Director Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson redefined the horror genre during the late 90’s by wrapping senseless gore around a clever whodunit plot in the “Scream” trilogy. Five years later, it seems only logical to believe that employing one of the most talented young actresses in the business (Christina Ricci) to headline their latest project would make for one amazing film. Think again. “Cursed” will probably scare a little scream of enjoyment from the usual horror-genre cronies that fashion a lifestyle around wearing lots of black and being mad at the world, but the many production problems that riddled the completion of the film nearly two years ago will undoubtedly show through in the weak script and very unsurprising, surprise ending.
Ricci stars as Ellie Hudson, a production assistant on “The Late Late Show” who has played the role of the responsible big sister to brother Jimmy (Jesse Eisenberg) since the unexplained death of their parents. After surviving a car accident and a nasty run-in with a werewolf that managed to take a bite out of both of them, Ellie and Jimmy begin to experience a drastic change in their lives. As Ellie tries to adapt to her new environment, Jimmy begins to investigate the mythical history behind the beast in the hopes of discovering a remedy that will abolish the curse. Oh yeah, and he also takes care of a few high-school punks “Teen Wolf” style in the meantime.
”Cursed” starts off as classic Craven/Williamson, but by the end of the film, the audience has seen much more crap than brilliance to actually believe that it’s the same minds behind “Scream” subjecting their fans to this B-movie junk. There are still hints of comedic moments that tear their way into the script – namely a few one-liners and a werewolf giving the finger – but don’t expect to see much violence at all. The audience can rarely see the werewolf in its full glory, and when you do, all it ever does is sniff, snarl and jump around a bit. These are the least of your worries, of course, when the beast isn’t exactly the most convincing prop in a film based upon the practicality of its existence. “Cursed” is an incredibly difficult film to praise even with such-named talent backing it, but unless you’re a fan of Ricci or Craven, feel free to pass up this title until it hits DVD.
2 / 5 Stars
Starring: Christina Ricci, Jesse Eisenberg, Joshua Jackson, Michael Rosenbaum
Director: Wes Craven
DVD Features:
The Unrated DVD release of “Cursed” features a whole whopping two extra minutes of footage, along with special features that include commentary by the effects make-up supervisor and actor Derek Mears on four selected scenes, and four production features essentially all based around the creation of the werewolf special effects for the film.
