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Cursed | 2005 | PG-13 | - 4.8.4
A woman (Christina Ricci) and her younger brother (Jesse Eisenberg) have a car accident along a dark road, and when they try to help another injured driver, they have to watch as she is dragged away by a large wolf. The two are scratched by the wolf, and they soon realize that they're turning into werewolves. Some of the changes are welcome, but they also struggle against newfound urges toward darkness and violence. Also with James Brolin, Portia De Rossi and Bambi Allen. Directed by Wes Craven. [1:36]
SEX/NUDITY 4 - A woman lies nude on the floor (we see her bare back, buttocks and legs). A young man wakes up nude in the bushes outside his house and scrambles to get inside after being seen by a neighbor (we see the young man's bare chest, back, legs and buttocks (he holds his hands over his private parts). Women wear low-cut tops throughout the movie that reveal cleavage and bare shoulders, also bare abdomens in a few scenes. A woman's dress hangs open revealing her bare legs to the thigh.
► A man and a woman kiss, and she suggests crawling into bed with him. A man and a woman kiss several times in several scenes, and a young man and a young woman kiss in a few scenes. A young man tries to kiss another young man and confesses that he is gay.
► A man caresses a woman's knee (an uninvited and seemingly unwelcome gesture). A woman sucks the blood off of a man's cut finger. A woman flirts forcefully with a man and he is surrounded by other women who fawn over him.
► Men appear to be inordinately attracted to a woman (they look at her suggestively as she walks past them and make comments about her appearance, like "...you look hot"). Several young women watch young men trying out for a wrestling team.
► People talk about a heightened sexual allure. Two women talk about one of them being obsessed with a man. A woman asks her high school-aged brother, "Why can't you download porn like the other teenaged boys?"
VIOLENCE/GORE 8 - A character bites another character on the neck (we hear snarling, and crunching and see blood), one is stabbed in the chest with a piece of silver (we see blood and smoldering and hear sizzling), and then a shovel is used to decapitate one character (we see two blows delivered, and we see the separated head and body and blood all around); then the remains burst into flames and burn down to ashes.
► A werewolf (we see its fangs and snarling snout) breaks a car window, bites a woman, drags her out of the car and through dark woods, while a young man grabs onto the woman and he is pulled along with yet another woman (we hear that the first woman was "torn to pieces"); the young man is scratched deeply on the chest (we see bloody marks) and the other woman has a bloody wound on her arm.
► A woman is attacked in a parking garage by a werewolf (we see the beast's features, with large fangs, snarling snout, large, yellow eyes and a very large body): it grabs her from behind, pulls her up and over a car and drops her on the ground, whereupon she hides under a car, and the werewolf scratches its claws along the side of a car (making an awful screeching noise); the woman sets off her car alarm, runs to an elevator, the doors close, the werewolf pounds at the doors and begins to pull them apart, and when he pries then open we hear the woman scream and hear crunching and squishing.
► We watch several people transform into werewolves in several scenes: their skin stretches, their veins darken, they sprout snouts and fangs, their fingers and nails grow into claws, they are covered with fur, and they snarl and growl (they also scream in pain in a few scenes). A young man is attacked by a werewolf, it jumps on him knocking him to the floor, while it is snarling, snapping and slobbering; it then chases the man through a house, out the front door, and into a car, and continues to scratch at the car as it drives away.
► A werewolf crashes into a mirrored room, a man and a woman inside try to get away, a young man is attacked (we see him later with a bit of blood on his nose), and other people are attacked (we see several bloody bodies thrown through the air), while others in a crowded nightclub panic and trample though the doors.
► A man is grabbed by the head and lifted up through the ceiling, blood drips down onto the floor, and then the bloody remains of the man's body are tossed down on the floor (we see blood and tissue on the body). A werewolf is shot repeatedly by police, it falls from a balcony and lands on the floor (we see many bloody holes on its body), it moves again and is shot again (we hear a splat and see brain matter on the floor). A werewolf throws a young man through the air, picks up a woman and throws her over a table (the woman now lies unconscious on the floor), and the young man waves a flaming torch at the werewolf, which throws him again; a piece of silver is shoved into the werewolf's mouth and it smolders and sizzles, and the werewolf spits it out and climbs up a wall.
► A woman tries to open a bathroom stall door fearing that a colleague might need help, the woman on the inside presses against the door so hard that her fingers bleed and we see depressions in the metal; the woman on the outside touches the woman's shoulder, she turns her head quickly yelling at her, and we see her eyes enlarged and yellow and see darkened veins on her face. A young man picks up a silver serving utensil and his hand sizzles, and a woman picks up a silver server and her hand sizzles and smolders. A man and a woman kiss passionately, and she imagines sprouting fangs and biting his neck hard (we see blood gushing from his neck).
► A dog snarls and snaps at a young man, bites his finger and we see a dribble of blood. A man cuts his finger on a soda can. A woman sniffs the air and people as they walk past her in a hallway and finds a woman with a very bloody nose (we see blood on her face and on a tissue). A young man in the middle of transforming into a werewolf skitters across a ceiling, and a man threatens to kill him. A car hits an animal, which strikes the car's windshield, and the car swerves hitting another car that's pushed off the road and down a hill.
► A woman tries to attack a man, he throws her against a wall, she punches him, he kicks her, and they struggle on the floor, while he holds her by the throat. A woman punches a young man, he is tossed through the air, two women struggle, one punches the other, one is thrown into a wall, and the young man tries to stab one woman with a sword; the woman kicks the young man in the face, one woman is hit in the face with a brick (we see her bloody nose), one woman is maced in the face, and one woman comes toward the other woman with a sword. A woman knees a man in the groin and kicks him through the air and into a gate (he falls to the floor unconscious).
► We see photos of badly mangled and bloody bodies and body parts on a "strange animal attack" website. We see a nightclub filled with Hollywood horror movie memorabilia including wax statues of werewolves, torture devices, etc.
► A woman walks through a parking garage, something seems to be watching her (we hear snorting and sniffing), and another woman comes into the parking garage and finds a trail of bloody foot and paw prints. A woman hears strange noises and follows them through a darkened house, and is startled when she turns and sees a man. A man hits a car window trying to get at a woman inside the car, the window shatters, and the woman jams a key into the man's abdomen and speeds way in the car.
► A person says that they want to "tear a person to shreds, let them choke on their own blood, then maybe eat them." We hear news reports about people being "mauled to death." We hear that to kill a werewolf you must, "separate the head from the heart." A woman looks scared when she reads the palms of two women and says that she sees, "blood...so much blood"; she also tells them to "beware of the beast. It feeds in the moonlight." We hear that the parents of a young man and a woman have recently died.
► A woman walks down a hill to find an injured driver in an overturned car (the injured driver whimpers and calls for help, and we see her trapped upside down in the driver's seat). Young men square off on a wrestling mat, flipping and slamming each other down hard several times and one is spun and tossed through the air. Several young men tease another young man about not being cool and being a geek (this happens in several scenes, and usually includes a shove or a poke). A woman hears strange noises in dark woods around her and appears scared.
LANGUAGE 4 - 1 obscene hand gesture, 3 sexual references, 19 scatological terms, 8 anatomical terms, 6 mild obscenities, 4 derogatory terms for homosexuals, name-calling (wimp-wad, geek, loser, stupid, idiot), 7 religious exclamations.
SUBSTANCE USE - People are shown drinking alcohol.
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Werewolves, death of parents, friendship, family, love, relationships, trust, homophobia, jealousy, myths, fact vs. fiction.
MESSAGE - What does not kill you makes you stronger.
CAVEATS
Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.
We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.
Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.
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