(Reviewed by Marco Beltrami) - Friday, night. Outside, there is fittingly a full moon in the clear sky. I sit in a darkened theater. Blackness, then the Dimension Films logo fades in. Before the logo can even leave the screen, my heart almost feels like it stopped beating. I would check, but I know better. I know this feeling, though it is rare that I feel it, and rarer still for it to come on so strong. The Scream Trilogy evoked it just like this--maybe even more powerfully.

It should come then as no surprise when I say I am at the opening night of "Cursed" the new horror film from half the makers of the Scream Trilogy. Most notably Horror Master, director Wes Craven, Kevin Williamson, the golden writer with the acidic pen, and the pulse quickening music score of Marco Beltrami.

Being gyped out of Kev and Wes teaming on Scream 3, I anticipated the pair's new project since the moment it was announced. Through production problems and overzealous producers, it came out on top, and was worth my wait.

I have never been much for Werewolf flicks. I think werewolves in and of themselves are fucking awesome, but I've never seen a movie that really grabbed me. Of course, this one did just that.

The story focuses on a pair of siblings, whose lives are changed when they are in a car wreck, attacked by a werewolf. Very soon they notice oddities in their lives; a craving for raw meat, heightened sense of smell, of reflexes, and definitely in strength. Now they must find the one who started this whole cursed affair, if they hope to be rid of the ... well, the curse!

While the entire film was enjoyable, there were several parts that raised the bar above my hopes (and they were high!) mostly the parkade scene, the ending scenes, and the wrestling scene. No spoilers, so to see what they are, go see it yourself.

Kevin Williamson spins a web of mystery but it is not the prominent feature of the flick, unlike his Scream movies, or even as strong as The Faculty. The focus here isn't on mystery, though the mystery aspect is well done. Kevin simply decided to make that a lesser aspect, though I myself was still desperately trying to figure out the killer/s til the revelation. And I was wrong, and I was damn glad.

The originality brought into the traditional werewolf conventions was a welcome sight. Silver is simply a weakness, not death to werewolves. Few writers could place a werewolf story in LA and not have it come off as the hokiest thing since Greedo shooting first.

The acting was all around very damn good! I am no Joshua Jackson fan by any stretch, but under Wes' direction, anyone can be tolerable. He was not great, but he was decent. Ricci shone as always, as did her onscreen brother.

The special effects were tremendous. A few shots the werewolf didn't look too great, but many many parts were breathtaking. I felt like a little kid seeing a myth come to life, and I absolutely loved it. Particularly the underground parkade scene (you'll know when it comes) was a werewolf fan's wet dream.

The dialogue was what I expected; intelligent, funny, witty, and original. Not much more depth to go into there, I had no complaints, and nothing but praise.

The blood and gore--well thats tricky, because Canada didn't get the PG-13 version. For me, yeah there was some. Not much as I'd have enjoyed, but thats why the R rated DVD will be something to look forward to even more! If a movie is pulled off well, blood is not a huge problem. Its always nice but its not necessary. I know I'm a minority thinking that, but thats my view. There was plenty of swearing in my version!

The music despite what some think, was damn well great. Not Beltrami's best, and far from his least best ("worst" would imply he's ever had a bad score) and to anyone who didn't like it, but liked Scream's score, here is a smack upside the head for you; alot of the stuff in it was taken from the Scream trilogy because of last minute edits to cut the "R" I suppose. Irregardless, I loved it. The new scores were absolutely fitting, and fresh. The re-used cues fit extremely well with the scenes they were used with. Mostly it was the non-horror parts that were re-used. Things such as dramatic or funny moments, were not all original cues.

Last but certainly not least, the directing. Wes Craven advances his looks, his feel, every movie he makes. Cursed was no exception. The lighting, and particularly the camerawork were great (yes I realize the director does not set up lights nor control a camera, but he does control the cameraman and tell the cinematographer what look he is going for) there were a few mildly cheesy parts, but I let it slide. They were few and far between. I would have taken it out personally, but its nothing horrendously annoying. If you can stomach the "He's screwed" line from Jason X, there's nothing here that will so much as make you wince. Wes as always is the master of misdirection; drawing your attention to one detail so when the jump comes, it comes full force. Oh, and watch for two terrific references to Wes's Scream, and A Nightmare on Elm Street.

I realize anyone/everyone here thinks my review is biased, as a Scream fan, a Wes Craven fan, and a Kevin Williamson fan, but I'm entitled to it irregardless, and I give Cursed 9/10, and thoroughly anticipate the DVD releases already.

(Reviewed by Crazy Ralph) - *I just saw this for my 2nd time, and I now give it 3.5 stars out of 4*

Let me start off by saying I loved this film. I loved it and hated it. It was entertaining and the werewolf looked very cool and for the most part the acting was good. But then bad seems to over power some of the good.

The Story: Ellie and her brother Jimmy are driving home one night when their car was struck by an animal and they then crashed into the vehicle of another woman. As they attempt to free the woman from her car, they are all attacked by a werewolf. The woman is shredded (off screen) Jimmy is Bitten on the chest (in a very choppy edit) and Ellie is bitten on her arm (Another choppy edit, thank you Weinstein fuck heads) and they start to change almost immediately after, there senses become heightened and they become more powerful then they were before. Jimmy knows that he was bitten by a Lycan, but struggles to convince his sister. Meanwhile a few people are getting attacked and virtually slaughtered including a woman at a party who gets chased through a parking garage before being shredded in an elevator (Screen goes black and all we can hear is the sounds...thank you Weinstein fuckheads)and soon they must figure a way to stop this Curse...

Let's get the bad out of the way. Joshua Jackson, boy does this prove the dude cannot act to save his life, and he was obviously the werewolf the whole fucking time. Thats right, Pacey was the werewolf that started it all.

The Score was terrible, it was like composer Marco Beltraimi fell asleep while writing the score but his hand kept moving. (Apoligies to Jefe, the admin here) but for fucks sake, he had better scores for The Crow: Salvation and Dracula 2000!

The character development. HA- there is no character development. The only interesting character was Jimmy. Kevin Williamson is bettter then this, I mean come on, he created Randy Meeks,Billy Loomis and Stu Macher (for Scream), all who were very well written and acted, and here is just crap and more crap.

As a werewolf movie, this sinks pretty low behind The Howling, American Werewolf in London, Ginger Snaps and Dog Soldiers, although its much higher then Silver Bullet, American Werewolf in Paris and Dark Wolf.

The good, can't really think of, I guess my review here sucks, but oh well. The one scene I loved, cause it was so well done, was the Gym scene, from the moment we see Jimmy up on the higher bleachers to the aftermath of his wrestling, it was just a great scene.

One good thing about Josh Jackson was how he slightly resembled Lon Chainey Jr from the 1941 Wolf Man

Cursed – A DancesWithWerewolves review

1981 was a landmark year for our fuzzy lupine friends, the werewolf.  After all, three quality films came out that year.  All three telling very different stories, all three containing some startling visuals.  Rick Baker won the Academy Award for that year for his stellar work on John Landis’s lycanthropic classic, An American Werewolf In London.  To this day, it remains a critical landmark in special FX make-up work to both fans and critics alike.  On a recent interview, he expressed how much fun he had creating the FX for that film, and he’d love to get the chance to do another werewolf film, preferably with his more two-legged vision.  He had my full support.

Baker is picked up by modern horror maestro, Wes Craven, whose recent project was a werewolf film, scripted by his partner in box office crime, Kevin Williamson.  The idea was to create a modern werewolf film in the same way Wes revitalized the slasher film.  Why argue?  They did a good job the last time.  Rick is given the green light to do his ultimate vision of a two-legged werewolf, and I couldn’t wait to see it on the big screen.

The film is about two siblings, Ellie and Jimmy, who stumble into a car crash after thinking they almost hit an animal.  Of course, they get bit by this animal in a fairly thrilling, if cartoonish, sequence trying to help someone in another car.  Know what that means?  Yuh-huh, they’re gonna be howling at the moon in no time.  Ellie has a boyfriend, Jake Taylor (…Sixteen Candle’s reference?), played to a new level of bland by Joshua Jackson, who’s just obvious that he may be a werewolf, if not THE werewolf, behind everything…might have to do with the scruffy beard and hooding eyes…I don’t know…he sure wasn’t subtle about it.  As Ellie and Jimmy begin to deal with some changes and how it’s effecting their social/work lives, Jake is trying to open a horror-themed night club (gee…can this be the setting for a big climax?).  In the midst of this, a couple of girls have been killed by the beast, girls linked to Jake no less, and it seems to be stalking Ellie as well, in spite of her current transportation.  This is all set in the Hollywood area of California, so I guess it’s suppose to be hip.

Guess what?  It’s not the PG-13 rating that hurts the film!  In fact, an R rating would improve very little. 

Let’s start with the acting and characters.  Directing actors has never been one of Wes’s strong suits.  Every now and then, he just gets lucky with a gifted group of kids doing their own thing (Scream), however, here, the cast doesn’t have that natural magic.  There’s not a single one to give a rat’s ass about.  Not a single main character is remotely believable.  Jimmy comes closest, but the over abundance of gay jokes thrown at him as well as his sudden calm coolness about telling people he’s a werewolf stretches far beyond the realms of suspension of disbelief.  His wrestling try-out scene was cute (as was his crush Brook, who just so happens to go out with the biggest jerk in school…why?  We’re never shown.)  His enhanced strength and agility impresses the coaches and even those who picked on him, so much so that Bo (the jerk) later comes out of the closet to Jimmy (which is actually similar to something Joss Whedon wrote…but I won’t hold that against Williamson, he’s obviously desperate for material).  How Jimmy reacts is too quick, too calm, and his supposed rejection of Bo is that…he’s a werewolf.  Christina Ricci’s character Ellie is apparently tortured, but we only know this because of surrounding characters repeating that notion…instead of Christina acting like it.  But it’s not all her fault, Kevin gave no substance of torment for her to chew on.  Just because a surrounding character says so (like the adorable Judy Greer) doesn’t make it so.  The character has to represent it, especially if it’s going to be such an important characteristic.  Jake…well…other than being a scruffy, growling boyfriend, and a red herring, there’s not much to him.  Sure, he can be a little charming, but in an empty sort of way.  Portia DeRossi’s character, the Gypsy girl, is next to useless.  She has nothing to do with the film except tell people “beware of the beast.”  Portia was so bad in the role, I wished a werewolf would come along and just tear her apart.  Give her a really gruesome death.  Michael Rossenbaum, one of the younger actors today that I actually see talent in, seemed like he was just here for the money.  His wig looked pretty good, I’ll give him that, but I wish there was more for his character being there.  Though, how he treats the gypsy is pretty funny.  That was his high point.

The only character that really seemed at all believable was “leopard girl” (sorry, I don’t remember her character name).  She was a floozy, a flirt, and seemed really convincing in the part.  She prances around her scenes, like a beast in heat herself, and coyly flirts with Jake, and makes comments on how much of a catch he is.  Of course, we know she’s going to die…she was doing too good of a job.

The film is extremely fast, and seems to cut through it’s scenes without wanting to pay attention to them.  The editing is sloppy in most scenes, and doesn’t keep a good narrative flow with the rest of the picture.  But, it’s not all the editor’s fault the film’s flow is jerky.  Williamson doesn’t seem to pick up that the climax in Act 3 is suppose to be bigger than the climax in Act 2.  Not necessarily more action pack or anything, but eventful.  Everything after the end of Act 2 just falls apart, with very little werewolf moments (in a werewolf film, for god’s sake).  Jake’s big reveal, his plans, and his tauntings, become laughable on Ah-Nuld playing Mr. Freeze level. 

The CGI shows no signs of development since 1997.  For a few moments, I actually thought I was watching the ludicrous sequel An American Werewolf In Paris again.  Seriously, the werewolf transformations (which are supposed to be the big FX moments in these films) are bubbly, cartoony, and painful.  Painful in the sense that it wasn’t Rick Baker doing these scenes.  Painful in the sense that Wes was promising a big definitive werewolf film to be in the ranks of The Howling and An American Werewolf In London.  Painful in the sense that I just paid 7 bucks to watch this atrocity.

But wait, there is some good believe it or not.  I just wanted to get the bad out of the way. 

There is a sequence shortly after a big party, where Ellie meets THE Scott Baio, involving a parking garage.  This if the first real big werewolf moment, and “Leopard Girl” is all by herself.  Classic scenario, but Wes manages to squeeze the tension and suspense for what it’s worth.  There are plenty moments during this sequence to squirm at, plenty of moments to comment on how stupid this girl is, and plenty of glimpses of Rick Baker’s marvelously wicked Werewolf suit.  This suit looks like a more polished and sleeker version of Baker’s design from The Howling (for those who don’t know, it was Baker who actually design the FX for that film, Bottin, who was Baker’s understudy,  took over when Baker left for a certain other Landis film of the same sub genre).  The hair is thick and wiry, the teeth are gnarly, and just over all…the best werewolf suit we’ve seen on film.  The face of the beast doesn’t live up to Baker’s design for An American Werewolf In London, but having this full body suit work and function is breathtaking. 

One thing I enjoyed was that it went The Howling route, as in the Werewolves themselves actually control their own actions, know what they’re doing, and overall, are intelligent.  They know who they’re hunting, they aren’t snarling uncontrollable beasts that snap at anything.  Of course, a werewolf giving the finger is just a scene that should’ve been edited out because it was a moment that slipped far too into the slap stick genre, the idea that the werewolf could be expressive in human ways is a good change. 

The film also takes it’s own artistic liberties with the werewolf mythos, such as how silver effects them and how to kill them.  I don’t mind the werewolves dying by having their heads separated from their heart.  Decapitation is something used in some legends.  However, butting down silver into something that’s more of a nuisance is insulting.  Sorry, but silver, if having any real involvement in the film, is always fatal to these beasts.  They’re allergic.  Of course, it would have to be a mortal would in order to actually kill them, but silver to a werewolf is much more than garlic to a vampire. 

It does bring back the pentagram in the hand theme of the classic film The Wolfman (which we also see a very cute pentagram in the city lights from up on Mulholland Drive, I found myself snickering at that moment).  It obviously pays homage to the gypsy giving a warning, and it stays close to the roots of the Lunar lore of the beasts.  The fact that they can control when there is a full moon doesn’t make the characters seem so cursed, but more so gifted. 

In spite of shallow, underdeveloped characters, an uneven script, incredibly predictable, and some of the worst CGI usage in the modern cinema, the film does manage to squeak out some good scares, fab make-up by maestro Rick Baker, and introduces to us the adorably cute Brook (played by Kristian Anapau).  I know, I know.  Ricci is supposed to be the babe and all, but I caught myself stealing glances at this alluring gal.  Why she isn’t in any kind of despair over her boyfriend breaking up with her and telling her why (he’s gay) off camera in that same night Bo discovered he was gay is a mystery to me, but Kevin wanted a syrupy ending apparently.  And they delivered the syrupy ending.  It probably won’t wind up to be a classic in the genre, nor does it break any ground with it’s story and mythos, but the film still entertains with it’s scares and wicked Werewolf suit.

I give this film two and a half howls at the moon (B-)