The Curse

A decent, but unspectacular late 80s cheesy low-budget b-grade horror feature starring Wil Wheaton (not too long after the hit movie "Stand by Me"). The peculiar plot is a very loose adaptation of a H.P. Lovecraft short story, and from that the film's pacing can plod about (quite talkie and then there was the family dramas) and throw around some ridiculous and elaborate occurrences. It's the performances that drives this one home and some icky, if tatty make-up FX work latter on (not including some very low-end special effects), but other than that there's not all that much to it. The idea isn't bad, but the execution (outside some well-shot scenes) is sloppy (like the use of slow motion towards the end). A respectable Wheaton makes for an agreeably sympathetic performance and a lively Claude Akins is the opposite as his aggressively headstrong, bible totting step-father. There's good support in the shape of Kathleen Jordon Gregory, Cooper Huckabee, Steve Carlisle and John Schneider. The setting of a remote farm does create a claustrophobic hold, where there's never a sense of feeling secure and surprisingly the night time sequences did draw upon some atmospheric spells. A fruity, small scale Horror/Sci-fi production, which can be a little dull.

Don't watch this movie. Wil Wheaton has described how incredibly abusive the whole experience was. From his parents forcing him to do it, to him and his sister being overworked and put in damaging situation, to even sexual abuse. Oh, and his abusive parents spent all the money.

Just google Wil Wheaton and the title of the movie, and read what he said. But here you have some snipets:

"I told my parents I didn't like it and didn't want to do it. I clearly recall thinking it was a piece of sh-- that would hurt my career."

"The experience was awful. It was the worst experience I have ever had on a set in my life, by every single metric. The movie is awful, and it is the embarrassment I knew it would be."

"When you watch The Curse, you are watching two children, me and my sister, who were abused on a daily basis. The production did not follow a single labor law. They worked us for twelve hours a day, (...) without any breaks, five days a week"

"I was inappropriately touched by two different adults during production. I knew it was wrong, but I was so scared and ashamed, and I felt so unsupported, I didn't tell anyone. I knew my dad wouldn't believe me, and my mother would blame me. Anything to keep the production happy, that's what she did."

"My sister is in a scene where she goes to get eggs from some chickens, and they attack her. So they hired Lucio Fulci, the Italian horror master, to direct her sequence. His idea, which everyone was totally on board with, was to throw chickens at my sister. Live chickens, live roosters, live birds. Just throw them at a nine-year-old girl. Oh, and then tie them to her arms and legs so they'll peck her. All of this happened under my mother's observation, and with her full participation."

"The makeup department decided they would literally cut my little sister's face with a scalpel, in three places, and put bandages over them."

"As I predicted and feared, this piece of -- movie cashed me out of respectable films forever. I got offers for movies, but they were always mindless comedies or exploitative horror films. They were never the serious dramas I wanted to work in after Stand by Me."

And there's more to it. Go read it.

Truly disturbing to see how children can be treated in Hollywood. No one to look after them.

Seriously. Shame on the director, the make-up crew, and all the production, the studio executives, and Wheaton's parents. Oh, and Fulci too.

"The Curse" 1987 by David Keith displays great horrific atmosphere and a nice cast with Wil Wheaton, Claude Akins , John Schneider , Malcolm Danare , among others . From the darkest part of the heavens , horror has arrived , a meteorite that lands near a small farm. The night of a storm , an unindentified, glowing object falls from space , it seems to be a meteor that crashes on earth and infects the water , food and near a farm in rural Tennessee , and , subsequently , the Alien parasites do gruesome things to a lonely family . With it comes a terrible curse for the astonishing family , while farm animals and fruits get infected . As the stiff father (Claude Akins providing nice acting) undertakes a crusade to rid the wife (Kathleen Jordon Gregory) and children (Wil Wheaton and his real-sister Amy Wheaton ) of these monstruosities , resulting in fateful consequences . It will consume you ! No one believe them ! Now , no one's left to save them. It takes your body. And your mind . Then it takes you straight to hell... It took seed ...now it needs to feed . A tale of crops , creatures and carnage !.

Terror movie with thrills , chills , scary events , strong violence and traditional but effective special effects . Concerning an outer entity , a huge, glowing meteorite falls on a farm and contaminates the grubby area , turning people and animals into slime-oozing mutants .Here stands out the colorful images and the gory and loathing FX with plenty of blood and grimy that deliver the goods enough . This is based on Lovecraft story titled ¨Color Out of Space¨, this notorious writer has been adapted in several films such as Dagon , The Dunwich Horror ,The Call of Cthulhu , Re-animator , Re-sonator , The Beyond , Valdemar Legacy I , Valdemar Legacy II , and many others . Stars Wil Wheaton as the good little boy who attempts to save his sister at whatever cost , Claude Akins as the fanatic religious as well as upsettling daddy and Malcolm Damre as the extremely nasty brother. The remaining ensemble cast includes , Steve Carlise , Cooper Huckabee and John Schneider , all of them giving decent acting . It was again adapted in 2019 as ¨Color out of space¨by Richard Stanley with fine performances from Nicolas Cage providing a really histrionic , gestual and almost farcical acting , Joely Richardson, Brendan Meyer and Julian Illiard.

The motion picture was professionally directed by David Keith. This filmmaker has made a few movies , in fact this "The Curse" 2019 resulted to be his first film, and his subsequent outing was ¨Adventures of Tennesse Buck¨. He's a good actor , in his starters , Keith had a supporting role in The Rose (1979) starring Bette Midler ; later on , he had a supporting role in Brubaker (1980), and co-starred with Richard Gere in An Officer and a Gentleman (1982). He played a local thug in The Great Santini (1979), starred in The Lords of Discipline (1983) and held a prominent supporting role opposite Matthew McConaughey in U-571 (2000). After that , he played opposite Drew Barrymore in the science fiction horror film Firestarter (1984) , among others . Rating : 6/10 . Acceptable and passable movie horror movie . The pic will appeal to H. P. Lovecraft enthusiasts.

The Curse (1987) was a film that was loosely based upon the short story "The Colour from Outer Space". This seminal horror/science fiction prose was written by the master of horror H.P. Lovecraft. The problem with adapting his original material is that the film makers tinker with success. Whilst a few directors such as Stuart Gordon and Dan O'Bannon have been successful in translating his stories for the silver screen, most of them are pure nonsensical tripe that's best avoided (except for John Carpenter's trilogy of the apocalypse that captures the aura of Lovecraft perfectly).

The Curse had all the makings of being a decent film. But the director and writers just don't fully understand the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Dumbingt down the man's work for a pedestrian horror film just doesn't cut it. Whilst it get's an A for effort it get's an F minus in execution. Bad acting, sloppy direction and lousy dialog dooms this movie from the get go. Better luck next time.

Not recommended, unless you're a H.P. Lovecraft completist.

while i give this an "average" score, it is a pretty good version of the story. in fact i was driven to write this review because i am currently reading "the colour out of space" (and yes, that is how the title is spelled) . i saw this movie a few years ago, but some of the parts will be stuck in my mind forever. the acting is par, (it isn't that bad, but isn't that good), the film work is par, but it does what Lovecraft's story did, it has turns in it that will stay in your mind for a very long time. perhaps the most disturbing thing i saw in it (other then their use of meal worms for certain effects) was the melting effect, if you watch this movie, that will stay with you for a very long time indeed, especially when the movie comes to its climax. it was a very good scare, and i recommend seeing it like i did, at 2:00 in the morning with no lights on, after all that is the best way to experience Lovecraft and his works. though it does not match the book by any stretch in terms of dialog, or even setting and writing, it is still very close to the original in terms of the way the plot develops. and after all what movie has been totally true to its literary counterpart? anyway, if you want a bit of a scare, and don't have a weak stomach, or are in to a "Twighlight Zone" type of scenario, this movie is for you.