Cursed *1/2
Cast: Christina Ricci, Jesse Eisenberg, Joshua Jackson, Milo Ventimiglia, Judy Greer, Portia de Rossi, Shannon Elizabeth, Mya
Director: Wes Craven
Running Length: 1:26
MPAA Classification: PG-13

Siblings Ellie (Ricci) and Jimmy (Eisenberg) are hit a big furry something while driving and end up in an even bigger accident, rammin another car and sending it off the road and down a hillside. While trying to save the driver of that car, they are both bitten by a wolf. Jimmy comes to believe it is a warewolf, while Ellie harbors doubts. Soon, supernatural powers begin to present themselves. Jimmy likes what they do for him, Ellie becomes worried. Soon, they are searching for the "wolf" that bit them in an attempt to end the curse.

There are a number of things hurt this movie. The first is the cast. A virtual who's who of young Hollywood, the case of "Cursed" exists only to draw in teens to the theater. The only real quality actor name-wise in this movie is Christina Ricci, the lead. Unfortunately, her performance shows none of the quality that she has produced before. She seems like she is on auto pilot. Scott Baio, of all people, gets credit for playing a disperaging version of himself, and showing that he can take a joke at his own expense.

Director Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson have distanced themselves from the movie. They made the "Scream" franchise work, and revived interest in horror movies, and for some reason the studio decided that they wanted a PG-13 rating. The studio forced the cuts without Craven and Williamson's input, and it shows. The choppy editing of the kills and obvious desire not to show too much are painfully obvious.

Finally, the PG-13 rating will be the death of horror movies as we have known them. Why any studio would trim a horror movie that was filmed for an R rating down to a PG-13 is beyond me. Why they would do this to a Wes Craven moven movie is even more puzzling. This is a clear case of trying to get teens into the theaters, and it is insulting to any fan of the horror genre.

That being said, this movie would still have been bad with the gore. It just does not work on so many levels that a little blood and guts would make absolutely no difference. This movie was a disappointing experience that I would not recommend partaking in.