Cursed (2005 film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cursed
Cursed poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byWes Craven
Written byKevin Williamson
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyRobert McLachlan
Edited by
Music byMarco Beltrami
Production
companies
Distributed by
  • Miramax Films (United States)
  • Buena Vista International (Germany)
Release date
  • February 25, 2005 (2005-02-25) (United States)
  • July 21, 2005 (2005-07-21) (Germany)
Running time
97 minutes[1]
99 minutes (unrated cut)
Countries
  • United States
  • Germany
LanguageEnglish
Budget$90-100 million[2][3][4]
Box office$29.6 million[3]

Cursed is a 2005 werewolf body horror film directed by Wes Craven and written by screenwriter Kevin Williamson, who both collaborated on Scream. The film stars Christina Ricci and Jesse Eisenberg as two estranged siblings attacked by a werewolf loose in Los Angeles.

Originally planned for 2003, the film is a notable example of development hell, taking over two more years to be made than originally planned, during which producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein kept asking for reshoots and changes to the plot, re-edited the movie to give a PG-13 rating rather than the original intended R-rating, and fired veteran makeup artist Rick Baker to replace the werewolves he had created with computer-generated ones.[5][6][7] The film was a box-office failure and was panned by critics; Craven himself was very displeased with the final result.[7][8]

Plot[]

On a seaside pier in Los Angeles, friends Jenny Tate and Becky Morton decide to get their fortune told by Zela. Zela foretells that they will suffer a horrible fate warning about a beast that feeds off the moon but they don't believe her. That same night, 16-year-old high-schooler Jimmy Myers is picked up on Mulholland Drive by his older sister Ellie, who has just returned from visiting her boyfriend, Jake Taylor. Jimmy had a run-in with some bullies and his crush, Brooke.

Driving home, Jimmy and Ellie collide with an animal and another car. They attempt to rescue the other driver, Becky, but an unseen creature slashes the siblings before it drags Becky off and rips her in half. When interviewed by police, despite Jimmy's belief that it was a wolf or dog-type animal, the official report credits it to a bear or cougar.

The next day at work, Ellie finds herself attracted to the scent of a coworkers blood, but she dismisses it. At a party, Jenny interrupts a conversation between Ellie and Jake. Annoyed that Jenny is flirting with Jake, Ellie leaves the party early. Soon after this Jenny heads down to the parking garage where she is chased and killed by a werewolf. Jimmy does research about wolves in California and starts to believe that the creature was a werewolf, sharing his thoughts with a disbelieving Ellie. To ease Jimmy's concerns, she touches a silver picture frame without getting burned.

Jimmy is becoming much stronger and more aggressive, as shown when a bully named Bo coerces him to join the wrestling team. He easily defeats three wrestlers, including Bo, and calls Bo out for constantly making gay jokes towards him, saying that Bo himself is repressing his own homosexuality.

Ellie starts to believe the werewolf hypothesis when she meets Zela. Zela warns about the effect the coming full moon will have and tells her that the only way to cure herself is to end the line of the werewolf who cursed her. Jimmy proves they have been cursed when he holds a silver cake server and gets burned, discovering that the picture frame Ellie touched earlier was only stainless steel. The siblings dog Zipper, who has become increasingly afraid of his owners, bites Jimmy, becoming infected with the curse, and goes on a rampage. Realizing what's happening, Jimmy goes to warn Ellie with Bo, who showed up at their house to confess that he is gay and has feelings for Jimmy. Bo is flatly rejected by Jimmy who believes the attraction to be his werewolf pheromones, but Bo still helps Jimmy.

Ellie has deduced that Jake is a werewolf and he confirms it. However, he reveals that he didn't attack her and Jimmy as he was born a werewolf and can control his transformations. When another werewolf attacks the two, Bo and Jimmy try to help, but Bo is knocked out. The werewolf turns back into Joanie, who was cursed after a one-night stand with Jake and committed all of the previous murders. She now wants to kill all potential rivals so Jake will be hers.

When Jake offers to let Joanie kill him to protect Ellie, she refuses as she knows killing him would break her curse. After knocking him out she turns into her werewolf form and starts attacking Ellie and Jimmy. The siblings fight her, and when the police arrive, the two draw her out by insulting her. The police open fire eventually killing her when policeman shoots her in the head. Bo is okay, but Jake has disappeared.

Jimmy and Ellie return to a wrecked home. As Jimmy works to restore the power, Jimmy and Ellie begin transforming. Jake arrives, revealing that as he causes Joanie's curse, the only way to cure Ellie is to kill him. He want to be with her but also kill Jimmy so only he is the alpha male. She and Jake fight, but he dominates the fight. Werewolf Jimmy joins in, climbing across the ceiling and biting Jake, allowing Ellie to stab and badly injure Jake with the silver cake server. Ellie decapitates Jake with a shovel and breaks the curse on the two siblings (and Zipper). They watch as Jake's body bursts into flames.

Bo, Brooke, and Zipper arrive at the house. Bo and Jimmy are now friends; Jimmy kisses Brooke and walks her home along with Bo. Ellie is stuck with the clean-up of the messy house.

Cast[]

Production[]

The original script was written in August 2000. Dimension co-founder Bob Weinstein announced in October 2002 that Cursed would "reinvent the werewolf genre," and Wes Craven would direct, with the movie being released around August 2003.

Christina Ricci, Skeet Ulrich, and Jesse Eisenberg were cast as the three leads. The original plotline had three strangers brought together by a car accident in the Hollywood Hills and the subsequent attack of a werewolf. The three characters were named Ellie Hudson, Vince Winston, and Jimmy Myers. With a budget of $38 million, Cursed commenced shooting in March 2003 in Los Angeles. The set used for the high school is Torrance High School, the same used for Sunnydale High on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and West Beverly High on Beverly Hills, 90210 and its spin-off 90210. Filming also occurred at Verdugo Hills High School.[9] Special effects were shot in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

However, the film soon suffered numerous production and script issues and was postponed for over a year. While production was stalled, several cast members had to be replaced due to scheduling conflicts with other films. When the film was rewritten and reshot, many cast members had been cut entirely, including Skeet Ulrich, Mandy Moore, Omar Epps, Illeana Douglas, Heather Langenkamp, Scott Foley, Robert Forster, and Corey Feldman. Some of them had even filmed scenes which were scrapped by director Wes Craven. In the film, Ellie works among the crew of The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn, with Kilborn making a cameo appearance and Scott Baio, as himself, being booked to appear on the show. But by the time the film was released in February 2005, Kilborn had left the show and had been replaced with Craig Ferguson.

Only about 90% of the original version was filmed, leaving the original ending unfilmed. Although, while filming the original version, producer Bob Weinstein told Wes Craven he was happy with the film, he later changed his opinion and ordered for the movie to be reshot with a new plot. After massive reshoots which included filming a new ending, Weinstein told Craven he didn't like the new ending, leading to another ending where Jake attacks Ellie and Jimmy in their home, despite some incoherence with the rest of the film.[5]

Rick Baker did the werewolf effects for the original version of the film, but once Bob Weinstein and Miramax ordered reshoots, all the scenes with Baker's effects were deleted and replaced by KNB.[6]

In the fall of 2004, Dimension cut the film to a PG-13 rating instead of the planned R rating. Speaking to the New York Post, Craven commented, "The contract called for us to make an R-rated film. We did. It was a very difficult process. Then it was basically taken away from us and cut to PG-13 and ruined. It was two years of very difficult work and almost 100 days of shooting of various versions. Then at the very end, it was chopped up and the studio thought they could make more with a PG-13 movie, and trashed it ... I thought it was completely disrespectful, and it hurt them too, and it was like they shot themselves in the foot with a shotgun."[7]

Jenny's death scene in the elevator was originally much gorier, her dead body shown with her belly ripped apart, although not even the R-rated DVD version included this scene. A picture of her mutilated body was, however, shown in a Fangoria article published before the film's release covering the infamously troubled production.[10]

In 2008, Craven was quoted saying, "... the Cursed experience was so screwed up. I mean, that went on for two-and-a-half years of my life for a film that wasn't anything close to what it should have been. And another film that I was about to shoot having the plug pulled – Pulse – so it was like, I did learn from the Cursed experience not to do something for money. They said, 'We know you want to do another film, we'll pay you double.' And we were 10 days from shooting, and I said fine. But I ended up working two-and-a-half years for double my fee, but I could have done two-and-a-half movies, and done movies that were out there making money. In general, I think it's not worth it and part of the reason my phone hasn't rung is that that story is pretty well known."[7][8]

In 2014, Judy Greer spoke of the film in an interview: "I don't know why that movie got so fucked up. I don't understand it. I thought the script was fine. Honest to god, I didn't get the big deal. I don't know who kept making them fuck with it. Then we shot the movie for, like, seven years. I think they said we had four movies worth of footage. It was so fun, but so weird. I don't get it. I couldn't figure it out."[11]

In 2018, Christina Ricci also spoke briefly about the film in an interview: "It was one of those studio movies that just got horribly screwed up."[12]

In 2019, Jesse Eisenberg also give his thoughts about the troubled production and the film: "The first movie was more interesting and provocative. I don’t know why it wasn’t working. Now that we know the behind-the-scenes of the Weinstein company, it makes sense as to why it was so chaotic." About the troubled production he said: "They filmed 90% of the bigger budget version…the first movie was this very splashy thing. The second version was definitely cutting corners in a lot of different ways. And the plot? I thought it was so stupid. I thought the plot was so cliché. They made us brother and sister? The things that they kept [from the original film] were little snippets. Like a car rolling down a hill. They kept that shot."

Eisenberg also talks about the reshoots: "The crazy part is that after we filmed the whole second version of the film, we had to go back for a third re-shoot which lasted about 20 days. That's like the length of an independent movie. And then we had to go back a fourth time for like 10 days and they made shirts that said Cursed 4: Back for More." In that interview, Eisenberg also stated that the film's budget had skyrocketed to over $75 million, as opposed to the previously reported $38 million.[13][14]

In a 2021 Youtube interview, editor Patrick Lussier, a frequent collaborator of Craven, talked about the troubled production of Cursed. Lussier reiterated that Craven was planning to remake the 2001 Japanese horror film Pulse, which was already written, and had a crew assembled. The film was about eight weeks from production when Bob Weinstein pulled the project from the schedule and pushed Craven to make Cursed instead. Craven deemed the script too similar to his film Vampire in Brooklyn, but felt pressured by the studio, leading him to ultimately sign on. Lussier had just finished working on re-shoots of Darkness Falls when he was brought in to work on Cursed, which was nearing the end of its almost two month long production. Only six days were left to shoot the ending and the final battle with Joanie and Scott Baio. Baio, who only has a cameo in the finished film, was originally Joanie's werewolf prodigy. This finale never happened due to the Weinsteins halting production. Lussier was supposed to work on the film for only six weeks, but ended up working on it for 19 months. Initial reshoots lasted for about 40 days, the second lasted 20 days, the third round lasted for 10 days, and ultimately all the reshoots ended up costing more than the first two Scream films put together. John C. McGinley also took part in the initial production as Jimmy's dad, but was ultimately removed. Joshua Jackson's character, Jake, was inserted during reshoots, and Mandy Moore was replaced by Mýa.

According to Lussier, the unfinished original version of the film ran about 90 minutes long, and the only thing it was missing, besides the ending, was the score and all the visual effects like Zipper the dog turning into a werewolf. From those 90 minutes, the final film only has about 12 minutes from the original version left in, consisting mostly of scenes with Jimmy and his school friends.

The ending from the first set of reshoots was much more emotional and tragic, which featured Jackson's character begging Ellie to kill him to end the curse. An article about the film in Fangoria #241 included pictures of a head prop for Jake's original death scene. From all versions of the film which were test screened to audiences (excluding the original version, which was never test screened), this one scored the highest, but the Weinsteins were dissatisfied with it and demanded a new one. The final film depicts Jake as the main villain. The initial VFX team was overwhelmed with the new material, as well as other projects, leading the studio to outsource to numerous other VFX teams to finish all the effects. Lussier added that the final budget for the film was close to $90-100 million.[15][16]

Soundtrack[]

Music from and Inspired by Cursed
Compilation album by
various artists
ReleasedFebruary 25, 2005
Genre
Length70:44
Label
  • Silva Screen
  • Treadstone
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic2/5 stars[17]
No.TitleArtistLength
1."Li'l Red Riding Hood"Bowling for Soup2:30
2."Better Now"Collective Soul3:10
3."Are You Ready"Three Days Grace2:46
4."You'll Never Catch Me"Steve Harwell3:20
5."Stadium Parking Lot"Apollo 4403:51
6."Fine Without You" (Carmen Rizzo/Jed Smith Indian Summer Remix)Alkaline Trio4:52
7."Spirits" (featuring Saffron)Junkie XL4:40
8."This Is a Forgery"Dashboard Confessional3:37
9."Still Need Your Love"Reno3:26
10."If You Don't Jump (You Are English)"GusGus4:59
11."Bound Too Long" (Hyper Remix)The Crystal Method4:59
12."Freaks Come Out at Night" (Carmen Rizzo "Nocturnal" Remix)Whodini4:29
13."Sick"Seven Wiser3:06
14."Let Me Out"MBD3:42
15."On the Edge of the World"Balligomingo3:23
16."Cursed Suite"Marco Beltrami5:35
17."After All" (featuring Jaël)Delerium4:51
18."Silent Engagement"Q South3:28
Total length:70:44

Release[]

When released on DVD in the US on June 21, 2005, two versions were available: the original theatrical version (rated PG-13; 97 min.), and also an unrated version (99 min.) which contains the footage cut to obtain a PG-13 rating and runs approximately 2 minutes longer than the original release. The film received its Blu-ray release on September 11, 2012, in a double feature with another Wes Craven film, They (2002). The disc only contains the theatrical cut.[18]

In Canada, Alliance Atlantis released the unrated (marketed as "Uncensored") version only on DVD (as opposed to Dimension Home Video in the US) and the DVD cover was changed to match the original theatrical poster.

Reception[]

Critical reception[]

The film was largely panned by critics, audiences, and Craven alike. It currently has a 17% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 96 reviews, with an average score of 3.47/10. The site consensus reads: "A predictable plot and cheesy special effects make Cursed a less-than-scary experience."[19] Metacritic reports a score of 31/100 based on 21 critics, indicating "Generally unfavorable reviews".[20]

The San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "Cursed is a third-rate effort, with a weak script, cheap-looking effects and no genuine frights."[21] Film Threat stated, "Not that it doesn't make movie history. Until this past Friday, the worst werewolf film ever made was, hairy hands down, Mike Nichols' Wolf. Cursed now assumes that dubious distinction and someone is going to have to try very hard to wrestle it away."[22]

Rafe Telsch of Cinema Blend, granting the movie 2 out of 5 stars, felt that "Cursed isn't a bad film, and actually takes a unique approach to modern day genre movies by styling itself as an older one... The film is a fun little romp in the werewolf world, although Cursed never really sets any rules for the creatures themselves, leaving itself open to keep cute faces like Ricci's uncovered by makeup, but leaving the audience unsatisfied that there aren't really many werewolves in this werewolf movie."[23]

Box office[]

Cursed opened theatrically on February 25, 2005, grossing $19,297,522 at the North American box office and $10,324,200 internationally for a total worldwide gross of $29,621,722 against a budget upwards of $90 million, making the film a box office bomb.

#ReleaseTheCravenCut campaign[]

On October 30, 2018, former Dimension COO Cary Blanat revealed in an interview with Bloody Disgusting that the original footage still exists, which inspired Twitter users and the Sight & Sound podcast[24] calling for Craven's cut using the hashtag #ReleaseTheCravenCut, with Bloody Disgusting and Youtuber Cody Leach calling it the most anticipated horror movie director's cut.[25][26][27][28]

Editor Patrick Lussier commented on the movement in July 2021, stating that a release of the original cut of the film was very unlikely due to the ending never being shot, and also due to a lack of popularity, as opposed to a film like Zack Snyder's Justice League. Lussier claimed he had no idea who owned the rights to the film due to various Miramax properties reverting to other companies, leaving any future of an alternate cut in doubt.[29]

References[]

  1. ^ "CURSED (15)". British Board of Film Classification. March 7, 2005. Retrieved July 25, 2013.
  2. ^ Pizowell (July 14, 2021). Patrick Lussier on Cursed (2005) - The Disastrous Production, The Many Cuts & Will We Ever See Them. Retrieved July 19, 2021 – via Youtube.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Cursed at Box Office Mojo
  4. ^ Thurman, Trace (October 16, 2019). "[Interview] Jesse Eisenberg Recalls the Troubled Production of Wes Craven's Cursed". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b "Wes Craven Talks YEAH! and His Untold Stories". CraveOnline. March 18, 2013. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b "Rick Baker's "Judy Greer Werewolf" From Wes Craven's 'Cursed'". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Valdez, Joe (January 10, 2009). "A Silver Bullet In the Foot". This Distracted Globe. Archived from the original on March 3, 2017. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b Capone (March 1, 2009). "Wes Craven talks to Capone about 25/8, remakes, and the 'Cursed' experience of revisting old franchises!!". Ain't It Cool News. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  9. ^ "VHHS On Location! Feature Films". Lausd.k12.ca.us. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  10. ^ "Photo by marcobeltrami". Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved September 2, 2017 – via Photobucket.
  11. ^ Wieselman, Jarett (April 23, 2014). "How Judy Greer Became Hollywood's Most In-Demand Best Friend". BuzzFeed. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  12. ^ Harris, Will (June 28, 2018). "Christina Ricci on Sleeping Over at Cher's and the Importance of Being Wednesday". AV Club. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  13. ^ Thurman, Trace (October 16, 2019). "[Interview] Jesse Eisenberg Recalls the Troubled Production of Wes Craven's Cursed". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
  14. ^ Flowers, Maisey (January 7, 2021). "Cursed: Wes Craven's Original Plan Was The Best Werewolf Movie Never Made". ScreenRant. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
  15. ^ Pizowell (July 14, 2021). Patrick Lussier on Cursed (2005) - The Disastrous Production, The Many Cuts & Will We Ever See Them. Retrieved July 19, 2021 – via Youtube.
  16. ^ "Fangoria Exclusive Interview: Cursed Controversy - Wes Craven Tells All". Fangoria. March 2005. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
  17. ^ Loftus, Johnny. "Review of Cursed - Original Soundtrack". AllMusic. All Media Guide. Retrieved October 16, 2016.
  18. ^ https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/They-and-Cursed-Blu-ray/49078/
  19. ^ "Cursed (2005)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  20. ^ "Cursed Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  21. ^ "Craven 'Cursed' by predictability in werewolf tale". Sfgate.com. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  22. ^ "Reviews". Filmthreat.com. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  23. ^ Telsch, Rafe. "Cursed". Cinema Blend. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  24. ^ "Wes Craven's 'Cursed'". Spotify. October 18, 2018. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
  25. ^ Topel, Fred (October 30, 2018). "Former Dimension Exec Says the First Cut of Wes Craven's 'Cursed' Still Exists and Should Be Released [Exclusive]". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  26. ^ Navarro, Meagan (May 27, 2020). "Release the Craven Cut: We're Still Waiting on the Director's Cuts of These 9 Horror Movies". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
  27. ^ "#releasethecravencut". Twitter. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  28. ^ Leach, Cody (April 11, 2021). "Top 5 Movies That NEED A Directors Cut (Horror/Sci-fi Edition)". Retrieved May 24, 2021 – via YouTube.
  29. ^ Pizowell (July 14, 2021). Patrick Lussier on Cursed (2005) - The Disastrous Production, The Many Cuts & Will We Ever See Them. Retrieved July 19, 2021 – via Youtube.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""