The Cursed (2021 film)
The Cursed is a 2021 horror film directed and written by Sean Ellis. The film stars Boyd Holbrook, Kelly Reilly, Alistair Petrie, and Roxane Duran. The film premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival under the title Eight for Silver. The film was released in the United States on February 18, 2022, by LD Entertainment. It received positive reviews from critics. Plot. During the Battle of the Somme, a wounded French captain is brought into a medical tent with three bullet wounds to his abdomen. During surgery to remove the German bullets the surgeon discovers and  removes an additional fourth bullet made of silver and not of German design. Thirty-five years earlier, in the late nineteenth century, brutal land baron Seamus Laurent, upon the advice and with the endorsement of the village elders, leads a slaughter of a Roma clan who have a claim to his land and settled there. The night before, foreseeing their impending danger, the Roma leaders cast a set of silver dentures in the form of a wolf's fangs for their protection. During the slaughter, the Roma leaders are captured and killed. One has his hands and feet cut off  and is then lashed to a cross and erected as a scarecrow to serve as a warning to others who may try to settle the land. The other 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 Roma scarecrow and the silver fangs. While playing one day, Timmy reveals to the other children he knows the location of the nightmare scarecrow. Swearing them all to secrecy, particularly Edward and Charlotte (whose father would banish Timmy's family if he discovered their actions ), Timmy leads the children to the scarecrow. Upon arriving at the scarecrow, Timmy is overcome with the urge to dig up the silver fangs. Edward attempts to stop Timmy but before he can Timmy has retrieved the fangs and placed them in his mouth. Timmy then attacks Edward, viciously biting Edward's throat as the other children flee in terror. Charlotte flees to her family's manor; though, in shock, she is able to alert her parents and their staff. Seamus quickly recovers Edward who is seriously injured but not dead. Timmy is nowhere to be found. The doctors believe  Edward was attacked by a wild animal. Charlotte, fearing for Timmy and his family, does not reveal what actually occurred. Edward grows seriously ill. During the night, Charlotte awakes to Edward's screams and finds him ensnared by wood-like vines emerging from his body. Charlotte flees to her parents but when they return Edward has disappeared into the night. The next day, Seamus organizes the town men into a search party for Edward but is unsuccessful. Charlotte goes to the local church to pray and encounters Timmy, who claims he has no memory of what happened after digging up  the silver fangs, and fears for Edward now that he has disappeared. Charlotte reassures Timmy no one has spoken of his actions and his family is safe from exile. When Charlotte asks Timmy what he did with the silver fangs he reveals he's hidden them in the church. He then reads to Charlotte from the book of Ezekiel and suggests the silver moulded into the fangs is sourced from the same thirty pieces of silver paid to Judas for his betrayal of Jesus. When Charlotte's maid discovers them in the confessional Timmy flees. As Timmy flees into the  forest he is pursued by an unseen beast into an abandoned shack where he is soon slaughtered. Meanwhile, pathologist John McBride visits the town seeking information on the travelling Roma. He meets and befriends the local law enforcement: Alfred Moliere, who enlists John's help with the missing Edward. Moliere and John unite with Seamus who reveals the situation has grown more complicated with the discovery of Timmy's corpse which is also deemed the result of a wild animal. Moliere, believing nothing more can be done, returns to the town but John offers to stay to assist Seamus. Seamus  hosts John in his manor as John investigates what happened to Edward including examining samples of Edward's blood that dripped on the door as he fled. Examining Edward's blood, John finds they bond with and convert his own blood cells confirming his suspicions. He instructs Seamus to have all the first floor doors and windows of his house boarded and that no one in the house or village should go outside alone without an armed escort. Despite his doubts, Seamus agrees. That night, Seamus' house is visited by a strange wolf-like creature that unsuccessfully tries to gain  entry. Later, three townspeople who drew short straws enter the fields to work despite their misgivings and fears of attack. Their fears are soon proved real as two of them are killed and third, Anne-Marie is maimed. Anne-Marie manages to flee to the town and warn them of what occurred. 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. Realizing that the infection is out of control, John has the town elders gather everyone to and fortify the  church as he sets out to hunt the beasts. By the abandoned shack that Timmy was killed in John is able to trap and kill one of the beasts. He brings the corpse to Seamus' stable where he has Seamus and the town elder's witness an autopsy. Cutting open the beast Anne-Marie seemingly alive begins to emerge screaming from inside. John insists that she cannot be saved and has one of the town elders kill her. Horrified by the event, Seamus fears the same fate has befallen Edward. That night, John talks with Seamus' wife Isabelle and  reveals years earlier he lost his wife and daughter to a similar beast. A band of Roma arrived soon after and pronounced the curse on that land had been fulfilled and John had been pursuing them ever since. Isabelle, moved by John's story reveals her husband's atrocity to John and thus the origin of the curse much to Seamus' ire. Charlotte informs John of the silver fangs' location - after which, he retrieves and melts them into four silver bullets. Seamus leads a hunting party to track down the final beast but is unsuccessful. Meanwhile, the beast attacks and  bites Seamus' maid Anais while she is outside doing laundry. Anais hides her wound from the family as Seamus returns from his failed hunt. John prepares to shoot the beast from the second floor of the manor and notices the bloody linen left behind from the attack on Anais. Before he can pursue this lead he falls into an argument with Seamus who orders John to leave the house the next day. During the night as John waits for the beast Anais transforms in her bedroom on the top floor. Seamus investigates the noise and is attacked by Anais, knocking  a candlestick over and setting the room on fire in the process. Seamus successfully kills the Anais beast but not before he is bitten. He flees to the stables with John in pursuit leaving the manor doors open in their wake. In the stables Seamus, knowing he is doomed to transform and attack his family sets himself on fire in front of John. Meanwhile, the fire in Anais's room has spread and the manor is beginning to burn down. Isabelle and Charlotte attempt to escape but encounter the final beast. They narrowly avoid the beast and escape the manor  with John as they flee to the town church. At the church, John, Isabelle, and Charlotte are rescued by the townspeople and take refuge, planning to hunt the beast again in the morning. 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. Isabelle undoes the barricade letting the beast into the church where it proceeds to slaughter town elders and townspeople alike. John attempts to shoot the beast with the silver bullet but Isabelle intentionally stands between him and the beast calling to  her son. As the beast attacks and with no other choice, John shoots through Isabelle into the beast. Both fall to the floor and as Isabelle dies Edward reverts to his human self. Isabelle dies cradling her cured son. With both their parents dead and their manor destroyed, John adopts Charlotte and Edward. Charlotte returns to John the three remaining silver bullets she recovered after the attack in the church. It is revealed that thirty-five years later the wounded Captain is an adult Edward having the silver bullet lodged inside him ever since he was shot as a child . Edward dies on the operating table and an adult Charlotte returns the fourth recovered silver bullet to a now aged and dying John. Production. The film was shot in the Charente region of western France. It was shot on 35mm with anamorphic lenses. In an interview with Variety, director Sean Ellis stated, "We tried to do as much of it in camera as possible, because I always think it looks better.” In an interview with Nightmare on Film Street in January, 2021, Ellis stated that the film is a spin on the classic werewolf mythos, standing as a metaphor  for addiction in modern day society, saying 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 released on streaming on March 15, 2022. Reception. Box office. In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside "Uncharted" and "Dog" during the Presidents' Day 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 gave the film a 58% positive score, with 36% saying they would definitely recommend it.