The Cursed (2022) Review

 "We will all pay for the sins made by our elders."
-Timmy


When a group of gypsies lay claim to his land, Seamus Laurent (Alistair Petrie) has them all murdered.  Soon after, everyone in the village begins to have nightmares about the corpses of the gypsies and their silver.  Then people start to go missing and get attacked by a monstrous creature.  A traveling pathologist, John McBride (Boyd Holbrook), decides to get involved and quickly becomes the only hope for the survivors.


What Works:

The thing I liked most about The Cursed is the atmosphere.  We get lots of wide landscape shots of the foreboding woods and the fog-covered fields.  It makes you feel like the monster could be anywhere and it increases the tension like crazy.

The movie begins with a group of men slaughtering a band of gypsies and it's very well done.  It's all shot in one long take far away from the action.  We don't hear any dialogue or get any close-ups until it's over and we don't need to.  We see the slaughter and watch them burn the camp to the ground.  It's very impressive.  Fire stunts aren't easy and to do it all in one take is really cool.

The gore is absolutely brutal, so if you're into that kind of thing, like I am, this is a movie for you.  We get some medical gore in the opening sequences, which I always find more disturbing than typical gore and there are some fantastic kills throughout the movie.  

I really like Boyd Holbrook as our main protagonist.  He's smart, likable, and willing to speak his mind.  He also has a connection to this curse that makes him even more interesting.  McBride is a solid character and Holbrook elevates him with his performance.

Finally, this is a movie that is simply up my alley.  I like stories about werewolves, curses, and the sins of the father being passed onto his children.  All of these would be interesting on their own, but this movie ties them all together effectively.


What Sucks:

A few of the werewolf attacks don't look all that great.  The ones where the monster is off-screen work, but when it's on-screen, the movie becomes out of focus and the camerawork becomes very shaky.  It feels like they're trying to hide as much of the CGI beast as they can.  It's a technique I've seen in other films and I don't like it.


Verdict:

The Cursed is an awesome monster movie with great kills, an interesting story, chilling atmosphere, and a solid performance from Boyd Holbrook.  Some of the monster attacks don't look very good, but this movie has still got it going on.

 9/10: Great 


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