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''The Cursed'' is a 2021 gothic
horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...
written, directed and co-produced by
Sean Ellis Sean Ellis (born 1970) is a British film director, writer, producer and fashion photographer. He is best known for his films '' Cashback'' (2004), '' The Broken'' (2008), the Tagalog-language film ''Metro Manila'' (2013), and '' Anthropoid'' ( ...
. The film stars Boyd Holbrook,
Kelly Reilly Jessica Kelly Siobhán Reilly (born 18 July 1977) is an English actress. She first appeared on screen in 1995 on the series ''The Biz (TV series), The Biz''. Her other television work includes starring roles in the British crime drama ''Above S ...
,
Alistair Petrie Alistair Petrie (born 30 September 1970) is a British actor. He has starred in '' The Bank Job'' (2008), ''Cloud Atlas'' (2012), '' Rush'' (2013) and '' Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'' (2016). Petrie has also starred in the Channel 4 television s ...
, and Roxane Duran. Its plot follows a 19th-century village in rural France that is menaced by a
werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (from Ancient Greek ), is an individual who can shapeshifting, shapeshift into a wolf, or especially in modern film, a Shapeshifting, therianthropic Hybrid beasts in folklore, hybrid wol ...
. An international co-production of the United States and France, ''The Cursed'' premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival under the title ''Eight for Silver''. It was released in the US on February 18, 2022, by
LD Entertainment LD Entertainment, LLC (formerly known as Liddell Entertainment) is an independent American film studio and sales company, founded in 2007 by Mickey Liddell. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, California and run by Liddell, who formerly ...
. It received generally positive reviews from critics.


Plot

During the
Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme (; ), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and the French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 Nove ...
(1916), a wounded French captain is brought into a medical tent with three bullet wounds to his abdomen. During surgery, an army surgeon discovers and removes an additional fourth bullet made of silver and not of German design. In c. 1881 (35 years before the battle), in rural France, brutal
land baron A landlord is the owner of property such as a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate that is rented or leased to an individual or business, known as a tenant (also called a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). The term landlord applies ...
Seamus Laurent leads a slaughter of a
Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnic groups * Romani people, or Roma, an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin ** Romani language, an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities ** Romanichal, Romani subgroup in the United Kingdom * Romanians (Romanian ...
clan who have settled upon his land and made a disputed claim to it. Having foreseen their impending danger, the elderly Romani leader cast a set of silver dentures in the form of a wolf's fangs for their protection. After the slaughter, the clan leader and a male Romani are captured, the latter being
dismembered Dismemberment is the act of completely disconnecting and/or removing the limbs, skin, and/or organs from a living or dead being. It has been practiced upon human beings as a form of capital punishment, especially in connection with regicid ...
and erected as a
scarecrow A scarecrow is a decoy or mannequin that is often in the shape of a human. Humanoid scarecrows are usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops. ...
to serve as a warning to other Romani, whilst the Romani leader is buried alive with the silver fangs clutched in her grasp. Soon after, the townspeople, including Seamus' children Edward and Charlotte, are plagued by nightmares of the scarecrow and the silver fangs. While playing one day, farm boy Timmy reveals to the other children he knows the location of the scarecrow. Upon arriving at the scarecrow and having sworn the others to secrecy, Timmy is overcome with the urge to dig up the silver fangs. Edward attempts to stop him, but Timmy becomes possessed and places the fangs in his mouth, subsequently biting Edward's throat as the other children flee in terror. Seamus quickly recovers the wounded Edward whilst Timmy is nowhere to be found. A doctor concludes that Edward was attacked by a wild animal, as Edward grows ill. After Charlotte awakes to Edward's screams during the night and finds him ensnared by
wood Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...
-like
vine A vine is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas, or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselves, for instance, when used in wicker work.Jackson; Benjamin; Da ...
s emerging from his body, Edward disappears into the night. Charlotte goes to the local
church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...
to pray and encounters Timmy, who claims he has no memory of what happened after donning the fangs. When Charlotte asks Timmy what he did with the silver fangs, he reveals he hid them in the church. When Charlotte's maid Anais discovers them, Timmy flees. As Timmy runs into the forest, he is pursued by an unseen beast into an abandoned shack where he is soon slaughtered. Widowed
pathologist Pathology is the study of disease. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatme ...
John McBride visits the town, seeking information on the traveling Roma. He accompanies police lieutenant Alfred Molière, who has been called by Seamus to find Edward. Meeting with Seamus, the pair find Timmy's mauled body. Molière, believing Edward's disappearance means he has likely been killed, departs, but John offers to stay to assist Seamus. That night, Seamus' manor is visited by a strange wolf-like beast that unsuccessfully tries to gain entry. The next day, three townspeople are attacked by the beast. Two are killed but the third, Anne-Marie, is critically maimed and manages to return to the town. Upon hearing Anne-Marie survived her attack but was bitten, John rapidly heads to the town, but is too late to prevent an already transforming Anne-Marie from escaping. Luring the Anne-Marie beast, John manages to trap and kill the creature, bringing the corpse to Seamus and performing an autopsy. Cutting open the creature reveals Anne-Marie, screaming in a murderous rage. John insists that she cannot be saved and orders a villager to shoot and kill her. John explains that the infection causes a victim to become one of the creatures, with Seamus realising that Edward has suffered the same fate. John reveals to Seamus' wife Isabelle that his wife and daughter were killed by a similar beast - he was investigating the Romani as they pronounced the "curse" on the land had been fulfilled. Isabelle also reveals that Seamus was the orchestrator of the Romani massacre and so is the target of the curse, along with his kin. Charlotte informs John of the silver fangs' location, which he melts down into four silver bullets. The first beast attacks and bites Seamus' maid Anais, but withdraws as Seamus returns from a failed hunting party. Anais bandages and hides her wounds. John notices evidence of Anais' attack but falls into an argument with Seamus about his actions before he can pursue the maid. Seamus investigates a noise coming from Anais' room and is ambushed by a transformed Anais, knocking his candlestick over and setting the manor ablaze. Seamus successfully kills the Anais creature but not before he is bitten. Knowing that he is doomed to transform and attack his family, Seamus immolates himself in front of John. Retrieving Charlotte and Isabelle, John leads them to the church where the other townspeople have taken shelter from the attacks. During the night after everyone has fallen asleep, Isabelle goes to pray and hears Edward's voice calling to her from outside the barricaded church doors. A grief-stricken Isabelle lifts the barricade, letting the rampaging beast into the church where it proceeds to massacre the townspeople. John attempts to shoot the beast with a silver bullet, but Isabelle intentionally stands between his aim and the beast, calling out to the transformed Edward. As the raging beast mauls her, John has no other choice but to shoot through Isabelle into the beast. Both fall to the floor, and as Isabelle dies, Edward reverts to his human form. Isabelle dies embracing her weeping, reanimated human son. With both their parents dead and their manor destroyed, John takes care of Edward and Charlotte, who returns to John the three remaining silver bullets from the attack in the church. It is revealed that the mortally wounded French captain is the adult Edward, having had the silver bullet lodged inside him ever since he was shot as a creature/child in the church. With the silver bullet removed, Edward dies on the operating table. Some time later, an adult Charlotte visits an elderly bed-ridden John, returning the fourth silver bullet.


Cast

* Boyd Holbrook as John McBride *
Kelly Reilly Jessica Kelly Siobhán Reilly (born 18 July 1977) is an English actress. She first appeared on screen in 1995 on the series ''The Biz (TV series), The Biz''. Her other television work includes starring roles in the British crime drama ''Above S ...
as Isabelle Laurent *
Alistair Petrie Alistair Petrie (born 30 September 1970) is a British actor. He has starred in '' The Bank Job'' (2008), ''Cloud Atlas'' (2012), '' Rush'' (2013) and '' Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'' (2016). Petrie has also starred in the Channel 4 television s ...
as Seamus Laurent * Roxane Duran as Anais * Nigel Betts as Alfred Molière * Áine Rose Daly as Anne-Marie * Amelia Crouch as Charlotte


Production

The film was shot in the
Charente Charente (; Saintongese: ''Chérente''; ) is a department in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. It is named after the river Charente, the most important and longest river in the department, and also the r ...
region of western France. It was filmed on 35mm with anamorphic lenses. In an interview with ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'', director Sean Ellis stated, "We tried to do as much of it in camera as possible, because I always think it looks better.” Ellis has said that the film is a spin on the classic
werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (from Ancient Greek ), is an individual who can shapeshifting, shapeshift into a wolf, or especially in modern film, a Shapeshifting, therianthropic Hybrid beasts in folklore, hybrid wol ...
mythos, standing as a metaphor for addiction in modern-day society, and that it "infused a new approach for the mythology of it all because you’re not changing into something, you’re actually becoming a prisoner of it".


Release

The film had its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival on January 30, 2021 and was released in the United States on February 18, 2022. The film was digitally released on March 15, 2022, followed by a
Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
and
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
release on May 10, 2022.


Reception


Box office

In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside ''
Uncharted ''Uncharted'' is an action-adventure video game series and media franchise published by Sony Interactive Entertainment and developed by Naughty Dog. Created by Amy Hennig, the ''Uncharted'' franchise follows a group of treasure hunters who trav ...
'' and ''
Dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. ...
'' during the
Presidents' Day Presidents' Day, officially Washington's Birthday at the federal governmental level, is a holiday in the United States celebrated on the third Monday of February. It is often celebrated to honor all those who served as presidents of the United S ...
four-day holiday. ''The Cursed'' earned $1.8 million in its first three days and $2 million in its first four days, finishing ninth at the box office. The film dropped out of the box office top ten in its second weekend with $1.1 million.


Critical response

Audiences polled by
PostTrak PostTrak is a U.S.-based service that surveys film audiences for film studios. History The service conducts surveys in the top 20 markets in the U.S. and Canada with the use of polling cards and electronic kiosks. A PostTrak report for a fil ...
gave the film a 58% positive score, with 36% saying they would definitely recommend it.


Accolades


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cursed (2021 film), The 2021 films 2021 horror films 2020s American films 2020s English-language films 2020s French films 2020s supernatural horror films American supernatural horror films American werewolf films American World War I films English-language French films Films about the Battle of the Somme Films about curses Films about Romani people Films directed by Sean Ellis Films set in 1881 Films set in 1916 Films set in country houses Films shot in Charente French supernatural horror films French World War I films Gothic horror films LD Entertainment films English-language horror films