The Cursed (2010)

Really Surprised!

Powerful

Good movie but grossly overrated

Best movie ever!

THE CURSED is a very low budget, straight-to-video local horror production from America. It was filmed in Tennessee and is notable for featuring real-life siblings Costas and Louis Mandylor who also play siblings in the movie. Costas Mandylor is of course well known for his prominent role in the SAW sequels. In this film they're sheriffs looking into a rural mystery involving supernatural horror. The film is slow and occasionally atmospheric, but the demonic storyline doesn't really convince and the supernatural scenes are quite laughably over the top.

Although "The Cursed" was shot in 2007 it wasn't released until early 2010 on Syfy.THE PLOT: A writer (Brad Thornton) comes to a small Tennessee town to complete a book and strange things start happening – animals and people mysteriously disappear or are slaughtered. He hooks up with a good-looking librarian (Francesca Cecil) and they trace the problem to a satanic curse from the post-Civil War era. Meanwhile the sheriff (Louis Mandylor) is at his wits end trying to figure out what's going on and increasingly suspects the writer's involvement.Although this is a low-budget, independent film it's considerably better than Syfy's usual fare, e.g. "Gatorade vs. Mega-Cleavage." How so? For one, it maintains a serious vibe, which is important in an age when most mystery/horror films belong in the comedy section. Secondly, the film creates a mysterious ambiance throughout, akin to "The Fog" but with a Stephen King plot minus the cartoony characters.Speaking of the atmosphere, I really liked how you can hear the distinctive Eastern forest sounds, like the crickets and peepers, etc. I realize it's odd to point this out but the movie did this better than any that I can remember. The film was shot in McMinnville, Tennessee, by the way (and it's nice to see a film of this ilk shot somewhere other than Bulgaria, Romania or British Columbia).Another positive is the monster's appearance, particularly when it opens its mouth (when it's closed it doesn't look very impressive).Negatives include too much obvious dubbing and plot elements that simply don't make sense (why would the killer of the demon become the monster? And how would the old black guy know this with any certainty?); in addition, I disapprove of two important people biting the dust and the very end is lame.FINAL WORD: Although it's nothing to get overly excited about, "The Cursed" is effective for a TV horror film. The filmmakers and actors take the material seriously and the film evokes a cool creepy atmosphere, but the negatives cited above force me to give it a fairly mediocre rating or "almost good".GRADE: C+.

This movie starts out interesting when the little girl is looking for her cat and wanders into the woods, something you'd think her mother would have warned her against. When the mom finds only her hand you think this is going to be a bad ass movie! Sweet! Then it takes a U-turn and gets slow like a typical bad horror film. A mysterious stranger comes to town and animals and people start dying off. The sheriff tells him we don't want "no trouble"-which of course is what they get! And it's all the stranger's fault, even though the town has a history of disappearances and bizarre things. This movie has so many clichés that you and your partner can take turns saying them! Like the sexy, young librarian that doesn't exist in real life! The mysterious stranger just happens to be writing a book about murders in the south and comes into the library. She gives him a book with all the history that she has just for that occasion! As he reads, he begins to figure out what has alluded the towns people for hundreds of years! Really??! His friend happens to have a rifle that shoots at "mock 20" (WTF is that?) And we all know that the creature is sooo fast a regular gun just won't do... When the sheriff and his wife are murdered, the sheriff duties fall to his younger brother. The townsfolk don't trust his abilities and want to form a vigilante group. He doesn't believe this is a good idea-if nothing else to prove he isn't 100% redneck, but only 85%. And we all know he has a "murder investigation to attend to!" We find that the mysterious stranger and the creature are related. His ancestor turned to the dark side when all his slaves were freed. Well, he was old and pathetic and Satan was bored, so he turned him into the "creature" who after hundreds of years wants "released" and has been "waiting" for the stranger, which is kinda like his salvation or something. The ending is even worse. You don't know who shot who and you don't really care.

After losing his job and his girlfriend Denny travels to Tennesee to spend some time with a friend and do some research on some of it's history; specifically matters concerning unsolved murders of people and animals. Shortly after his arrival, more murders of people and animals occur. The sheriff is suspicious of him (never mind that the town has had a history long before Denny showed up) but at this point it's only an "interesting coincidence". More stuff happens, and it turns out that all of it is connected to an ancestor of Denny's, Charles Dellington, who was a former slave owner in Tennessee. Seems that after the slaves were liberated old man Dellington couldn't get anyone to work for him because of his bad reputation. So he tried to work the land himself, but that failed. He tried raising cattle; that too failed. He prayed to God for help, but it seems God was busy, or something. Desperate, Dellington tried "the other guy" (yeah, the Devil). He draws a large pentagram, strips down to his underwear, and lies down at it's center and offers the devil his soul. This is some old guy, folks, so we know the Devil couldn't have been too pleased with that maneuver. He cursed the poor bastard.In my mind this is at best a 4 star movie. The acting could have been a little better on the part of some of the cast members. And the story (as usually is the case) could have been more imaginative though I did like the form the ghost took. There's also some very bad "old man" make-up in here so the make-up artist should go back to school. Lastly, I never really understood the reason for all the killings; animals, people, WTF?!!! If you see the movie let me know. Love, Boloxxxi.