By Stephen Schaefer--Boston Herald
February 25, 2005
With the Scream trilogy (1996-2000), they made the postmodern horror movie more than a one-weekend wonder for thrill-seeking teens; they reconceived the genre and made horror movies cool for adults.
"Cursed" probably looked like an opportunity to reclaim their mantle as horror's reigning masters. Unfortunately, "Cursed" arrives nearly dead on arrival.
This anemic werewolf thriller underwent excisions due to ratings and cast changes and now opens as a stale, by the numbers PG-13. The film's star, Christina Ricci, appeared on NBC's "Joey" last night. Maybe she's looking for a new arena of work in sitcoms.
"Cursed" has as generic and hackneyed a setup as its title. Our heroine Ellie Hudson (Ricci) is a TV producer. Because she's working on "The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn" (who makes a cameo) instead of current host Craig Ferguson, we know this is last year's "Cursed."
With a nod to classic (read: much better) werewolf movies, "Cursed" begins as a pair of luscious babes (Shannon Elizabeth and Mya) wander through the Santa Monica piers amusement center and consult a psychic (Portia de Rossi, Fox's "Arrested Development"). Death, she says looking at Elizabeth's sweating palm, is on the way. This isn't played as comedy, it only reads that way.
"Cursed" then follows parentless Ellie and her younger brother Jimmy (Jesse Eisenberg) as they drive home on a dark, twisty Los Angeles mountainside road. An animal jumps out of nowhere, causing a crash that puts another car in a gully. There they find its driver upside down, pinned in by her seat belt. It's not long before something furry and frightening attacks, a werewolf that devours or at least destroys the driver and claws Ellie and Jimmy, who soon find they are howling to the moon.
In this universe of werewolf transformation, bitten or scratched victims become sexual magnets, as if exuding some raw animal scent that makes them irresistible. They also develop superhuman strength. As these changes occur to Ellie and Jimmy, they discover the way to be free of the curse is to kill the werewolf that first bit them.
Among the suspects and victims are Ellie's boyfriend, Jake (Joshua Jackson), Ellie's catty coworker Joanie (Judy Greer) and, as a guest on Kilborn's show, Scott Baio as himself.
However predictable the beginning, it seems great compared to the tired confrontation and climaxes that comprise the film's seemingly endless finale. A sequel much less a trilogy? Cursed, if you ask me.
("Cursed" contains sexual innuendo, violence and laughable murders.)
