Product Description

Packed with even more intense thrills than audiences experienced in theaters, this unrated version of Wes Craven's CURSED brings you the terror of werewolves as never before! Christina Ricci (MONSTER), Jesse Eisenberg (THE VILLAGE), Joshua Jackson (TV's DAWSON'S CREEK), Judy Greer (THE VILLAGE), and Milo Ventimiglia (TV's GILMORE GIRLS) find themselves caught up in an unimaginable horror! A werewolf loose in Los Angeles changes the lives of three young adults who, after being mauled by the beast, learn that the only way to break the curse put upon them is to kill the one who started it all! From the creators of SCREAM, this never-before-seen version is shockingly more frightening and undeniably more fun than the original release!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28561 in DVD
• Brand: Disney
• Released on: 2005-06-21
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 97 minutes

Amazon.com
When you consider its unfortunate production history, Cursed turned out surprisingly well as a werewolf thriller that horror buffs will appreciate. It's hardly the disaster critics made it out to be, but extensive rewriting, reshooting, recasting, and lengthy delays in production and release (including the elimination of R-rated gore to earn a PG-13 rating) clearly took their toll. The result is a fun but flawed monster-show that begins when a young talk-show producer (Christina Ricci) and her teenaged brother (Jesse Eisenberg) are bitten by a werewolf, setting the stage for a horror-in-Hollywood scenario that reunites director Wes Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson, creators of the Scream franchise. What could have been a classic horror comedy is instead a fairly solid, if unremarkable, exercise in Los Angeles lycanthropy, featuring werewolf makeup by Rick Baker (combined with CGI transformation effects, of course) and some of Williamson's snappy dialogue and trademark pop-culture references. The title of Cursed doubles as a description of this movie's ultimate fate, but in a market filled with straight-to-video horror fodder, it's anything but a lost cause. The supporting cast includes Shannon Elizabeth, Portia de Rossi and Joshua Jackson, so genre aficionados should definitely check it out. --Jeff Shannon

Brian Jacks, UGO.COM
"This film's got bite!"

Scott Chitwood, COMINGSOON.NET
"Cursed is a fun horror film in the spirit of classic monster movies."

Customer Reviews

Werewolves of L.A.
CURSED is the story of a brother and sister who are attacked by a werewolf and become infected. Prior to this incident, Ellie's (Christina Ricci) biggest problems were an emotionally distant boyfriend and a snotty PR representative at her company, while Jimmy (Jesse Eisenberg) mostly had to put up with the homophobic bullies at his high school. I guess sometimes we just don't know when we have it good. Jimmy, a comic book geek, is quick to accept the possibility of what has happened to them and begins research immediately, while Ellie remains skeptical until the physical evidence becomes irrefutable.

With Wes Craven's track record (even his lesser films at least dealt with more original subject matter) one had to wonder why he wanted to make such a formulaic movie about such a well-worn concept. [Edit: I have since learned that this movie was a result of contractual obligation.] The first act of the movie felt quite tired, with dozens of unimaginative scares that have been seen time and time again. A dream sequence in particular is a real groaner. However, it actually does get better as it goes on. While it still retains an air of predictability, it did surprise me at times. I really thought it was obvious who the lycanthropic antagonist was. I wasn't completely wrong, but I wasn't exactly right, either.

In the end, CURSED is a passably entertaining movie made so primarily by the cast, which also includes Joshua Jackson (THE SAFETY OF OBJECTS) and Judy Greer (ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT). Portia de Rossi (also ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT) appears in a small role, and Scott Baio appears as himself. As a bonus, we get to see Shannon Elizabeth (JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK) get ripped in half. Always a treat.

The unrated DVD contains a number of featurettes: a making-of with cast interview clips, one on effects, one on editing, and a humorous short film on "making a werewolf." There is also effects commentary for certain scenes.

Not what it could have been
I agree this movie pretty much sucked but Craven fans should know the facts before they start raving about how low he went on this film. Wes owed Dimension one more movie and that ended up being Cursed. Now what we have here isn't even that film he started to make. Craven originally filmed most of this movie in an almost entirely different version that Dimension decided they didn't like because it was a HORROR movie and wasn't hip and funny enough. That's when Kevin Williamson rewrote the script to be this piece of poo that we all watched. So Wes had to re-shoot the movie to suit the new script. Basically he hates it, and his new movie coming out, Red Eye, is for I believe Dreamworks pictures not Dimension.

Thank you!!

Craven's Campy "Cursed"
I thought this movie was a lot of fun. We have all seen the same old werewolf movies but this one doesn't take itself so seriously and just has a lot of fun.

The story centers around a sister (played by Cristina Ricci)and her younger brother, who are involved in an accident with an unknown animal and both are bitten by the unseen monster. Soon both realize that something is not right as they begin to exhibit the signs of a human who has bitten by a werewolf.

There are twists and turns and Craven makes you think the villian is one person or the next. The other actors (Joshua Jackson plays Ricci's love interest) have fun with their roles. There are also funny cameos by Scott Baio and Craig Kilborn.

If you are looking for a gory, spine tingling thrill fest, you may be disappointed. This is a campy film that gives you some quick scares but mainly plays for a lot of laughs. Go into it with it with a carefree attitude and I think you will enjoy it.