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CURSED

With Christina Ricci, Joshua Jackson, Jesse Eisenberg, Shannon Elizabeth, Mya
Directed by Wes Craven

Written (and re-written) by Kevin Williamson, the producers of this disappointment thought the pairing of the scribe with Craven (as in the case of the cheesy but successful Scream series) would pay off in spades. Instead of breathing new life into the werewolf genre, this snoozer deals a bit of a blow by making it seem like a bigger budgeted, more drawn out episode of Buffy (also starring one of the Dawson's Creek clan). A brother and sister get nicked by a beast and slowly become affected by a werewolf-like affliction, affecting their already not-so-perfect worlds. American Werewolf In London beast creator Rick Baker is credited for designing the wolfman/woman look, but with the postponed production and re-shooting he left the project. On top of this the overused digitally created imagery not only distances the viewer from the story and action, but is absolutely unconvincing. Those who grew up with CGI will probably feel differently to us old-school FX purists, but Baker's physical transformation FX in American Werewolf is still incredible and far more believable than the new techniques. Ricci is cute, but it is not enough. As referred to earlier, if this was a TV episode it would be far more enjoyable. Complete with cheap scares, this is not what we expected from the man who gave us Hills Have Eyes and Nightmare On Elm Street, but is still a damn site more watchable than yet another lame assed comedy with cheap laughs (although some really crappy humour gets injected by Craven writing colleague Williamson).

2 / C
- PB

1 2 3 4 5 6
A - B - C

PS. If you know your movie posters, the alternate poster below is a good blend of (Craven's own) Scream and The Howling (Joe Dante's 1981 werewolf romp).


never let a review decide for you, but for those who need a rating, see the Flamedrop scale below
6 - Volcanic
5 - Blistering
4 - Hot
3 - Smolder
2 - Room Temperature
1 - Fizzled
0 - Extinguished

A: Multi-Viewing Potential

B: Could Enjoy A 2nd Look

C: Once Should Suffice




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