Cursed is a slick, face paced werewolf horror movie from director Wes Craven that is light on scares and plot, but heavy on good popcorn fun.
Similar to Craven’s Scream cast, the movie is loaded with a young cast of familiar faces including Christina Ricci, Joshua Jackson, Jesse Eisenberg, Shannon Elizabeth and Mya. The movie was also written by Kevin Williamson – the writer behind Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer.
If you are looking for a scary and intense werewolf movie, Cursed’s plot leaves a little to be desired and is a bit predictable by the end. It follows Ellie, played by Ricci, and her younger brother Jimmy - who are attacked by a werewolf after a car wreck in the hills of Los Angles. Of course, the two think they were just bitten by a dog or a bear, but soon find themselves changing.
Jimmy, who is a dork and often tortured at high school, find himself growing stronger and gaining the confidence he needs to beat the school bully – who is secretly gay and has a crush on Jimmy. Eisenberg is annoying at times, but you still can’t help but cheer for the “nerd” in this kind of movie.
Ellie finds herself gaining confidence at work and having the ability to use her sexual appeal to manipulate her situation – including her love for Jake, played by Jackson. Ricci, who seems really thin in this movie, does a good job in the part, but at times reminds me of all the other creepy roles she has played in her career.
Along with all these benefits, the two find themselves doing some strange things, such as waking up naked on the front lawn or eating raw steak. They quickly figure out that something is very wrong and set out to stop the curse from turning them fully by killing the werewolf that bit them.
In true “Scream style,” we don’t know just who is the werewolf, and Craven makes sure to make every actor in the movie, from Jackson to Michael Rosenbaum, is a suspect. He also includes that twist at the end that was cool in Scream, but expected in this movie.
Cursed is light on scares, but still fun
I didn’t like Cursed the first time I watched it, but did enjoy it the second time. As a werewolf movie, it lacks when compared to better films – such as The Howling. However, it is fun and had a lot of laughs in it - like when the golden retriever “wolfs” out. The mix of horror and dark comedy reminded me a lot of An American Werewolf In London.
The cast does a solid job, and it has enough blood in it to qualify as a Craven horror film. I wished it could have been scarier or darker, but it seemed the makers were shooting for something closer to Scream – which was bloody, but funny.<!--page-->
Main Menu Screen
Similar to what Craven did with the serial killer genre in Scream, the werewolf design also seems to be a throw back to some of the classic genre movies of the ‘80s. It doesn’t come off looking too cheesy, but you can see touches of past werewolf movies. The creature and the transformation process also maintain some of the benefits of modern CGI without becoming too lame looking.The DVD comes loaded with special features including a behind the scenes look, a look at the special effects of the movie, creature editing 101, becoming a werewolf, and commentary.
Creator editing 101 features interviews with Patrick Lussier, director of the upcoming Dracula 3: Legacy and editor of Cursed, about the role of an editor and how he sometimes is the one who can save a movie. He talks about how Cursed had a number of challenges based on the multiple versions of the film – an unrated version released on DVD and the PG-13 version that was the theatrical release.
Becoming a Werewolf follows Eisenberg, who made the documentary, through the process involved in the make-up and what goes into the movie. Eisenberg narrators the documentary and it has some interesting moments, but nothing to really shout about.
The Cursed effects and the behind the scenes look is pretty standard where Craven talks about how they wanted to make a good scary werewolf movie and what was involved in bringing the wolf and the story to life on the screen. They also discussed the amount of work that went into the transformation of the werewolf and the combination of CGI and traditional special effects.
Special Features Screen
Overall, Cursed is an enjoyable movie as long as you know what you are getting. It is light on scares, but slick and fun in a popcorn movie sense. If you watch the movie expecting it to be a “grab you by the throat” horror movie, you will be disappointed. If you watch it just wanting a good time and a few light scares, you may just love it.
I fell somewhere in between the two spectrums. I enjoyed the movie, but wished it could have been darker and much scarier. In the behind the editing 101 feature, Lussier talks about how they wanted to make a dark movie, but that it kept getting cut down because the studio wanted something more mass marketable. The unrated version of the film is supposed to be the original dark version, but even it may be a little too popcorn for die-hard horror fans – it was for me.
I would recommend Cursed because it is a fun movie. It has some good jumps, some good gore, and the werewolf is cool. I wish it could have been better, but the movie still manages to be entertaining.
Cursed is available for pre-order at Amazon and will be released June 21. It will be available at AmazonUK on August 22. Visit the movie’s database for more information.
Your Talkback on this Story