Directed by: Sean Ellis
Starring: Boyd Holbrook, Kelly Reilly, Alistair Petrie, Roxane Duran, Nigel Betts
The Cursed is a horror film enveloped in too much gloom and grayness, but the atmosphere works in certain scenes. The overall product leaves you admiring the craftsmanship but not caring much about the plot or characters. It is based in a 19th-century France in which werewolves were possible and the thought of them still terrifying to ordinary people. I've seen enough werewolf movies to know I don't need to see any more.
As The Cursed opens, French noblemen look to drive gypsies off forest land by making a lucrative financial offer, but when some gypsies refuse to sell, they are brutally attacked and killed by mercenaries although not before one of the gypsies curses the land before being buried alive. Writer/director/cinematographer Ellis films the brutality from far away instead of up close, so we can see the full range of killings and burning of their dwellings. It's effective.
However, soon rich landowner Seamus Laurent's (Petrie) son grows ill after one of his friends digs up artifacts where the gypsies are buried and attacks the unsuspecting friend. The son turns into a slimy werewolf, unlike the hairy beasts you've seen in movies like An American Werewolf in London. If a werewolf even scratches another person, that person will grow violently ill and transform into a werewolf as well. English pathologist John McBride (Holbrook) travels to the area to subdue the creatures before the danger grows out of control. Similar monsters killed his wife and child some time back, so he knows what he's up against.
Holbrook at least gives us an efficient, intelligent hero with a personal stake in what's happening. The rest of the people are thinly drawn folks who line up to be future victims, so we don't have feeling for them when terrible things happen. The Cursed is a well-made movie at the service of a story which doesn't match those production values.
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