Wes Craven’s “Cursed” based on the werewolf genre, focuses on a brother and sister and how their lives change after being scratched and lacerated by a werewolf.
Early in the film, the terror and carnage to come is foreshadowed when Becky (Shannon Elizabeth) and Jenny (Mya) consult a psychic (Portia de Rossi).
While reading Becky’s sweaty palm, the psychic warns them of impending danger, blood and death.
Ellie (Christina Ricci) and Jeremy Hudson (Jesse Eisenberg) lead middle class lives and have recently lost their parents. Ellie is a television producer for “The Late Show with Craig Kilborn,” Jeremy’s guardian, and owns a home in the Hollywood Hills.
Jeremy is in high school and is perceived as a geek by his classmates, bullied by members of the wrestling team, and attracted to the sister of one his enemies.
Driving home on a dark and twisting Mulholland Drive, Ellie and Jeremy’s windshield is struck by an animal with very big paws. Ellie loses control, forcing a car heading in the opposite direction, driven by Becky, off the road.
Ellie and Jeremy render assistance to Becky, who is terrified and desperate for someone to free her from the driver’s seat of her upside down car.
After being freed, Becky asks about insurance but before she can say “lawyer” she is grabbed and dragged away by the werewolf and devoured after the attack.
Ellie and Jeremy fight to save Becky but in the ensuing struggle, the werewolf scratches and lacerates with its claws, infecting them with the curse that will transform them.
Jeremy, who attempted to hold on to Becky during the struggle is sure that it was a werewolf but Ellie who was holding onto Jeremy is not so sure.
As the story develops, Jeremy and Ellie begin experiencing the physical and neurological transformation that come with being a werewolf. Jeremy has a taste for raw meat, super human strength, sensitivity to moon light, and cannot handle silver without being burned.
Ellie has a heightened sense of smell for blood, superhuman strength, and her sexual attractiveness in the eyes of her co-workers increases. Jeremy and Ellie discover the way to save themselves is to kill the werewolf that infected them.
Scenes of physical and gun violence are woven throughout “Cursed” to add suspense and to broaden its audience appeal. In one scene of violence, Jenny (Mya) is stalked in a parking structure while returning to her car.
The werewolf grabs Jenny in a physical altercation, hurling her into the air where she lands with a body slam that would shatter most people’s spines and rupture their disks.
Jenny amazingly survives this trauma, gets to her feet and runs for the security of an elevator in scene that is reminiscent of “Terminator 2.”
A wax museum serves as the backdrop for the multiple acts of violence committed against Ellie and Jeremy by one of werewolves in the story. The werewolf pries the elevator doors partially open before luring her out and devouring her.
The werewolf uses its superhuman strength to punch through walls, leap multiple stories, wield a sword, and devour a bystander. The monster is finally put down by contingent of well-armed and well-trained police officers.
The police accidentally cancel the curse of this particular werewolf through a hail of gunfire that blows out its brains, a de facto decapitation.
“Cursed” is a great movie to see if you are looking for a relaxing and pleasant way to spend an afternoon with your friends.
On Screen
What: “Cursed”: Wes Craven, of Dracula and Scream series fame, makes a directorial comeback in a star-studded movie about a werewolf who attacks people in a contemporary urban setting
Rated: PG-13
Starring: Christina Ricci, Shannon Elizabeth, Mya, Jesse Eisenberg
Bottom Line: This movie reunites Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson, both of “Scream” fame.
