''Blood Curse'' (

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Port ...

: ''Coisa Ruim'') is a 2006 Portuguese supernatural

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apo ...

directed by

Tiago Guedes Tiago Guedes (born 20 June 1971) is a Portuguese film director and editor. Guedes' film credits include '' Entre os Dedos'', ''Blood Curse'' and '' Acordar''. His television credits include '' The Domain'', '' Odisseia'' and '' Os Boys''. Guede ...

and

Frederico Serra Frederico is a given name. It is a form of Frederick, most commonly found in Portuguese. Literature * Frederico Barbosa, Brazilian poet * Frederico Ghisliero, Italian fencer and soldier who wrote his text Regole di molte cavagliereschi esserciti ...

, which talks about demonic

possession Possession may refer to: Law *Dependent territory, an area of land over which another country exercises sovereignty, but which does not have the full right of participation in that country's governance *Drug possession, a crime *Ownership *Per ...

, exploring beliefs,

superstitions A superstition is any belief or practice considered by non-practitioners to be irrational or supernatural, attributed to fate or magic, perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown. It is commonly applied to beliefs a ...

skepticism Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the p ...

fears Fear is an intensely unpleasant emotion in response to perceiving or recognizing a danger or threat. Fear causes physiological changes that may produce behavioral reactions such as mounting an aggressive response or fleeing the threat. Fear in ...

and suspicions, in the context of a small

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

. It has been considered the first

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction **Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction ** Korean horror, Korean horror fiction *Horror film, a film genre *Horror comics, comic books focusing on ...

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

from Portugal.

Plot

Xavier Oliveira Monteiro (

Adriano Luz Adriano Manuel Vieira da Luz (born 9 April 1959) is a Portuguese actor. He has appeared in more than 90 films since 1987. Selected filmography References External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Luz, Adriano 1959 births Living people People ...

) is a botanical researcher and university professor in the same area. He lives with his wife, children and a baby grandson in an apartment in the center of Lisbon. One day, Xavier receives news of the death of his uncle, owner of a family manor in a village in the municipality of

Seia Seia () is a municipality in Guarda District in Portugal. The population in 2021 was 21,755, in an area of . Its urban population is about 7,000. Seia was elevated to city status on July 3, 1986. The municipality is situated on the northwestern sl ...

. Because he is the only legitimate heir, he becomes the owner of that same property. When he wanted to publish a study on the

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

of Beira Interior, he decided to move with his family to the same house. Upon arriving at the village, he becomes friends with the locals, who he perceives to be very superstitious and believers in matters related to the occult. At first Xavier tries to abstract himself from that kind of thoughts, but strange events with no logical explanation begin to occur to him, as well as to his family; hitting right with some local beliefs. For that very reason, Xavier then decides to go after the rural beliefs of his new land to find some explanation for what is happening to him. It is there that Vicente, a former village priest ( José Pinto) reveals to him something dark and macabre that happened in the past, and which gave rise to a terrible

curse A curse (also called an imprecation, malediction, execration, malison, anathema, or commination) is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to one or more persons, a place, or an object. In particular, ...

that plagues the village and which is directly related to Xavier and his family.

Cast

Reception

It won the 2006 Portuguese Golden Globe for Best Film.

References

External links

* 2006 horror films 2006 films Films directed by Tiago Guedes Films directed by Frederico Serra Films set in Portugal Portuguese horror films 2000s supernatural horror films Golden Globes (Portugal) winners 2000s Portuguese-language films {{2000s-horror-film-stub