk as their guide the group marches through the woods with their implements of torture. Upon finding their quarry they discover there is indeed a woman goddess (Carice van Houten) who may or may not have power of the elements. There are scenes of bloodshed in the name of all kinds of religion.

Director Christopher Smith, whose previous films include Creep and Severance, told Free Press Houston in a phone interview how he wanted to avoid the tendency “of making a silly historical movie.” Smith emphasized how the violence in Black Death manifests “in a realistic manner.”

Smith added that the hidden village represents “a utopia where madness has been left behind.” Or so the audience is led to think. The last part pf Black Death was lensed at an actual village in Germany that allowed Smith to accurately recreate a 14^th century village on the film’s modest budget.

- Michael Bergeron