31 Days of Halloween: The Cursed

2021, Sean Ellis (Anthrodpoid) -- Amazon

This originally was one of our leftovers, a flick sitting in the Downloads from last year. But it showed up on streaming services, and with it came trailers, forced to watch before our other Amazon shows. They did their job, catching our our attention, and I admit, initially I did not think that this period movie about a child possessed by evil looking teeth was what we downloaded -- that looked like something about a swamp creature full of tentacles. But yeah, evil looking teeth, silver teeth. That's a weird flex. Oh there is a swamp and tentacles, but the ... teeth. <shudder>

We begin in WW1, with an officer shot by German soldiers, the field surgeon removing three bullets from him, the final one, something definitely not German... is that, a silver bullet? Fade back into memories, some 35 years prior. Where are we? England? North France? Not quite sure, but everyone but John McBride (Boyd Holbrook, The Sandman) has a French name, and there are constant references to McBride's previously tragic encounter with the Beast of Gévaudan, a historical encounter with a great monster (or multiple creatures) that slew many many people and livestock, a real world event gave rise to many a related werewolf story. McBride lost his wife and child to it, and was tracking down Roma who were said to be connected to the beast.

The horror begins after the landlord refuses the claims of the "travelers" on his land, murdering them all instead of giving them the land they claim as their own. Everyone who watches horror movies knows that nothing good ever comes of slighting the Roma. Soon after the children of the village are possessed by dreams, a number of them are compelled to dig up the teeth that the Roma witch had crafted just before she and all her people were killed. Why teeth? Who knows; they are creepy. Teeth in mouth (dude, DON'T put that in your mouth) the biggest boy bites Edward (Max Mackintosh, Rocketman), the son of the landlord, before running off to hide. The young boy, who we know to be the officer wounded in the opening scenes, takes ill from the bite, and we see him writhing with vines or tentacles before disappearing into the wood.

McBride shows up, tasked with finding the boy and dealing with whatever beast has now slain the boy who originally bit Edward. We know what is going on, and how its going to go, or we wouldn't have that opening scene. So, yeah a pseudo werewolf story, as Edward the Beast wanders the countryside slaying whomever he comes across, and anyone who survives sickens and is in turn infected by the tentacles/vines, becoming yet another beast. At this point, I was wondering if this was more a werewolf story or a pale shadow of The Thing. But no matter, what plays out is a decent enough creature feature which is satisfying if nothing novel. 

Any regular reader of this season knows that I don't require new to enjoy the movie, just a modicum of style and skill. I would have preferred a bit more stretching out of the connection between silver coins and teeth and Roma curses, beyond some thin references to the 30 pieces of silver from the Bible, and nursery rhymes which lend themselves to the original title of the movie, Eight for Silver. I could get crankier for some of the clumsy plot building, such as, "Why do we need the WWI opening?" or "What's with the scant attempts at sexual tension between McBride and the landlord's wife (Kelly Reilly, Eden Lake) ?" but it's early in the season and at least it was not that exorcism movie (*snicker*).