The streaming movie charts are often full of amusing surprises. Sometimes, films that have been largely ignored for a decade or longer suddenly rocket their way into the top 10. The cause for their resurgence is usually directly attributable to something going on in the world: the movie could feature a newly minted movie star in an early role (either that or possess subject matter that is similar to a film that is raking in the dough at the box office). The death of a major filmmaker or actor is also a big driver of views, as we recently saw with the late, great Gene Hackman.
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One of the biggest viewing swings of the 2020s thus far came at the start of the decade when the Covid-19 lockdown inspired millions of frightened, sheltering-in-place streaming subscribers to watch Steven Soderbergh’s 2011 pandemic classic “Contagion.” It was the right movie at the right time for numerous reasons: Its depiction of a pandemic response was remarkably accurate (though the virus in the film was fortunately far deadlier than Covid proved to be), the misinformation-spreading vlogger played by Jude Law accurately predicted the hay that would be made by conspiracy theorists hawking miracle cures and treatments, and, most importantly, it gave viewers hope that, when the world’s most brilliant scientists have their backs pinned to the wall, they’ll come through for humanity.
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Alas, a depressingly large chunk of humanity isn’t always grateful for the profound public service provided by people of good faith who know 1000% more than they do on any given subject. These are the types of people who get their news from dodgy Facebook memes and some know-nothing jagoff who rose to national celebrity by goading people into eating insects for prize money. And one of the most disastrously ridiculous causes they’ve rallied around over the last 20 years is the wholly counterfactual anti-vaccination movement. Now that one of the most vocal anti-vax advocates has been appointed to head the United States’ Department of Health and Services, people might be morbidly looking to movies about outbreaks that aren’t quelled by science. I think that’s why a 2010 action-horror film starring Eddie Redmayne and Sean Bean is currently drawing eyeballs on Max.
Black Death might be scratching a doom-viewing itch
According to FlixPatrol, Christopher Smith’s “Black Death” is the eighth most viewed movie on Max in the U.S. as of April 14, 2025, and has been sitting in the streamer’s top 10 stateside since at least April 8 last week. This is a stunning achievement for a 15-year-old film that grossed a grand total of $272,445 worldwide during its initial theatrical release. And while it’s worth noting that Sean Bean is currently starring in the BBC crime series “This City Is Ours,” the show is not yet available to stream in the U.S. So, I’m going to hop out on a limb and say the worsening Measles outbreak (which has claimed the lives of two unvaccinated children) in this country has folks doing a bit of doom viewing.
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As Smith stated in interviews at the time, “Black Death” is a “medieval-men-on-a-mission” movie, and it’s a creepily effective one at that. Redmayne plays a monk who leaves his monastery to serve as a guide for a group of soldiers (led by Bean) charged with apprehending a suspected necromancer. Redmayne’s involvement is motivated by a desire to find his true love, who fled his monastery to avoid the recently arrived sickness, and his faith is tested at every turn as they near the village which houses the necromancer.
While “Black Death” is indeed a men-on-a-mission movie, it’s important to note that this is not a rollicking entertainment à la or “The Dirty Dozen” or “Inglourious Basterds.” Smith goes in awfully heavy on the gore, and resists the genre’s rousing conventions. It would be wrong to spoil the film’s fascinating conclusion, but this being a grittily realistic film about the Black Death, it’s safe to say that there isn’t a third-act medical breakthrough.
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“Black Death” is rough stuff, and it stinks that it’s only now finding the success it deserved in 2010 because we’re now living under the rule of anti-science clowns. But all hope is, uh, hopefully not lost, so there’s no immediate harm in treating yourself to a very good feel-yucky movie.
