Horror turns funny in 'Cursed' By Lauren Collins--Daily Trojan February 25, 2005
	According to the television ads for "Cursed," director Wes Craven is the "master of terror."  To some extent, this used to be true.  "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Swamp Thing" are horror classics that have withstood the test of time.  The 90's brought a more cynical Craven, with pastiche of his earlier work culminating in the "Scream" series and "Vampire in Brooklyn."  Unfortunately, the self-parody of his more recent films has proved an all-too bankable formula, and "Cursed" is so campy and self-reflexive that it's hard to know where his vain preening ends and the actual film begins.  The plot centers on the Hudson siblings, played by a gaunt Christina Ricci and Jesse Eisenberg.  After leaving their idyllic house in the Hollywood Hills (that Ellie Hudson is somehow able to afford on her meager salary), Ricci's Ellie heads to her job as a talent manager for Craig Kilborn while younger brother Jimmy fulfills the quintessential high school geek role, pining after the head cheerleader and getting pummeled by her boyfriend, the captain of the wrestling team (it's no mistake that scriptwriter Kevin Williamson wrote for the soapy teen dramedy "Dawson's Creek"). After smashing into another car on Mulholland Drive, Ellie and Jimmy are attacked by what looks to be an overfed, rabid dog that stalks them throught the sparse trees and underbrush.  Horror genre conventions tell us that this is no accident, and sure enough, the Hudsons begin to exhibit strange symptoms, including a taste for raw steak and a heightened sexual allure. These symptoms make for a few funny interchanges between the characters and allow Ricci to play grown-up in tight, black suits.  As dogs begin to congregate outside their home and moody shots of the full moon pop up more frequently, the big twist seems laughably juvenile. Craven always garners a lot of laughs in his films because of their overtly campy content, but the problem with "Cursed" is that it begins to take itself too seriously.  The film attempts to make some meaningful point about the frivolousness of Hollywood excess, yet is excessively dull itself. The actors look strained as if this were deep, thoughtful material and seem incapable of having a little fun with their unbelievable lines and overblown delivery.  When Shannon Elizabeth, playing one of the first fatal victims, tells a fortuneteller to "lay off the crack pipe," it doesn't garner one laugh from the audience because she actually seems serious.  The viewer is kept in an uncomfortable limbo of boredom, chuckling and random confusion at whether this film is campy, funny, dramatic or horrific. Yet, scary it is not.  By the time the climax reaches its peak in showdown in Tinsel, a fictitious Hollywood, the film became laughable not because of campy or witty banter but the presence of the villain, which appeared to be a rabies-infested oversized CGI muppet.  The best cameos offered are Scott Baio and Lance Bass from *NSYNC.  What a sad, lonely road Craven is headed down.