Cursed Film Review ~ 2005, Theatrical Version, PG-13
Subtitle: Beware the full moon.
Genre: Monster, Supernatural
Who to look for:
Christina Ricci, – Ellie – big forehead, and smaller in stature than I realized
Jesse Eisenberg – Jimmie – you know him, the perpetual slumped over anxious teen with a mop of brown curls
Shannon Elizabeth – I forgot to look for her, so I don’t know if she was good. I wanted to see her, being Derek Hough’s ex and all. And she lives sorta in my neighborhood..
Kevin Williamson – writer
Wes Craven, at least partly the director
Once Upon a Time…
Cute opening. Brother and sister (Jimmy and Ellie) are attacked by something one night, then go back home to engage in the usual family squabbling. Jimmy is still in high school (yeah, right), while Ellie works in production on a late night talk show! Lots of inside industry jokes (thanks, writer Kevin Williamson). Note the brilliant scene between Jimmy and a high school bully who finally dramatically confesses he is gay. (TV and film trope.) Then Jimmy trumps him by confessing he’s a werewolf. 🙂 Ha ha ha!
There’s a bit of a mystery as to who actually gave them the werewolf cooties.
Explain the Ending and SPOILERS for Cursed
Ooh, letterboxd has a commenter sharing a possible scoop on why/how this super-edited movie is so bland:
When the Weinsteins insisted that Williamson’s script needed to be more werewolf-centric and a reluctantly hired Wes Craven stated that the story had to be set in L.A., Williamson reworked his idea from scratch.
The film itself was re-shot four times (Williamson says he wasn’t even around past the third re-shoot, and Craven was also not present for a lot of the material that was shot).
I totally agree with pophorror on this:
Horror is for anybody that wants or needs it, but it isn’t for everyone. Watering it down and making it PG-13 isn’t going [to] make the reluctant movie goer change their tastes. The core audience that relishes it are the ones that suffer.
Did not like the ending at all. What kind of romance is it, if you watch your boyfriend burn to a crisp and then you turn around and pick up dirty dishes? I also found the werewolf attacks boring – they went on way too long, and no surprises in them, although the background (a wax museum set) was amusing.
Other Audience Reactions
Had to laugh at this from The Girl Who Loves Horror Movie Reviews:
Eisenberg acts basically the same as he does in everything else I’ve ever seen him in, so no surprise there. He’s your typical high school reject who gets picked on for no reason by the school jock and has a crush on a girl who is out of his league2
Google: Gooble’s movie ratings get more convoluted every time I look. They might include letterboxd, IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes…or they may not. So it’s possibly a 3.7 from Boogle, with only 33 viewers. Below is a good example of a Googler opinion:
Crused was a good movie that i ever watched but it wasnt really scary at all. Some scenes were but the rest was funny but i think this flim could of use some more horror effects in it. But i like the movie but it was kinda non scary.
From Amazon: 4.5 out of 5 . That high, really?? Must have been the cover image, which is a heavily photoshopped (and unrealistic) photo of Christina Ricci.
Oh, I know why: it was completely re-edited, remastered and this is the unrated new version of the 2005 film, released in 2022!
Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2022
i recently watched cursed, and i must say it left me wondering: why does this movie engender so much hate? is it because of all the press preceding its’ release, that production was troubled? … whatever it was, i really liked this movie, and it showed me that wes craven and kevin williamson’s partnership extends beyond scream.
Cursed, unfortunately, lives up to its title ‘cursed’. It’s not scary, makes little sense, and plays fast and loose with the conventions of the traditional werewolf movie.
The starting sequences are actually pretty solid, and there are some genuine thrills in the car crash sequence and an elaborate stalking scene in a parking garage.
That’s a Wrap – Final Rating for Cursed Movie
I wish I could see the new unrated version, but my notes are from the original version that I saw. To bother to re-edit it – 15 years later – means someone thinks the movie has value! For me: C-.
i think any story about brothers-sisters is a little tricky. I mean do siblings ever live together as young adults? Sisters, maybe. Plus, one of my top fave movies is Jeepers Creepers – now that’s a chilling sibling harvest. No comparison. You, sir, are not Jeepers Creepers.
What did you think?
Set painter in studio Art Depts. Member Scriptwriters Network, script analyst.
Author, 2 hardcopy books, Barnes & Noble Calendar.
- Emma in the Night ~ Wendy Walker ~ Thriller - May 11, 2023
- Still Alice (2014) ~ Psychology Movie Review ~ Julianne Moore - January 25, 2023
- The Other Emily ~ Dean Koontz - January 23, 2023
