Charity's Place.com

CURSED

REVIEWED BY SCARLETT POWELL

Our rating: 2 out of 5

Because of: violence, language, occult

Rated:

Mankind has been fascinated by the supernatural since the beginning. In the Victorian age, people became obsessed with death. They questioned whether or not life after death existed, consulted spiritualists, and created such immortal figures as vampires and werewolves. We cling to these figures because they represent evil and remind us of the promise of eternity. Attempting to cash in on the recent surge of interest in both, Cursed is the latest horror flick from Wes Craven. Wanting to get teens in on the action, the king of rampant big screen slaughter has shaved the film's gore quota down just enough for a PG13 rating.

Life as a teenager is never easy. You have all kinds of things to worry about, from what outfit looks the best for senior prom to what you'll do after collage. Sister and brother Ellie (Christina Ricci) and Jimmy (Jesse Eisenberg) have bigger things to worry about. Thrown into early maturity through the death of their parents, the two struggle to hold down jobs and avoid getting beat into a pulp in high school. While out driving one evening, their car collides with a unidentified animal, creating a two-car pileup. Attempting to pull the injured driver of the other car free, the duo are attacked by the vicious animal, who rips the woman to shreds and brutalizes both teens as well. Shaken but alive, it's not long before Ellie starts to notice something different about both of them. Their senses are heightened. They're more aware of blood. There's a strange marking on their hands. With some sleuthing, Jimmy uncovers the horrible truth: they're becoming werewolves. If they want to remain human and avoid this gruesome fate, they must find the source of the curse and destroy it before the next full moon.

This leads them down a dangerous path as they follow a trail of carnage to the beast that came upon them in the darkness along a lonely road. This film does have many frightening scenes, so if that's all you want, Cursed delivers. It also has somewhat flat writing and a few predictable twists, which isn't surprising: Craven isn't known for his intelligent screenplays. He goes more for frightening girls into their date's arms and making you pull your shades at night. For a horror flick, it's not too bad, but does contain a hearty amount of implied gore, lots of violence, and sexual themes. A psychic plays a role, reading the palms of two girls and predicting a terrible fate. A Satanic emblem known as a pentagram is supernaturally burned into all werewolves. Brief, nonsexual backside nudity is shown on a boy and girl. Women dress provocatively and speak in jest about sex on several occasions. Jimmy is accused of being a homosexual by the bullies at school (he isn't), and a gay classmate tries to kiss him.

Werewolves kill and maim people, throwing them through windows, and against walls and ceilings. Angela stabs a man in the throat with her car keys. A werewolf is shot in the head, spattering its brains across the floor. Angela has a nightmare where she bites a man in the neck, with gruesome results. There's one muffled f-word, various profanities, and one abuse of Jesus' name. A werewolf flips someone the finger. What results is a fairly decent scare-fest short on intelligence. Fans of the genre won't be disappointed in the creepy sets and unexpected shocks, but deeper audiences would be better off with Shyamalan.