Promoting the forthcoming U.S. DVD and Blu-Ray debut of his latest mind-bending thriller Triangle, director Chris Smith offered Shock Till You Drop a preview of what’s to come in his upcoming picture Black Death, starring Sean Bean. The film made our most anticipated films of 2010 list, sharing a spot with the similarly-themed Season of the Witch.

“It’s hard to describe. It’s a ‘medieval guys on a mission’ movie,” Smith says. ” The period of black death – what’s fantastical and rich about that period? Instead of adding in flying witches and zombies – I haven’t seen what they’re doing with Season of the Witch yet, the trailer looks like it’s that – I said, ‘What if we took a realistic approach?’ The people of the time believe the plague was sent by God to punish them for their sins, or by the Devil to torment them. I wanted to find out what the characters felt and posit them on a journey of ‘is it real? Or is it not real?’ What would a necromancer be like if he existed? We added this fundamentalist knight, so it touches on fundamentalism. It’s a super dark film but it’s excited. It’s like a dark parable about how things haven’t really moved on in the last 600 years.”

The film marks a distinct departure in tone for Smith, who has also directed Creep and Severance, and he’s eager to see the reaction the film gets. That time won’t come until May in the UK, however, after a bump from a February debut. Smith says the release date change by Revolver Entertainment was purely “because of Season of the Witch and other sword and sorcery things [coming out]. We were trying – because I like to let a film live before it gets to the cinema – to aim [for May]. Why were we rushing it? The film isn’t being changed, we just wanted to take it around. Show it at festivals.”

Black Death does not have U.S. distribution yet. For more on the film, click on the title above where you’ll find a full plot synopsis and nearly 30 photos.