The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw

In a sect-like cristian-religiouse community somewhere they speak english, with a funny accent, unlike the typical american sound.its fundamentalist-cristianity and a witch hunt from start to end, and a lot of death in its path, and you can feel a pinch of devilism in the wake of every shift of location.

its a strange film, made on pure strength and no budget at all, and as long as the piece is written and directed by the same name it has some personal mark to it.

but the production aint bad, its just that we could have been given some clues to what why when and howcome witchcraft came to this community, and howcome everybody became so extremely fragile.

so its more drama than horror and more mystery than crime, and its completely empty on comedy and real love. but blood and murder there is, so i guess ,even though im a grumpy old man, that i can give a small recommend.

The atmospherics and setting are straight out of "The Witch" for me. The film strikes an excellent balance between slow-burning dread and gore, but the background story needs more exploration. In the end this film leaves a lot of questions.

Horror tales set in those dark times of the past - away from today's cellular communication and wiki-page info that is more mundane than arcane - have a special cast of magic to them. The pall of the unknown all the more heightened as science surrenders to folklore. Where witches have more answers than priests. The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw initially presents such a time. When superstition was fearful and deadly. Yet the cauldron of this movie never fully brews the right spell.

A religious sect, separated from the Church of Ireland, establishes a settlement in North America. The community has survived until a recent famine has struck the land save for the bountiful farm of Agatha Earnshaw. As such, she is dubbed a witch by the suspicious townspeople. The kicker being, of course, that she is. Along with her coven, Agatha's daughter Audrey is raised in secret in order to fulfill... something. A curse? A prophecy? An end to the community's sheltered existence? This point is never realized. Nor are her exact origins - or Agatha's, or this coven's - revealed.

Audrey, full of teen spirit, witnesses a verbal attack against her mother and decides to take vengeance. She targets her dark arts at the Dwyers, who are mourning the loss of their child. Other than amplifying the Dwyer family's misery, the culmination of her curse is wholly unrealized and unnecessarily open-ended. Audrey is all unwarranted anger and unfilled destiny, but she pouts beautifully.

The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw looks good. Actually, better than it should. Director Thomas Robert Lee builds an interesting world; one that is familiar, but also two steps over into the gray mist. Life is skewed and complicated here; this is not a simpler time as expected. Lee cleverly draws in on the mystery of young Audrey Earnshaw and her mother Agatha, yet he also ignores the logical lives of the other townspeople. When it comes time for their role in the play, Lee, who also writes the movie, is so deep in the lore that the cohesiveness of the plot is swept away like straw from the barn.

The Curse... might look sharp but any occult bite is sorely dulled.

Audrey is the key focus of the movie, and actress Jessica Reynolds shines. Her contrasting dark hair and alabaster skin is akin to Jennifer Connelly in Labyrinth and plays in a role full of potential. Likewise, Catherine Walker as Agatha, dutifully portrays the opposite: a life unrealized and the weight of her burden. The rest of the townspeople are a mess of Irish brogues and cliche ignorance.

Again, The Curse... looks sharp and new; a contrast perhaps to what Lee might have wanted. The sepia desaturation is a nice touch, but full-on black-and-white would have been menacingly clever.

Pioneer attire aside, The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw is set in 1973. This movie might be more reminiscent of M. Night Shyamalan's The Village than Robert Egger's The Witch, yet never hits the mystery or mystique of either movie. Instead, The Curse... is a creepy concept full of haunting potential.

The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw had the potential to register an indie voice to a specific sub-genre. Walker and Reynolds not only make a fantastically rich mother-daughter duo, but shine as characters who deserve more. The plot is a humiliating burning stake of its own with unnecessarily open questions. Audrey's origin story aside, setting the movie in 1973 is both baffling and purposeless. Lee seemingly wants to make his own personal Hereditary yet is shackled to mediocrity. For a 93-minute movie, The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw suffers from its own want with long, dry spells that are anything but bewitching.

The actors are good but the script is poor and boring. it is a waste of time

The only thing i liked about this movie is it made me sit full time and watch it even though i dont understand what the curse is or for what reason it's inflicted on storyline is like a nice hot potato but totally mashed at the end for nothing.