The Cursed

Perhaps I hyped myself up too much for the movie, it's one of those that really has an amazing trailer - despite never showing the creature at all - but the film as a whole feels a little underwhelming. Which isn't to say that the movie doesn't have its merits, because it has many. The eerie, liminal, bleak atmosphere is heavy throughout, and the dark, haunting tone never lifts. Acting is solid all around and I'm definitely a fan of Boyd Holbrook. The writing was tight and took me by surprise at the end. As a huge fan of lycanthropy in media and lore, I deeply appreciated the tie-in to Gévaudan. Horror wise, while not necessarily scary, it offered some chills-inducing moments and a constant sense of dread. My only gripes were the creature design and one particular plot "hole," where they conveniently ignore something so obvious for the sake of advancing the story a certain way. The creature looked awesome and very unique, but it only had one form, so there was never any shock of its furtherance. The climax could've benefited from this, and that final action scene was full of jerky camera movements and not showing it very much. The dream sequences of the "scarecrow" were also too quick and terse to have a lasting effect. Ultimately a very unique approach to the werewolf genre, with some clever storytelling, a lot of gore, palpable atmosphere, but still underwhelming.