Black Death's Europe is one of dirt, blood, violence and mist.

A savage, genuine reflection of the Middle Ages, allowing for maximum nastiness and a few excitingly bloody moments.

Black Death has all the makings of a cult film -- if it gets an enduring following, it will be well-earned.

I'll wager grown-ups will be duly horrified by it. Not because of the gore -- although it does have a fair amount of that -- but because it takes you on a real journey into the heart of darkness, and you might not like what you find there.

Black Death definitely isn't a rollicking, bloody good time, but it is a haunting study in the capacity for cruelty in people when they're scared, and the lingering effects that cruelty can have.

In Black Death, Christopher Smith effectively creates a creepy and unsettling atmosphere with great production values. He shows lots of potential as a director and I'm looking forward to seeing what he does next.

Bean owns this movie.

An entertaining, if by-the-numbers, entry to the sword-and-shield genre, Black Death features lots of blood, disease, and the seemingly requisite Sean Bean.

Smith isn't presenting a peace offering so much as a reminder of the ease with which we slip into violence.

Smith's excellent, tension-building style is complemented by powerful performances from broadsword specialist Bean and Redmayne

Black Death is the feel bad movie of the year, a film with an unrelentingly bleak view of humankind's barbaric nature and the notion that, no matter what your creed, violence only ever begets more violence.

This film bathes in bloody, brutal ambiguity, intelligently casting both Christians and pagans as murderous creeps in a way that looks back objectively at 14th century ignorance while shining an ugly, knowing light on contemporary religious arrogance, too.

There's no glory for Black Death's mercenaries at the end of their journey, but for the audience there's a fascinating take on religion and morality that also features some pretty decent swordplay-and really, how much more can a movie offer?

By not rushing things, by keeping things moving at their own measured pace, Smith gives Poloni's screenplay a chance to breathe and evolve in a way it might not have been able to otherwise.

Built on the fascinating premise that God is actually kind of an asshole

A tedious road trip movie early on turns into a more interesting battle of wills in the second half. Worth a viewing.

"Going medieval" on your enemies isn't just a figure of speech in Christopher Smith's stylish spatter-horror exercise, which uses desperation-fueled religious fervor to interrogate the intersection of fear and faith.

It derives horrified fascination from its audience without ever smirking or looking down on us.

There's something here for just about everyone, or at least for everyone who looks back fondly on the similarly themed Wicker Man from 1973.

Slams Christians against pagans with little love for either.