Though deadly serious, Christopher Smith’s European-made bubonic- plague melodrama provides good value with lots of blood and guts, as well as a solid cast.

Sean Bean plays a mercenary medieval knight who persuades a novice monk (the always-interesting Eddie Redmayne of “Savage Grace”) to guide him to a village untouched by the plague.

The monk hopes for a reunion with his lady love, but what they find is a high priestess (Carice von Houten of “Black Book”) and enough other surprises to make the gory “Black Death” more satisfying than 2009’s similar “Valhalla Rising.”