A brother and sister are attacked by a werewolf
after a car accident in the Hollywood Hills. HORROR
|
Cursed (2005)Directed by Wes Craven
Written by Kevin Williamson Starring Christina Ricci, Jesse Eisenberg, Joshua Jackson, Judy Greer, Milo Ventimiglia, Kristina Anapau, Michael Rosenbaum, Portia de Rossi, Mya |
Cursed is the perfect example of a decent film getting absolutely ripped to pieces by rampant studio interference. You can feel a specter hanging over this one, almost like you can tell the film you're watching should've been so much better. The Scream dream team of Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson reunited on a werewolf movie? Sign me up. Like so many other shitty situations in Hollywood, you can blame this one on the Weinsteins. Cursed is a black mark in the later stages of Craven's career, sandwiched between the underrated Scream 3 and the impressive Red Eye.
So little actually happens in this film. According to Judy Greer, they shot this thing for years and ended up with enough footage to make four movies. Surely, there was a better way to edit this thing so you get character development, gore, a meaningful story, or at least one of the three. As it stands, our heroes are Ellie (Ricci) and Jimmy (Eisenberg), siblings who can't really stand each other and end up attacked by a werewolf after causing a massive car accident. The other lady, played briefly by Shannon Elizabeth, is killed immediately. The rest of the movie is Jimmy experimenting with his newfound werewolf powers, including publicly assaulting his bully Bo (Ventimiglia), who then realizes his true identity as a gay man and becomes Jimmy's best friend, while Jimmy then start's dating Bo's shitty girlfriend (Anapau). Honestly, that's more far-fetched than the werewolf shit. During all this, Ellie rarely brings out her powers and instead we get to see the exciting behind the scenes work of a talk show that was canceled a year before the movie came out. It's a total mess, with a climax that's predictable and tame. Cursed is one of Craven's worst films, but it isn't his fault. Constant producer interference, reshoots, and so much left on the cutting room floor all contributed to this awfully executed lukewarm werewolf shitshow. Somewhere out there is a better version, a director's cut, where Craven no doubt made a badass werewolf movie. Maybe we'll get to see it someday, but for now, this is what we've got. |