The Accursed

THE ACCURSED is a typically cheap and uninteresting low budget horror yarn that's far too dark for its own good and really tedious on a visual level. The story sees a young woman taking on the role of carer for a mysterious reclusive elderly lady living in a remote cabin, and an aged Mena Suvari shows up as a sinister aide. The patient turns out to be '80s favourite Meg Foster, not that she has much to do. The lead is unlikeable and the horror limited to predictable possession scares and some gross-out moments I didn't much care for, but perhaps if you could actually see what was going on it would all be a little bit better.

The Accursed could be described as part The Taking of Deborah Logan (though it's not found footage) and part The Last Shift, although these films are masterpieces compared to The Accursed. One line from the film; 'are you ready to gaze into hell?' should be answered with a strong 'no' to anyone wishing to not waste 90 minutes of their life.

The film immediately reveals Ms. Ambrose (Meg Foster) to be a witch proficient in curses, her clients this evening, mother and daughter pair Mary Lynn (Alexis Knapp) and Sadie (Kallani Knapp) seemingly requiring her services, until unwittingly turning the curse back onto Ambrose herself. The mother and daughter flee, promising to return to finish the job, their history with Ambrose later revealed. For every bit of promise the opening has, it is hampered by a lack of explanation and exaggerated performances, making the film's tone questionable at best.

The feature jumps forward three months to Elly (Sarah Grey), with no context connecting her with the opening scene. Elly is a nurse, returning home to deal with her late, estranged mother's estate, after abandoning her years prior. The film barely touches on the issues that plagued her mother which led to her eventual suicide, this absence of substantial backstory being one of the film's chief detractions.

The film is capable of making a disturbingly dark ambiance, as Elly explores her childhood home, haunted by unresolved trauma, though it is not as oppressive as say, The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh, another feature that touched upon familial issues. That said, the musical score assists in enhancing the atmosphere.

However, that same score comes back to haunt the potential this film has with the constant stereotypical jump scare track - the film just cannot go a few minutes without employing one. Furthermore, The Accursed overuses its nightmare sequences, and if Jaws 4 taught us anything, a movie *that* reliant on what is otherwise fake scares, has little else up its sleeve.

As a character, Elly is severely underbaked. She has an aversion to technology (she almost never uses her mobile phone), loves record players and goes jogging - outside of this (a lot of which is used to simply make the plot work), she is very hollow.

Elly is later contacted by Alma (Mena Surval), a caregiver to Ms. Ambrose, who requires a nurse to provide medical assistance to the now bed-ridden patient for the weekend. In an attempt to get away from her childhood home, Elly accepts the job, her initial introduction to Alma revealing her to be a strange, passive-aggressive character, who is only too eager to leave.

Elly, of course, never questions this, given little in the way of independent character motivation. With this in mind, her role as a nurse is severely challenged, with the film hardly referencing this. Alongside coming off as disingenuous, never does she check the medical equipment, clean her patient's skin lesions, or offer her a bed bath - any one of these may have made her aware that not everything is as it seems with Ms. Ambrose.

Though Elly is isolated in the Ambrose estate, surrounded by woodland, the sense of threat is dispelled by the continuous contact with her neighbor, Mary Lynn, and best friend, Beth (Sarah Dumont). Speaking of, despite Elly's bestie being a stand-out character, with her fun attitude and willingness to bluntly say what audiences may feel, she represents the film's tonal inconsistency. In that sense, the film just can't take a trick, can it? Everything the film does well only hampers it in another way.

As Elly continues to feel more uneasy about her stay, she realises her family may be more connected to Ambrose than she first imagined. The inclusion of themes like witchcraft, possession, guilt and mental illness should make for an interesting horror experience, if used right - the film however, hardly uses them at all. This is compounded further by the film's illogical cuts. Example, we go from Elly reeling with disgust as Ms. Ambrose vomits, to Elly outside enjoying the sunshine ~ I mean, huh? Did she clean up the mess? Did her patient choke on the bile spewing out of her? Cuts like these frequently occur, which harm the pacing and narrative structure.

When used sparingly, the prosthetic, make-up and special effects in the film do add to the atmosphere. That said, there are only so many times you can watch demon hands erupting from a person's mouth (as depicted in the trailer), before the initially impressive footage becomes monotonous and stale, same for the satanically black eyeballs representing possession, and the sound of an over-burdening mother screeching her daughter's name. The repetitiveness of these sequences leaves the film feeling like a three-trick pony, and little more.

Additionally, the film flirts with the idea that Ambrose might actually be in worse condition than originally described - whilst having her connected to a working heart rate monitor that says otherwise - half-baked ideas like these only harm what is already a haphazard experience.

The Accursed is a film that does show promise, and nothing could be truer of this than the final sequence, which is too good of an ending for something so unsatisfying. In the end, this is a cliched and contrived experience, that lacks the confidence or originality to really use any of its characters or themes effectively.

Plot

Elly is asked by a family friend to look after an elderly woman living in a remote cabin for a few days. She agrees, but soon discovers there is a demon hiding in the woman just waiting to break free.

Cast

Those I'm unfamiliar with flanked by the incredible contract of awful Suvari and always welcome Foster.

Verdict

The Accursed was the wifey's Saturday night pick and though unfamiliar with this I wasn't opposed to it. I just did however wonder why I'd never heard of it.

The opening sequence was memorable, interesting and got me excited for what was the come. Alas what was to come was a dreadfully boring hour and a half of standard horror tropes, clichés, mediocre performances and fighting to keep my eyes open.

The Accursed is "Cursed" with a lack of originality, lifeless characters and a plot similar to countless other horror films.

The Accursed is a lifeless forgettable possession tale swimming in an ocean of forgettable horror movies. However I'd recommend wading a bit further to find something better.

Rants

Is originally in horror dead or is it just the industry as a whole? As I look at my 17.4k ratings on IMDB (Don't judge me) I realize I'm becoming very difficult to impress because I've quite literally seen it all. Watching thigs often feels like a chore, not because I don't want to but because I feel like everything is rehashed and that the industry are getting away with it because new generations are new blissfully unaware audiences. I craze something new!

The Good

Solid opening A couple of notable ideas Meg Foster

The Bad

Mena Suvari Bland characters Rather boring Overwhelmed with clichés and trope's.

I was really hoping to get some good witchy horror but just got this...the lead feels so off vibe for the tone they were going for. What can I say...if that girl is a nurse I am Marilyn Monroe.

It is impossible to feel any scare through this character, I gave it a 3 stars for Mena Suvari and Meg Foster, and maybe the production design...the houses are really creepy...but that just come with the southern gothic style.

The opening feels from a completely different movie, and it is so disappointing that it is not that movie.

Thought to turned off before half way but kept the hope it would get better...so naive.

The entire movie kept going like a plane with 3 out of 4 engines on fire. It is mediocre at best. No surprises, and precious few jump scares. Highly predictable.

Sad because the acting is really good. But the movie pacing and the script were really poor.

Has a number of plot holes too, and things happen in a too convenient way to move the thin plot along.

It almost entertains. We kept waiting to see if it would get better, hoping final act would make up for the first half. But no, it was not meant to be.

Falls flat like a pancake. There is one cool cgi effect that its cool the first time but then they use it over and over down to the last scene.