Cursed appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.40:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This was a good but not great image.
Most of the movie looked appropriately concise and well-defined, but a few exceptions occurred, as sporadic shots felt a little “off”. Nonetheless, the majority of the film appeared accurate and concise.
I saw no jagged edges or shimmering, and edge haloes failed to appear. Grain seemed natural, and source flaws remained absent.
To reflect the predominance of moonlight, Cursed went with a decidedly bluish palette. This didn’t overwhelm more natural hues, but much of the movie showed that influence. Across the board, the colors seemed satisfying, as they reflected the production design well.
Blacks were generally deep and taut as well, but they could seem somewhat crushed at times. A few low-light shots looked slightly murky, but those popped up infrequently.
I found little to complain about when I examined the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Cursed. An action horror mix, it accentuated the action well, and not surprisingly, the various attack sequences fared the best.
Wolves came at us from all sides and created an engrossing feel for the fury of the fights. Many other scenes added great ambience, with a gold star going to the “Maze of Mirrors” sequence as a particularly dramatic use of all five speakers. The mix consistently portrayed a great sense of setting and helped make the movie more exciting.
Audio quality was always solid, as speech seemed natural and concise, and I noticed no edginess or other concerns. Music sounded vibrant and dynamic. The score and various songs boasted clean reproduction with good range.
Effects remained the best elements of the show, as they were aggressive and clear. Bass response was especially good and added a feeling of ferocity to the track. This was a terrific mix.
How did the Blu-ray compare to the original DVD? The lossless DTS-HD MA audio added range to an already solid Dolby Digital track.
Visuals showed good improvements. The DVD suffered from some edge haloes, and those went absent here. Throw in superior delineation and colors to make this an upgrade, even with some of the minor concerns I noted.
On this two-disc set, we find two separate editions of the film. Blu-ray One provides the movie’s “PG-13” Theatrical Cut (1:37:04), whereas Blu-ray two offers an Unrated Version (1:39:20).
With that added two minutes, 16 seconds, “Unrated” adds substantial gore to what they could show in the theatrical “PG-13” cut. For fans who want the new footage to be fresh, I won’t reveal the various bits of bloodiness, but suffice it to say that the longer Cursed depicts significantly nastier visuals.
Alongside the “Unrated” cut, we get a Select Scene Commentary from special effects makeup supervisor Greg Nicotero and actor Derek Mears. Their chat covers four scenes and lasts 31 minutes, 29 seconds.
I get the impression these tidbits were cut from a full-length commentary, as it always sounds like we join Nicotero and Mears in the middle of matters.
Normally I’d prefer a longer discussion, but since the pair don’t have that much to say in a program that barely lasts 25 percent of the film’s running time, I’m glad we got the shortened version.
Nicotero tells us the most as he covers elements related to the movie’s practical effects and discusses the use of CG as well. He relates a little about changes made to the flick’s tone and also goes over stunts and various tidbits from the set.
Mears was the guy inside the suit, and he occasionally offers that perspective, though he mostly just jokes about various movie scenes. He enjoys picking on bad effects shots, and that gives the commentary a refreshingly subversive tone. Unfortunately, we don’t get all that much concrete information, so the track is only sporadically worthwhile.
Various featurettes follow, and Behind the Fangs starts with a seven-minute, 33-second general view of the production. Here we find remarks from Mears, Nictoero, screenwriter/producer Kevin Williamson, and actors Christina Ricci, Jesse Eisenberg, Joshua Jackson, Scott Baio, Mya, Portia de Rossi, Michael Rosenbaum, and Judy Greer.
They reflect on the werewolf genre and how Cursed tries to redefine it, stunts and fights, working in the werewolf costume and visual elements, director Wes Craven’s attitude on the set, and the museum’s mannequins, and the movie’s tone.
Too much fluff appears to make this a strongly informative piece, but it has its moments. Some of the behind the scenes material is good, and we learn a smattering of factoids about the effects. It’s a painless program.
After this comes The Cursed Effects. It goes for six minutes, 45 seconds as it includes remarks from Nicotero, Mears, and Greer.
It goes through Mears’ approach to working in the costume, werewolf transition shots, the mixture of practical and CG effects, the costume’s animatronic components, and bringing some particularly gruesome scenes to life.
The highlight here comes from the test footage of Joannie’s transformation scene, and we get some other strong notes about the visual elements. Some of the notes echo those from the Nicotero/Mears commentary, but a lot of new bits appear, and the video footage makes this piece fun.
Creature Editing 101 fills five minutes, 32 seconds and offers statements from editor Patrick Lussier. He discusses the general impact an editor can have and also tells us Craven shot Cursed to be “R”.
Then he goes into the cuts made for the “PG-13” version as well as techniques used for editing horror flicks, concerns about how much to show the creature, attempts to make the werewolf look intelligent, and cutting among the various methods used to create the werewolf.
I especially like Lussier’s details about the changes executed for the “PG-13” edition, as between the lines, we can discern that the studio forced Craven to chop up his film for that rating, which probably explains why the director doesn’t participate in any of the set’s supplements. Lussier gives us an informative little chat.
Becoming a Werewolf fills seven minutes, 58 seconds with comments from Nicotero and Eisenberg. Initially it looks like it’ll offer a standard examination of the makeup used to transform actors, but it quickly subverts that expectation.
Instead it shows Nicotero and Eisenberg in a glib, tongue in cheek view of their methods. It’s surprisingly amusing.
New to this package, A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing lasts 13 minutes, 57 seconds and offers info from Mears. He discusses aspects of his werewolf performance in this brisk and informative chat.
Another new addition, A Movie That Lives Up to Its Title spans 17 minutes, 57 seconds and features more from Lussier. He tells us about his participation in the production, with an emphasis on all the problems he and Craven encountered.
Some of this feels repetitive after Lussier’s prior reel. Nonetheless, we get a tight overview here.
Disc One concludes with a trailer. Disc Two contains no extras outside of the aforementioned scene-specific commentary.
With Cursed, Wes Craven tries to do for the werewolf flick what Scream did for slasher movies. He fails. Despite a few good action sequences, it seems uninspired and tedious. The Blu-ray presents pretty good picture plus excellent audio and a few moderately tasty extras. Only die-hard horror fans are likely to get anything from this lackluster effort.
To rate this film visit the original review of CURSED
