Cursed (2024) by Patrick Corcoran

Director: Patrick Corcoran

Year: 2024

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: Schimbarea

Genre: Supernatural

Plot:

While on vacation in Romania, an American tourist seeks shelter at the home of a mysterious woman in a rural village as he travels through the country, but when he mistakenly upsets his host with his actions finds himself undergoing a vicious and devastating transformation curse.

Review:

This was a fairly solid indie effort that’s a bit better than expected. One of the best elements of this one is the fairly solid storyline throughout here that provides a great take on a special brand of genre focus. Initially appearing as a standard foreigner-in-a-lost-land genre effort with his trials and tribulations getting around the country and then stumbling upon the house where the cultural differences between them are readily apparent the more he stays there, it comes upon a familiar-enough setup at first. It’s when the outcome of the situation isn’t to cause the scenario to start a rampage with the loosened creature stalking him but rather beginning an impressive series of physical transformations that signal the start of a supernatural curse for his offending actions. Mixing it all together with the idea of him needing to stay there for medical care keeps the visions foretelling the change that adds an extra layer to what’s going on.

On top of that, the idea of the slow-burn build to the exploits of the curse comes off rather well here. The treatment once he arrives and suffers from the lingering medical condition that keeps him there starts this off on an ominous mood as the visitation by the local woman that he inadvertently offends creates a strong starting impression here while helping to explore the fact that his guilt over his mother meshes perfectly with the relationship the woman has with the local. After the fateful accident occurs and he’s forced to lie about it, the psychological tortures and mind-games exhibited manage to bring about a logical enough series of sequences that help to explore the curse brought about that gets better when it starts to become more obvious what’s going on in the later half involving the genuine transformation scenes of his skin peeling and flaking off to reveal the truth underneath. These manage to be the film’s more likable aspects.

There are some issues here holding this one back. The biggest drawback with this one is the far more restrained tempo that focuses far more on the build-up to the actual transformation than anything else. Far too much of the running time is spent on these mind games that go back and forth with the idea of whether or not she’s going to do anything to punish him for what happened and it manages to drag along quite limply with whether or not she’s aware of the transgressions. While it sets up the finale quite well, being the only action scenes in the film makes this take quite a while before it gets going and starts in on the more likable transformation on the later end. There’s also the issue with the low-budget presentation here that manages to be quite obvious, from the fake shooting location clearly not in that part of the world, the limited scale and scope of the storyline, and the limited effects that all point to its lowered origins and keep this one down overall.

Overview: ***.5/5

A rather fun if problematic indie effort, there’s a lot to like with this one that manages to offer a more psychological take on the genre that does have some slight drawbacks at times. Those with an interest in this style or who appreciate the elements present here will have the most to enjoy here while most others out there might want to heed caution with this one.