The Cursed

This period piece is slow-paced yet peppered with enough gory attacks and smartly staged scare sequences to appeal to horror connoisseurs.

It's all so rich—and so richly executed by Ellis, a total filmmaker—that one wishes it added up to more than a series of smart variations on a certain type of film.

Originally titled Eight for Silver, the film from British writer-director Sean Ellis is brooding, uneasy and fog-filled, with an apprehensive soundscape. Werewolf mythology mixes with biblical allusions and ideas on payments for the sins of elders.

Eight for Silver howls the arrival of a new and exciting take on the old werewolf story, with an inventive mythology and a memorable xenomorph-inspired scene that will nest in your nightmares. Sadly, the good parts of the film are trapped within the monstrous body of an overly long and average feature film.

Even when Ellis ramps up the suspense with crosscutting and monster mayhem in the final half-hour, The Cursed has trouble maintaining nail-biting intensity for very long

The Cursed is stylish and scary enough for what it is. That’s an old-fashioned creature feature, effective enough to give you a mild case of the heebie-jeebies but nothing chronic.

Ultimately, The Cursed is merely a slow trek through horrific gore, lackluster and confusing werewolf lore, and a muddled understanding of the legacy of the Roma.

An utterly satisfying horror thriller with excellent period details anchored by solid writing, directing and performances.

If you enjoy gothic horror, and strange shifter types of movies - this one is for you. If you like stories about unexpected monsters with a tone set by the atmosphere like Sleepy Hollow, again this is the perfect movie for you. This is a unique werewolf premise and unlike many of the boring and worn out tales surrounding the loup garoux. The movie is filmed in a perfect setting that adds to the ambiance and captures in a spell from the first scene and you will be left on the edge of your seat throughout it because it laces around you like a serpentine rope and draws you through the story as a captive. It's creative and works mesmerizingly at hooking you in from the start and keeping you thoroughly engaged and breathlessly entertained for the duration of the ride.

'The Cursed' puts an interesting spin on the werewolf mythos, but it's not enough to keep you hooked all the time. Sean Ellis, of 'Cashback' fame, delivers a horror film with production values that don't make the tiny budget noticeable, despite the PS3-looking CGI. The practical effects (which truly look grotesque), the costumes, and the photography stand out; the overall gothic tone is well done. The performances aren't bad, but none of them are outstanding, and the characters aren't all that engaging. And although there is a theme related to xenophobia, corruption, and the abuse of power, it kind of goes nowhere. The final twist feels a bit anticlimactic, but you can't deny that Ellis and his team tried to make a horror film that doesn't rely on jumpscares at all. Yes, it's miles away from something like 'The Witch,' but still a decent take on the folk horror subgenre.

It's a neat twist on the werewolf or shape-shifting curse. Great production values and acting. Definitely reminds me a bit of the old Hammer films, but with less buxomness. I'm interested to see what Sean Ellis does next.

I must say, this movie surprised me. The Cursed is pretty predictable, and this is something that tends to happen too much in the horror genre, but what this story manages to do is prove that even when you're playing inside the box, you can still make things productive. Set in the 18th century, The Cursed goes for atmosphere by ratcheting up the tension and suspense where it's due, even when you as the viewer are already expecting what's going to happen. That's a point I stress, because I feel it's best when a story doesn't try too hard to seek the audience's reaction, but to envelop them in its setting. Visually outstanding, The Cursed is more about texture, environment and situation. Indeed, it doesn't attempt variants that could have been better explored, but what it does well is more than present and it's efficient. It could've been shorter, but I still liked it.