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Cursed
Dimension Films

Cursed reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 31 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
4.7 out of 10
based on 21 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 24 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for horror violence/terror, some sexual references, nudity, language and a brief drug reference

Starring Christina Ricci, Portia de Rossi, Shannon Elizabeth, Joshua Jackson, Judy Greer, Jesse Eisenberg, and Milo Ventimiglia

From the team that brought you the Scream trilogy, this teen horror film focuses on three people who are brought together to battle a werewolf.


GENRE(S): Horror  |  Suspense/Thriller  
WRITTEN BY: Kevin Williamson  
DIRECTED BY: Wes Craven  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: June 21, 2005 
Video: June 21, 2005 
Theatrical: February 25, 2005 
RUNNING TIME: 96 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

63
Boston Globe Wesley Morris
Marks a return to a not-so-distant time when horror movies weren't soul-rotting atrocities but just enjoyably bad.
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60
Film Threat Rick Kisonak
Until this past Friday, the worst werewolf film ever made was, hairy hands down, Mike Nichols' "Wolf." Cursed now assumes that dubious distinction and someone is going to have to try very hard to wrestle it away.
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50
The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Though Craven shows flashes of the old magic, Cursed eventually settles into rote, uninspired horror fare, hog-tied to the Williamson formula all the way to arbitrary finish. The film may be one of the best ever not screened in advance for critics, but that still doesn't put it in the finest company.
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50
Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust
Outdoes recent releases such as "Boogeyman" in the fright department, but the "Dawson's Creek" sensitivity and unsatisfying effects undermine the lupine anxiety.
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50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
The problem lies with Williamson's script, which feels as if it has been torn from different places and glued back together like a ransom note.
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50
LA Weekly Kim Morgan
Poor special effects, a silly looking werewolf and clunky comic writing help to spoil what should have been a fun B-movie.
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50
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
More an uninspired letdown than a flabbergasting turkey... One reason for this lack of bite lies in the werewolves themselves. They're a bit too teddy-bearish, even oddly cuddly, and the fright scenes work better when you don't see much of them.
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40
Variety Robert Koehler
Except for Eisenberg's superb comic timing and his ability to make the familiar seem interesting, the high school scenes play like "Scream" outtakes.
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40
Empire William Thomas
There is some fun to be had if you're in an undemanding frame of mind.
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38
ReelViews James Berardinelli
If there's the kernel of a good story buried somewhere deep in Cursed, it never pops. As werewolf movies go, this one is on par with "An American Werewolf in Paris," but at least that dud had plenty of gore and Julie Delpy's bare breasts to recommend it.
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30
The New York Times Dana Stevens
It's not bad enough to make you curse, but you are likely to laugh when you should scream, and to roll your eyes when you are meant to laugh.
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30
Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson
It's a mess, but it isn't as bad as you think.
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30
Village Voice Ben Kenigsberg
The scariest thing in the movie is a cameo by Scott Baio.
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30
Washington Post Stephen Hunter
Wes Craven, who started the "Nightmare on Elm Street" series, should know a lot better.
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25
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Screenwriter Kevin Williamson (the Scream trilogy), having bottomed out in the horror genre, now dips below bottom (there isn't a line that has his knowing sweet-and-sour zing).
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25
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
A third-rate effort, with a weak script, cheap-looking effects and no genuine frights.
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25
New York Daily News Robert Dominguez
It's hard to tell who is more Cursed - the pretty young people who turn into werewolves on screen or the people who buy tickets for this slow, witless, predictable horror flick.
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25
New York Post V.A. Musetto
Unlike Cursed, which resorts to blatant but unconvincing gore and violence, "The Wolf Man" (1941) gets its point across through suggestion, makeup and spooky sets.
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20
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
The film vacillates between inanity and flat-out lameness, and the decision to recut from an R-rated version to a PG-13 sucked out whatever life might have been left.
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20
The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck
Cursed, a modern-day werewolf tale that fails to provide either Craven's trademark chills or Williamson's trademark satirical wit, is a distinctly subpar film that, but for the current boxoffice streak enjoyed by such formulaic genre entries, deserved to go direct to video.
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20
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Genre fans and newcomers alike should skip this monstrosity and go rent "Ginger Snaps" instead.
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 4.7 (out of 10) based on 24 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

josh h. gave it a9:
I thought this was great. dont watch it excpecting a clever movie. its a freakin horror movie after all. The scene in the carpark wtht eh werewolf was quite scary. very well done. watch it, laugh and be scared.

Nick H gave it a1:
Ugh... this movie bit the big one. Much like other Wes Craven films, lately. I hope "Red Eye" restores what respect we had for him.

joe gave it a2:
Predictable, bad,bad,bad and lame beyond belief. Wes Craven - go somewhere and hide your Bad self.

Sam gave it a2:
Excuse me because this review will be rather short because i must sacrifice cow flesh to send this movie back to hell for all eternity, and i also must vomit and crap out some of my own blood for a little while, this movie is cheesy and it sucks, that's it.

uber stupid gave it a0:
Pros: cant list any. Cons: too many to list. Overview: Wes Craven, save the American public and save yourself, stop making movies.

Mark B. gave it a6:
Horror legend Wes Craven once gave us Vampire in Brooklyn; assisted by genre-bending coconspirator Kevin Williamson (of the first two Scream movies) he now serves up what could be called Werewolf in Hollywood. This diverting offering is more funny than scary; in fact, the gory eviscerations in the unrated DVD edition are so over-the-top that it's hard to see how anyone could be offended or even grossed out. (In fact, the movie's most amusing line is uttered by a cop who, after demolishing a werewolf in a truly spectacular way, wonders if it's really necessary to cut its head off.) Christina Ricci, Jesse Eisenberg and Joshua Jackson learn that (as Lon Chaney Jr.'s mopey Lawrence Talbot never did) that becoming a werewolf can increase one's physical prowess, social standing and sex appeal, although Ricci doesn't really need much help in the latter department. Typically amusing Williamson dialogue and enjoyable performances (especially a sparkling comic one by Judy Greer as Ricci's rival and an admirably good-sportsmanlike one by Scott Baio, playing himself in a role that comments frankly on his C-list status, as if his appearance in Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 didn't say it all) and Craven's equal facility with light comic as well as horror sequences make this an almost-guilty pleasure...but it loses points for a wishy-washy ending and a long mistaken-meaning riff that correlates lycanthropy and homosexuality, but was done better on Buffy the Vampire Slayer over a decade ago. Worst of all is the fact that this movie is an example of an ever-increasing trend in horror movies that show up in theatres in butchered, PG-13 versions...and then appear a few months later in uncut DVD versions so that viewers, in essence, pay for them twice...an act of corporate chicanery that almost makes certain pyramid schemes shut down by the government seem honest by comparison. Normally I believe that movies are made for theatres and should be seen in them whenever possible, but I'll make an exception here: whenever you hear of a PG-13 horror film, wait to rent the DVD. If the DVD's uncut, you're seeing it the way the filmmakers intended and only shelling out once; if it's still a PG-13, you haven't lost anything. By golly, somebody's gotta teach these studios that double-dipping doesn't pay!

jarred b gave it a2:
This movie was extremely bad. the film was horrible the acting was horrible and so was the story line.

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