Cursed

Cursed (2005)

Directed byWes Craven

Starring: Christina Ricci, Joshua Jackson, Jessie Eisenberg, Judy Greer

I don’t blame Wes Craven for Cursed. After the success of his teen horror flick franchise Scream, I can understand wanting to move forward in the genre – giving werewolves a slick werewolf story packed with today’s hot young stars. The problem with this theory, however, is a) the movie is not slick and b) the stars (except Christina Ricci) are washed up has-beens with no charisma or style whatsoever. Even critics of Scream can’t argue that the cast in that franchise had a presence and great group dynamics. (Note: I actually liked the Scream franchise, for what it was.)

Cursed starts at a California beachfront carnival (a la “The Lost Boys” boardwalk) with a melodramatic palm reading by Portia de Rossi, foretelling of “blood, lots of blood” in the futures of Shannon Elizabeth and Mya.

Ellie (Ricci) is a producer for the “The Late Late Show with Craig Kilbourn”, and lives with her younger, geekier brother Jimmy (Jessie Eisenberg). While driving home on Mulholland Drive, their car hits an unknown animal, careens across the next lane and smacks another car, sending it rolling down the hill. During the rescue attempt both Ellie and Jimmy sustain werewolf bites.

What ensues is your typical werewolf fare – no one believes the kid’s version of events, so he starts reading up on werewolves in books and comic books (again, think “The Lost Boys”, and add a little of “Stephen King’s Silver Bullet”); Ellie is in denial over her “changes” (smelling a coworker’s bloody nose from her office, and following the scent like a housecat stalks a tuna sandwich) and weird dreams about her boyfriend Jake (Joshua Jackson).

Of course, being bitten by a werewolf has it’s benefits. Jimmy’s confidence soars with the girl of his dreams (Kristina Anapau) and he kicks her boyfriend’s (Milo Ventimigula) ass in wresting – Teen Wolf style.

The werewolf’s first appearance gives a good Scream-like jolt, and the kills have their share of gore (Elizabeth’s still moving torso flying through the air and clawing it’s way through the dirt were a nice touch), but even good Gore can’t save an otherwise disappointing movie. The werewolf effects themselves were a combination of “guy in a furry suit” and overdone CGI – which did not blend seamlessly and was quite irritating by the final showdown.

The scenes between Jackson and Ricci are anything but heartwarming, and both actors look as though they are trying to keep from puking on each other during the intimate moments and corny dialogue. Comic relief is provided by Ventimigula’s change of heart towards Jimmy, and one particularly good finger sucking scene with Ricci and Craig Kilbourn, who is pleasantly surprised – a believably genuine response to anyone who has seen more risqué moments from his show (that boy is freaky!). Scott Baio’s appearance is senseless, and Judy Greer’s performance as a “scrawny assed” publicist is forced and horriby overacted. Most of the attempts at humour fall flat, receiving groans from the audience (the werewolf flashing the middle finger after being insulted), while the more intense moments are reacted to with laughter.

Craven infused his own filmmaking history into this movie, as he did with the Freddy-style Janitor in “Scream”, by including props from previous films in the Hollywood inspired night club being opened by Jackson. I detected a Freddy statue, among the rest of the classic hollywood props – though I wasn’t playing close enough attention to see any additional nods to his previous work.

Cursed is filled with cliché’s, and fails to achieve the goals it intended from all aspects. My prediction is that even the target audience (13-20 year olds I imagine) will fail to find anything redeemable about this movie. As I said, I don’t blame Wes Craven for this movie… I do blame the weak script from Kevin Williamson, and the wave of predictable pre-teen horror flicks that have plagued the genre over the past years – they put the weapon in Craven’s hand and encouraged him to use it. Save yourself the ticket price (thankfully back down to $9.95 at Famous Players) and wait for it to hit cable TV.