Cursed is one of the biggest “what ifs?” in Wes Craven’s catalogue. Studio meddling from Harvey and Bob Weinstein delayed the film by more than 2 years, as they demanded plot changes, practical effects from Rick Baker be changed to CGI, and re-edited it to change it from an R rating to a PG-13 rating. The 97-minute film we saw in theaters was a shell of the movie Wes intended to make and not only did it tank at the box office, but it received some of the worst reviews of his career. When released on DVD, they sold both versions, with the R rated version clocking in at 99 minutes. Somewhere out there is footage that he had filmed, dubbed “The Craven Cut” by fans, that is unlikely to ever be released due to rights issues and because Wes shot everything but the ending, which could be a rather big problem.
Synopsis:
A werewolf loose in Los Angeles changes the lives of three young adults who, after being mauled by the beast, learn they must kill it in order to avoid becoming werewolves themselves.
IMDb: 5.0
Rotten Tomatoes: 15%
Tagline: What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
Production was troubled from the get-go, with a script by Kevin Williamson written in 2000 and mounting pressure from the studio on Wes to direct despite the fact that he felt tonally, it was too similar to another film he did, Vampire in Brooklyn. Rick Baker originally said no to the project due to the fact that he had little time to prepare, but reluctantly agreed to do the practical effects with the caveat that there be no studio interference.
Jesse Eisenberg (Zombieland) and Christina Ricci (Addams Family) were cast as the leads, playing brother and sister Jimmy and Ellie. A young Milo Ventimiglia and his crooked lip star as Bo. Scott Foley, James Brolin, Mandy Moore, Illeana Douglas, Skeet Ulrich, Robert Forster, Corey Feldman, Omar Epps, Heather Langenkamp and John C. McGinley, all were cast in roles, but after the studio retooled the film, either they were replaced, cut, or just left the production. Several scenes were shot including some of these actors, but unlikely to see the light of day. Joshua Jackson (Dawson’s Creek), Michael Rosenbaum (Smallville), R&B singer Mya, and Portia de Rossi (Ally McBeal) either replaced some of these actors, or were new characters added to the film.
54 of the planned 60 days in to shooting the movie, and Miramax pulled the plug, stating executives were unhappy with the effects, and the unfinished the ending. After going back to the drawing board, they decided to only use 12 of the nearly 90 minutes worth of footage they had shot. After the second version was completed, they went back and shot a third version, nearly 20 days of extensive filming. Then, still unhappy, they went back and shot another 10 days, effectively making a fourth version of the film. The editor, Patrick Lussier, was supposed to only work for 6 weeks, but stayed on for nearly 19 months to work on finishing the film and its multiple versions.
The film is very much one of those late 90s teen talky films with the timely soundtrack featuring the hot trendy bands of the moment. Everyone is young, beautiful, and quick witted, seemingly all having walked off the set of whatever popular WB show was on at the moment. It’s totally Scream with werewolves.
Being a fan of Joshua Jackson, I could tell early on that he was evil, just from his splotchy trendy beard. It was supposed to distance him from his role as Pacey and make him seem more edgy and dangerous, perhaps going too far and revealing him as the source of the curse.
It’s so odd seeing Michael Rosenbaum not being bald. It’s also odd seeing Scott Baio, randomly 20 years after his popularity died, hitting on Christina Ricci in some kind of weird pedo moment.
For as many good scenes, there are plenty bad ones. This includes Jimmy playing tic tac toe on his hand and coming up with a pentagram. When Jimmy howls and scares away the dogs is cringy. The Portia de Rossi character is shoehorned in the movie and it’s painfully obvious. The less said about the wrestling scene with Bo and Jimmy and the other dudes, the better. I’ve never seen a hurricanrana or a delayed vertical suplex in a wrestling match. There are constant insults alluding to Jimmy being gay, real or not, which is tacky, even by 2005 standards, and then the reveal with the other character is seen coming a mile away. And I swear to God, Jimmy’s hair gets darker and becomes a wig about 45 minutes into the film. Then there’s that werewolf transformation at the end……
It is competently MADE, which is to be expected, but there is nothing that would suggest it’s a competent MOVIE. Because it’s not.
