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The Cursed Review
Image Credit: LD Entertainment
Loading...Directed by: Sean Ellis
Written by: Sean Ellis
Starring:
Boyd Holbrook – John McBride
Kelly Reilly – Isabelle Laurent
Alistair Petrie – Seamus Laurent
Roxane Duran – Anais
Nigel Betts – Alfred Moliere
Stuart Bowman – Saul
Simon Kunz – Mr. Griffin
Amelia Crouch – Charlotte
Max Mackintosh – Edward
Tommy Rodger – Timmy
Áine Rose Daly – Anne-Marie
Running Time: 112 minutes
Rated R for strong violence, grisly images and brief nudity.
The werewolf has unfairly played second-fiddle among classic movie monsters to the vampire for a long time. Don’t get me wrong; I do get why. Vampires have sex appeal and Bela Lugosi as an iconic image, while werewolves have Lon Chaney Jr. and hairy palms. Still, for my money it was always the beast within that most strongly appealed.
The point is, while there are literally a hundred movies about Dracula alone (to say nothing of other vampire films), werewolves have received a short shrift in cinema. Sure, we have classics like An American Werewolf in London, The Howling, Ginger Snaps and Dog Soldiers, but far too often lycanthropes suffer on screen. That’s changing though, with recent entries like The Wolf of Snow Hollow and Werewolves Within giving the beast another chance.
Sean Ellis’ new film The Cursed follows in the steps of this mini-renaissance, attempting to put what can only be described as an A24-esque spin on the werewolf legend. The film, which hits theaters this Friday, may stumble in its handling of a few aspects but is an entertaining (if overlong) venture.
The Cursed opens with a scene that immediately tells you this won’t be your standard werewolf yarn, sliding through the trenches of the bloody battle of The Somme in World War I in France. A young solder is brought into a medical tent, riddled with bullets. Oddly, one of those bullets is silver. We then flash 35 years earlier to a French village where the local land baron, Seamus Laurent (Petrie) is dealing with a problem: a local Roma community has a valid legal claim to land he wants.
Seamus and his fellow landowners strike an agreement to deal with the Roma, which leads to a ruthless massacre of the community which Seamus oversees and then actively participates in when he sadistically orders one survivor to be literally turned into a scarecrow and the other to be buried alive. It isn’t long after this that people in the village – including Seamus’ children Edward (Mackintosh) and Charlotte (Crouch) begin to have nightmares involving a scarecrow and a set of sharpened silver dentures.
When the town’s children find the teeth, Edward is bitten and soon vanishes, after which a wolf similar to the famous (real-life) Beast of Gevaudan goes on a killing spree around the village. Enter John McBride (Holbrook), a pathologist who has experience dealing with beasts like this. As John enters the lives of the Laurents and digs for the truth, the past comes to life and things prove to be less clear cut than he might have thought.
With The Cursed (previously named Eight For Silver), Ellis sought to update the werewolf legend to a modern audience. That doesn’t mean that he jettisons the past entirely, though. The film leans heavily on the Hammer horror conventions in the plot, notably the introduction of the outside Van Helsing-like character in Holbrook’s character. That provides a bridge for Ellis to bring a more modern sensibility to the tropes, for better or worse.
And there is plenty of both better and worse there. Ellis’ script adds nuance to the Roma that many traditional werewolf films lack. There are still unfortunate regressive stereotypes here about Romani curses and the like, though they also provide an opening for Ellis to touch on class and race issues in a way that is poignant, though never on the nose. In fact, it’s arguably abandoned in an overt plot sense too soon, though as the catalyst of the curse they are ever-present in a thematic sense.
Though the screenplay stumbles a little early on with then unnecessary in media res opening scene and a meandering approach to establishing its characters, it picks up quickly once things get bloody. Ellis has a keen sense of visual flair, evidenced in a striking extreme wide shot of the horrors perpetrated on the Romani that allows it to feel less exploitative while framing the callousness of the slaughter.
Once the story moves on from that, Ellis is able to cut loose a little more. While he spends a bit too much time middling around in the second act, he makes sure that the “slow burn” aspect isn’t boring by keeping the threat of the werewolf ever-present, with several bloody attacks taking place. The violence is handled in spurts and the creature best seen in flashes, as the low budget means that the CGI suffers quite badly when focused on for too long.
Fortunately, the practical effects make up for it. Ellis has a unique take on the transformation process. Obviously, no film has ever quite equaled the transformation effects seen in American Werewolf in London, and Ellis wisely goes with a different tactic that leans into some serious body horror. That’s most notably depicted in an autopsy scene that is the absolute highlight of the film; it’s a visceral, horrifying twist on werewolf physicality that is clearly the most enduring image from the film.
Ellis also benefits from an able cast, doing their best to build up the characters. Holbrook gives his werewolf hunter a beleaguered, discerning nature and matches up well against Petrie’s severe family patriarch. He also pairs up well with Reilly as the mother Isabelle, who does nuanced work with an underwritten role. Amelia Crouch, Tommy Rodger, and Max Mackintosh are all quite solid as the trio of children wrapped up in the plot.
For those who are tired of slow burn horror, this won’t do much to change their minds. While Ellis doesn’t shy away from the violence and terror, the quieter scenes don’t feel the need to wrap too quickly. His dark, washed-out color palette won’t help with those comparisons, either. But there’s enough going on here that even if certain swaths will be a turn off, those with a bit more patience will be rewarded with a fun (if not nail-biting) time.
