The Cursed
Directed by Sean EllisIn the late nineteenth century, brutal land baron Seamus Laurent slaughters a Roma clan, unleashing a curse on his family and village. In the days that follow, the townspeople are plagued by nightmares, Seamus's son Edward goes missing, and a boy is found murdered. The locals suspect a wild animal, but visiting pathologist John McBride warns of a more sinister presence lurking in the woods.
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The Cursed Ratings & Reviews
- imredorkaDecember 25, 2025More could have been added to the movie. It wasn't a bad movie.
- ShaydeknightNovember 9, 2025A decent little period werewolf film, well done and better than most in its category. What shocked me most wasn't the monster, but the casual cruelty that sets the story in motion. I've toured old castles, forts, and prisons in Europe and it never ceases to amaze me how cruel people once were. Not just callous or indifferent, but truly, inventively cruel. The opening of The Cursed captures that perfectly. It reminded me of moments in The Pianist, when the child tries to crawl under the wall only to be beaten to death on the other side, or in John Rambo (2008), when mercenaries casually destroy a village. It's that same kind of cold-blooded violence. It feels historically plausible and deeply unsettling. From that brutality comes the film's curse, and the rest unfolds as a meditation on the consequences of human evil. The period atmosphere is superb, beautifully shot, convincingly designed, with costumes and social dynamics that feel authentic. Boyd Holbrook gives a strong performance, Kelly Reilly is magnetic (and I think I fell for her a little), and Alistair Petrie brings real presence. The creature effects are well done, though I would have liked a touch more werewolf and a little less generic forest ghoul. The story behind the curse makes little sense if you think about it too long, but I found it easy enough to let go and just enjoy the ride. The moral dynamic is interesting. The film begins by showing the suffering of the marginalized but then spends most of its runtime rooting for the descendants of those who did the slaughtering. It's not that the film endorses their actions, but it does leave you in an odd moral space: we know who caused the curse, yet we don't want their kids to pay the price. If there's one weak spot, it's the hero's backstory, which feels too neat. Still, if you consider that he's been seeking this horror out from the start, it holds together just enough. In the end, The Cursed works best as a visual and atmospheric experience. The period recreation is phenomenal, just remarkable (as long as you don't think too much about how torches as light sources work). The cast is excellent, and the monster scenes deliver. The story isn't especially coherent or challenging, but as a dark, moody piece of historical horror it's absolutely worth seeing.
The Cursed Trivia
The Cursed was released on July 28, 2021.
The Cursed was directed by Sean Ellis.
The Cursed has a runtime of 1h 51m.
The Cursed was produced by Mickey Liddell, Pete Shilaimon, Sean Ellis.
The key characters in The Cursed are John McBride (Boyd Holbrook), Isabelle Laurent (Kelly Reilly), Seamus Laurent (Alistair Petrie).
The Cursed is rated R.
The Cursed is a Horror, Fantasy, Mystery film.
The Cursed has an audience rating of 5.4 out of 10.