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Cursed --- D: Wes Craven

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Cursed --- D: Wes Craven

Old 02-08-04, 04:43 PM
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Cursed --- D: Wes Craven

I speak of the Wes Craven directed and Kevin Williamson penned werewolf movie that was originally set to be released this coming weekend.
I seem to recall reading in an interview with Shannen Elizabeth (who has a role in the movie, a brief one I hope) that it was in need of re-shoots to an extent. Other sources are saying that the production is in major trouble and on the road to movie limbo.

Any word as to when this will be released? While I haven't seen anything, I would be willing to bet that it will not be released unitl late October to capitalize on Halloween business.
Old 02-08-04, 04:44 PM
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The imdb.com is your friend.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0257516/
Old 02-08-04, 06:38 PM
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it's release date is now set for october 1st.

Happy halloween...Hopefully.
Old 08-20-04, 06:48 AM
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"Cursed" screened last night.

A friend and I got a chance to see a "rough cut" of Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson's take on the werewolf genre last night and all I can say is, in short, while it isnt great, its still a fun ride.



SOME SPOILERS(nothing too blatant)








I'm sure some people know this movie had a troubled history when it went back for reshoots and they basically recast and reshot the whole movie from scratch and it does feel that way in some scenes with some character and plot shifts out of the blue and an abrupt ending that just feels strained. This movie doesnt offer anything new to the werewolf genre per se but it does have a sense of humor in alot of scenes, especially the high school scenes that play on the whole "jock/homopohobic teasing" scene that plays off nicely in a later, hilarious scene.
Performance wise Christina Ricci and the kid playing her brother are nice but the scenes where they start to act like werewolves after being bitten in the movie's first "Scream" like killing scene are just too reminiscent of a 100 other films, someone in the audience compared it to Teen Wolf in a funny way, especially with the younger brother having a reawakening in school now that he's got some werewolf in him. The rest of the case, from Shannon ELizabeth, Mya, Portia Rossi to Michael Rosenbaum, Scott Baio and Joshua Jackson are ok but mainly in the movie to provide red herrings to the identity of the main werewolf and then you scratch them off your list as the movie progresses. And yes, I did say Scott Baio, who is in the movie for about 2 minute tops as himself and does nothing plot wise (this was not the case in an earlier script review I read which apparently was filmed then scrapped) yet gets his name in the opening credits, that was weird, if we were going by time-wise then Craig Kilborn deserved a co-starring credit. Baio is in the movie for some notoritey but It just feels sad not seeing him doing anything, I was happy to see the man still working though. One funny note, Michael "Lex Luthor" Rosenbaum's hair piece is so distracting I thought for a minute it might be the werewolf but alas, it wasnt.
Now for the real juice, the werewolf FX and gore, designed by Rick Baker and taken over by the KNB folks (read on some other sites) are just awesome, this is one great looking biped wolf easily eclipsing Helsing's take, even when it's CG or man in suit onscreen it just looks big and awesome, and you really get to see it all around, once they show it they dont hide it.
Sooo, overall I give the movie a recommendation although it feels slapdash in the non-werewolf scenes, the plot is the same as before-people get bitten, have to find the head werewolf, yad, yada, yada- the humor does come out sometimes and the monster elements work great, there are some nice scares and grisly gore(whether that gets trimmed who knows), and some cliches' but no one is perfect, this isnt the redefiniton of the werewolf genre that Scream was for slasher films some started labelling it when they heard Craven and Williamson were involved but it is fun nonetheless, and hey, how many movies can claim to have a werewolf dog and a werewolf giving someone the finger.
Old 08-20-04, 08:40 AM
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I was wondering why this thing was taking so damn long to be made.
Old 08-20-04, 10:10 AM
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Re: "Cursed" screened last night.

Originally posted by harosa
but it does have a sense of humor in alot of scenes, especially the high school scenes that play on the whole "jock/homopohobic teasing" scene that plays off nicely in a later, hilarious scene.
Oh great, another SCREAM-like comedy. That's what Wes Craven should be spending his time on again.
Old 08-20-04, 10:30 AM
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Oh great, another SCREAM-like comedy. That's what Wes Craven should be spending his time on again.
Scream was great as was Scream 2. Now Scream 3 failed on so many levels as it became everything what the first two films were making fun of. Scream 3 tried to play itself seriously whereas the first two didn't.

If Cursed is done similar to the style of those first two Scream movies and not the third, then I'm game. And in all honesty, it can't be as bad as Music of my Heart. This film might just be decent for the fact that Joanie Love Chachi's Scott Baio is in it.
Old 08-20-04, 10:42 AM
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Originally posted by Matthew Chmiel
Scream was great as was Scream 2. Now Scream 3 failed on so many levels as it became everything what the first two films were making fun of. Scream 3 tried to play itself seriously whereas the first two didn't.

If Cursed is done similar to the style of those first two Scream movies and not the third, then I'm game. And in all honesty, it can't be as bad as Music of my Heart. This film might just be decent for the fact that Joanie LoveS Chachi's Scott Baio is in it.
SCREAM 2 didn't take itself seriously? You really think so? Interesting... Forgive me if I disagree.

If memory serves me correct, SCREAM 3 was the one that made the most fun of the three films.

But I think SCREAM is one of the worst horror films of the 90s, and ruined the genre for good. So I'll bow out of this thread.
Old 08-20-04, 06:54 PM
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Well I thought Scream was a great fun film,while the sequels were very lame(& yes part 2 takes tiself dreadfully serious) as were the clones.

But I have pretty much lost hope with any genre efforts by Dimension/Miramax...and the reshoots are no surprise. They do this with just about all their films,from the Halloween sequels,to this and beyond.

Yet if it looks good. I may give it a fair chance. We shall see.
Old 08-20-04, 07:08 PM
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Reshoots are one thing, totally scrapping almost a whole film and then starting from scratch is another. First this and then it happened to Exorcist.
Old 08-20-04, 09:03 PM
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I love Wes Craven. He's my second fav director in horror right behind John Carpenter. But reading that seems like he's trying to recapture Scream-like mania. And it appears to be Scream, except with werewolves, not masked killers.

Two words for Wes:

Go independent. (His best films were his non-studio ones.)
Old 08-20-04, 10:34 PM
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The movie does have its Scream moments, especially in the casting.
Old 01-07-05, 06:05 PM
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Wes Craven's Cursed trailer

http://movies.channel.aol.com/movie/...lers&mid=16085

Enjoy.
Old 01-07-05, 06:14 PM
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Nice
Old 01-07-05, 06:24 PM
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Looks kinda interesting, a lot better than all of the negative press I've been hearing about this for the last couple of years.
Old 01-07-05, 06:48 PM
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I saw this last Sept at a test screeing and be warned that the trailer gives away almost the whole movie, although it was a test screening all I saw added now was some more scenes of Ricci doing a Teen Wolf
Old 01-07-05, 07:48 PM
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Well it's about time!
Old 01-07-05, 07:57 PM
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Looks interesting. As long as I get some cool transformations I'll be happy.
Old 01-07-05, 08:08 PM
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Originally Posted by Dr. DVD
Looks interesting. As long as I get some cool transformations I'll be happy.
Too bad they'll be CGI.
Old 01-07-05, 09:47 PM
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Originally Posted by Geofferson
Too bad they'll be CGI.

Yeah, I hate it when they can't find actors that will actually morph into a werewolf. What are they getting paid for?



Stew
Old 01-07-05, 10:35 PM
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Originally Posted by spartanstew
Yeah, I hate it when they can't find actors that will actually morph into a werewolf. What are they getting paid for?



Stew
Meh'. That guy in American Werewolf in London did it rather well.
Old 01-08-05, 01:12 AM
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Meh'. That guy in American Werewolf in London did it rather well.
Actually, it's what people in the industry called a "special effect". The actor himself did NOT transform into an actual werewolf, contrary to what you seem to believe. It was the realistic nature of the effects that allowed you to suspend your disbelief. It's ok, a simple mistake to make.

You see, when a movie is made, the people in charge of the film (Producers, Directors, the studio, etc...) hire a 'Casting director'. The casting director comes up with many different ideas for actors and actresses to use in the film, and auditions them. I can assure you that the makers of "American Werewolf in London" did not hire an actual werewolf. That would have been much too risky.

Actors are in a union called "SAG". It stands for The Screen Actors Guild. The union rules help protect actors in their working environments. There is no way in hell that the actors would have been allowed to be near a real live werewolf as it was transforming. If so, heavy fines would have been put into place. Movies cost enough these days (and yes, even 20 years ago), without having to pay even more amounts of money to dinky little fines.

What will surprise you is that the werewolf is actually an actor with makeup appliances on him. These 'appliances' create the illusion that you are watching an actual man transform into a werewolf. I like to call it "movie magic". Just a little phrase that I coined myself.

I hope I cleared some things up for you.
Old 01-08-05, 07:34 PM
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Seems like very familiar territory about curses, pentagrams, and "kill the person who bit you" stuff, but I like Craven.
Old 01-09-05, 01:37 AM
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It will be cool to see another pairing of Craven and Kevin Wlliamson, although the werewolf subgenre has been sort of exhausted. Maybe they've found some new ground like the Ginger Snaps movies did, I dunno.
Old 01-09-05, 03:56 AM
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Wow, seantn completely missed the sarcasm of troy's post, meaking seantn's sarcasm is simply terrible because it missed the point of troy's post. Fighting sarcasm with sarcasm simply does not work.

Anyway, CGI isn't needed for a good werewolf transition (as was the case with An American Werewolf In London). Make-up effects and animatronics work more wonders than CGI.

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