This next film stars a plethora of people who would someday be mildly famous. From the guy from Dawson's Creek who is not Dawson, to Peter from Heroes (who we've seen in supernatural movies before), to no-really-I'm-not-Mark-Zuckerberg, to Smallville's Lex Luthor, to Wednesday Addams - this is Cursed.
Like Vampire in Brooklyn, this "horror" film is directed by Wes Craven, but it's really more amusing than it is horrifying. As a werewolf movie, perhaps a more fitting title would be 'Werewolves in LA,' as that seems to sum up most of the plot.
The film starts with Christina Ricci's character, a talent agent or assistant of some sort, meeting up with her boyfriend who works at some sort of themed club/Hollywood museum (it's mildly unclear). The cane from The Wolf Man is on display and clearly foreshadowing that one or both of these young adults will be werewolf'ed by the end of this movie.
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| "Look, a heavy handed reference..." |
Ricci picks up her brother, Jessie Eisenberg's character, and they begin to drive home... over roads in Los Angeles that make up the shape of a large pentagram. Yes, the symbolism is painfully obvious, and thus it's a surprise to no audience member when a "mysterious animal" causes them to crash and then bites them.
Despite eye-rolling cheesiness, the movie is actually fairly well filmed and the wolf effects aren't all that bad. The wolves are a mixture of CG and practical effects, and Craven uses the dark surrounding the creature fairly well to make it look more realistic than it actually is.
After the siblings are bitten - or "cursed" as the film title suggests - they begin to gain cravings and powers. Jessie Eisenberg essentially goes "Teen Wolf" and can play sports and wrestle in a way he's never been able to before, and Christina Ricci has super-hearing and blood cravings. The "change" often seems more like a vampire story than a werewolf one, but for the most part the mock-seriousness of the movie still makes it work.
It is soon revealed (through Eisenberg's extensive comic-book-and-internet-based research) that the original werewolf who bit the siblings must be killed in order for them to be cured. This begins a hunt for this mysterious werewolf. The reveal is predictable, but the movie specifically adds twist after twist to try and trick you into believing red herrings and throw you off track.
When they finally do find the werewolf, Craven throws caution, realism, and seriousness out the window and has (I swear, this really happens) the werewolf flip off our protagonists after they insult the wolf's thighs. It may very well be the weirdest moment I've ever seen in a werewolf film.
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| "Fur off!" |
Honestly, this movie is more silly and cheesy than anything else, but it can be a lot of fun too. It's not my favorite Wes Craven film (I think I even like Vampire in Brooklyn more) but it's entertaining and worth the early-2000's memories.
Rating: a nostalgic 3 out of 5 bites
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