Day 14 - The Gothic Werewolf Horror of The Cursed | 31 Days of Halloween

Werewolves have been a part of horror cinema for nearly as long as the genre has existed, which means there are certain things we've come to expect from them. Full moons, silver bullets, painful transformations, and, usually, a very recognizable wolf-like creature at the center of it all.

The Cursed takes most of those expectations and does something considerably stranger with them.

Released in 2022 and starring Boyd Holbrook and Kelly Reilly, The Cursed somehow managed to fly completely under my radar until now. I had seen the trailers before, but they never gave me much reason to seek it out. More surprisingly, they barely give any indication that this is a werewolf movie at all. Instead, they lean heavily on what look like fairly conventional jump scares, several of which come from dream sequences in the movie itself.

I'm glad I finally gave it a chance, because The Cursed turned out to be one of the more interesting attempts I've seen at reinventing werewolf mythology in quite some time.

A Different Kind of Werewolf Curse

Set in 1881, The Cursed begins with a wealthy landowner and a dispute over land that ends in horrific violence against a Romani community. Before their deaths, the victims place a curse upon the people responsible, setting in motion the supernatural events that consume the surrounding area.

From there, the movie takes familiar pieces of werewolf mythology and rearranges them into something that feels surprisingly different.

The curse isn't simply passed from one unfortunate victim to another through a bite. It is tied to the violence that created it, giving the supernatural horror a larger purpose within the story. The people living on the land begin experiencing disturbing dreams and visions, while a pair of silver teeth becomes central to the curse and eventually provides the movie's explanation for silver's effectiveness against the creature.

I particularly liked that The Cursed doesn't feel the need to explain every detail. It establishes its own rules and gives us enough information to understand how they fit together without stopping the movie for an extended mythology lesson.

That also allows the werewolf curse to become something more than an excuse to unleash a monster. There is a psychological element running through the story, with guilt, dread, and the consequences of past violence hanging over the characters long before the creature arrives.

Gothic Horror Meets Folk Horror

The atmosphere may be The Cursed's greatest strength (my readers know I’m all about the vibes!).

The 1881 setting gives the movie a Gothic horror aesthetic that immediately separates it from most modern werewolf films. Fog rolls across open fields. Candlelight fills the interiors of the manor. The skies seem perpetually bleak, and the surrounding woods always feel like they're hiding something.

There were moments that reminded me of The Witch, Sleepy Hollow, and Nosferatu, not because The Cursed is necessarily trying to imitate any of them, but because it understands how effective a period setting can be when the environment itself becomes part of the horror.

There's also a strong folk horror element to the whole thing. The isolated community, old superstitions, buried violence, and supernatural punishment all contribute to the feeling that something terrible has grown out of the history of this place.

That combination of Gothic and folk horror gives The Cursed an identity that I wasn't expecting going in.

Reinventing the Wolf

If there's one area where the movie may lose traditional werewolf fans, it's the creature itself.

The wolf is fully CGI, and there isn't really a traditional transformation sequence. As someone who loves practical creature effects, I would have preferred to see the filmmakers go that route, especially in a movie that otherwise feels so tactile and atmospheric.

But, I also understand what they're trying to do.

This isn't really a traditional wolf. It's more of a humanoid beast, and the director wisely keeps it obscured for much of the movie rather than constantly putting the CGI creature on display. The result is something that feels unfamiliar enough to fit the movie's reworking of the mythology.

There is also a pretty gnarly body-horror sequence that makes use of practical effects and gives us something much more memorable than another standard transformation scene. Without getting too far into spoilers, it's one of those moments where The Cursed makes it very clear that it isn't interested in playing things safe.

This is a dark, violent, and at times unforgiving movie.

Boyd Holbrook and Kelly Reilly

Boyd Holbrook plays John McBride, a pathologist who arrives to investigate what's happening in the area and gradually begins piecing together the nature of the curse. Holbrook is great in just about everything I've seen him in, and this role fits him well. There's a quietness to the character that works within a movie built so heavily around atmosphere and dread.

Kelly Reilly is excellent as Isabelle Laurent as well. For anyone primarily familiar with her from Yellowstone, it's also a reminder that Reilly is English and sounds completely at home in this period setting.

My only complaint is that I wish the movie gave us a little more of her.

Neither performance overwhelms the movie, though, and I think that's intentional. The Cursed is much more interested in its atmosphere, mythology, and sense of creeping dread than it is in building itself around one central performance.

A Werewolf Movie Willing to Take a Swing

The Cursed isn't perfect. I would have loved a practical creature. Some of its ideas could have been developed further, and anyone looking for a more traditional werewolf movie may find its interpretation of the mythology a little strange.

But, I'd much rather watch a movie take a big swing like this than simply repeat the same werewolf story we've seen some many times before.

It has its own mythology, its own visual identity, and a willingness to combine werewolf horror with Gothic, folk, and body horror, all through the lens of more psychological themes. Even when every element doesn't completely land, there's enough here that I'll remember The Cursed far longer than I expected to when I pressed play.

For a movie that I nearly skipped because its own trailers didn't seem to know how to sell it, that's a pleasant surprise.

Should you include it in your 31 days of Halloween watchlist? At this point, most viewers already know the classics and have their own go-to horror picks for the month. So, if you're looking for something a little different like a grim, atmospheric period horror movie that approaches werewolves from a new point of view, The Cursed is worth seeking out.

Join me next time as the 31 Days of Halloween moves from werewolves to our Jamie Lee Curtis pick.

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Previous Day: Day 13 - When a Stranger Calls & the Problem with Watching a Classic Too Late

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