Movie Breakdown: The Cursed

Pre-Screening Stance:

I haven’t seen any of writer/director Sean Ellis’ previous films and something about The Cursed feels a little low grade to me, but the presence of Boyd Holbrook and Kelly Reilly is enough to get me to check it out.

Post-Screening Ramble:

The Cursed isn’t a great horror film, but it’s not a bad one either. Set in France in the late 1800s, the story kicks off with a wealthy land owner, Seamus Laurent (Alistair Petrie), who’s rather unhappy about a group of Gypsies that are not only living on his land but also claiming that it’s actually their land. In response to this, he has them all killed, which is not nice, but the good news is that he doesn’t get away scot-free – he gets cursed. From here, the film is largely a creature feature, and to be specific, said creature is a werewolf. The Cursed isn’t your usual sort of werewolf movie though, writer/director Sean Ellis has crafted something that stands just to the side of what can usually be expected from such efforts. This is a patient, moody film that clearly wants to explore a lot more than just a monster on a rampage. Frankly, I really dig that Ellis went for something different here, but I have to note that the push for extra headiness often causes the film to get in its own way. There are lengthy segments where the story just meanders, which causes the film to drag, and I found some of the mythology on display to be muddled to the point where it doesn’t always make much sense. Still though, a good chunk of The Cursed does work, so I do think it’s worth a twirl.

You can see The Cursed in theaters tomorrow, February 18.

One Last Thought:

If you’re at all squeamish when it comes to gore, you might want to think twice about hitting play on this. There’s a few pretty gnarly moments.