The Cursed

In 19th-century France, a man arrives in a remote country village to investigate an attack by a wild animal. However, he soon discovers that there is a much deeper and far more sinister force at work that has the townspeople in its grip.

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but… if you crucify a guy, and then leave him to die as a scarecrow over the mass grave of his own people, a mass grave in which you buried his wife alive after she vowed to “poison your sleep until you call for the dark one,” and all because you just didn’t want any Romani people near your land? Well, if you’re looking to get yourself cursed, my friend, let me tell ya’… that is definitely one way to go about it.

And once you’ve done all that…

If your children then start having the same nightmares about scarecrows and witch women, to the point where they are eventually compelled to go out into the woods, to find the mass grave, and to dig it up, until they find a pair of weirdly sharply-fanged silver dentures, only to then start biting each other while wearing the dentures, which then starts to spread a strange disease throughout your town…?

Honestly, that’s all on you.

The weird disease in question is lycanthropy, because The Cursed is a werewolf film, and boy howdy, it’s a good one.

Set in the 18th Century French Countryside, the film follows the journey of a pathologist who arrives in town to investigate a series of strange animal attacks. The Pathologist is actually a Van Helsing of sorts, it turns out, chasing the same curse that claimed his wife and daughter, a curse which the reckless hate and ready cruelty of the wealthy landowning town elders have unintentionally unleashed on their small rural French hamlet.

Much like the fantastic Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001)—although, sadly, with much less Basque kung fu—there’s a lot of running through dark autumn woods here, with the thick mud and thicker mists, a lot of hurriedly reloading black powder rifles, all while a very large-sounding beast prowls just out in the darkness, growling, stalking the characters. It’s a visually striking film, and a scary and fun one too. The werewolf design is great, looking like a wolf crossed with sphinx cat, and the gore, ranging from bloody animal attacks to grasping angry tree roots and marshy bog deaths, is all satisfyingly wet and squelchy. There's some recognizable zombie film tropes that all go exactly like you would expect them too, as well as a nice metaphor for the dangers of Covid-19 denialism too, as the entitled locals often angrily refuse to accept that not only is there something dangerous out there that could definitely kill them, but even if they don't die from it, they can still spread the disease to others, and then that person could then go on to kill.

I always appreciate a well-made film with an added bit of “fuck you” messaging.

The Cursed doesn’t reinvent any wheels, but it does do exactly what a werewolf film should do, and it does it really well, with the added bonus of looking good while doing it. If you like horror films, then you should definitely check this out, and if you’re the type who only occasionally likes to indulge in a cinematic scare now and then, I recommend putting this one on.

Good stuff.