phancy.com - horror reviews - MOH 2022

The Cursed



IMDb Info

Release Year: 2021
Runtime: 1h 51m
Country: USA
Language: English, Romanian
Genre Tags: Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
Plot Summary: In rural 19th-century France, a mysterious, possibly supernatural menace threatens a small village. John McBride, a pathologist, comes to town to investigate the danger - and exorcise some of his own demons in the process.

Poster - Title Card


phancy.com rating:

phancy.com notes: Brings up themes of colonialism, genocide and family sins being passed along to the children, but disappointingly doesn't really do anything with them. The whole thing is also a flashback, bookended by segments that add nothing to the story. Still, it's moody and beautifully shot, with excellent creature effects and is enjoyable enough as a simple werewolf movie.


Outside Reviews:

Matt Zoller Seitz
3 out of 4 stars - rogerebert.com

It wouldn't be sporting to describe the plot in too much detail here, as the most distinctive thing about "The Cursed" is the way it plays around with what we think of as standard werewolf mythology. It's not just the Marxist-adjacent worldview of the film that fascinates (in one sequence, a servant girl survives being bitten, then wraps her wounds and goes to work because she's terrified of getting fired for not showing up) but also the theme of suppressed guilt over colonialist, exploitive, even genocidal tendencies among Europe's ruling classes.


Katie Rife
Grade: C+ - The Cursed is a foggy, sluggish variation on the old-school werewolf movie

Even when Ellis ramps up the suspense with crosscutting and monster mayhem in the final half-hour, The Cursed has trouble maintaining nail-biting intensity for very long. Most of the characters are shuffled off screen to hide out in a church for the second half of the movie. And those that do stay involved in the narrative don't have defined-enough emotional arcs to make us care much about their fates. When it comes to homage, loving attention to craft can take you most but not all of the way. The Cursed proves that.