The 2024 Horror offering Cursed may be about a stranger in a strange land. It could also be about the ultimate loser. Or it could be a tale of what makes a goat. Regardless, this is a slightly unnerving story about a drifter being caught in a lie . Cursed is, despite the length of time it takes to get there, a good morality tale.
Cursed Story
Gordon is a stranded American roaming the snow covered countryside of Ghimlia, Romania. He steals from a vegetable stand; edibles and money. Later he finds a snow covered house. There he meets Zulema.
She is going to change his life.
Forever.
The Cast
Sarah Bonrepaux is Zulema.
Billy Brannigan is Gordon Greenbaum.
Leanne Johnson is Gordon’s mother.
Lamya Regragui Muzio is Olga.
Pete Berwick is Cab Driver.
Let’s Talk Cursed
Co-writer/Director Patrick Corcoran takes us on a homage, of sorts, to the good old wolf man. Albeit an off beat version of said shape changer. Add to the fact that poor old Larry Talbot was an “innocent.” Larry was caught up in his terrifying mess and therefore the connection is pretty bare. It is, though, still there.
Gordon, unlike Larry T is one of life’s losers. He is unlikable, a thief, and a murderer. Poor Talbot clearly was guilty of picking some wolfsbane in the moonlight. Greenbaum is clearly a rotten apple.
*Corcoran shares writing credit with Aidan Karstadt.*
Understand that when we speak about “The Wolf Man” we mean the good old black and white Universal pictures. The ones with “likable” Lon Chaney Jr.
Gordon is twitchy. He looks guilty at every turn. Later, when Zulema lets him in her house, we wonder at her decision.
Nic Cage a la Aaron Paul
A quick note here. Barry Brannigan feels like a kissing cousin to Aaron Paul’s Jesse via a route taken by Nicolas Cage. Brannigan resembles Paul to a degree, perhaps intentionally, but uses Cage’s “all in” delivery. The actor helps us believe in this curse ridden world as much as his character does. It works. Keep an eye on this guy, he should be going places and not just in the world of horror.
Low Budget
Cursed is a low/no budget film at $170K. Certainly there may be a few places where we can tell, but, it works. The pacing is almost as glacial as the scenery but this is a methodical uncovering. It is not pedantic or annoying, it just; is.
The practical effects leave a bit to be desired. Major kudos, though, to the decision to leave CGI out of it. *At one point I could see the actor’s real teeth underneath his “mask.”*
Kudos
Bonrepaux as the lonely Romanian widow is spot on. She brings a new definition to the term creepily intimidating. The actress has layers here and they help to define her character. This is not a two dimensional role and it helps.
Brannigan, with his Nic Cole like determination also sells his character fully.
The Verdict
Cursed is another VOD film snubbed by Rotten Tomatoes and even IMDb. I can safely give this one a solid 3.75 stars out of 5. Corcoran appears to have been a bit influenced by the 2006 film Black Sheep as well, sans the comedy. This alone makes this one worth a go. This is streaming on Prime and Tubi right now.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.