Cathy's Curse

Possessed by the spirit of her aunt, who died in a childhood car accident, a young girl acquires supernatural powers in this strange Canadian variation on 'The Omen' and 'The Exorcist'. The film gets off to a mediocre start with a poorly edited, intertitle-heavy exposition segment that tells us the circumstances by which the aunt died even though it has little bearing on the plot. The film improves somewhat as it cuts to decades later with an expressive Randi Allen well cast as the young protagonist who gradually progresses from using foul language to becoming totally unhinged as the movie plods along. The doll that she finds (and which supposedly leads to the possession) is pretty creepy too; same goes for a painting upstairs with glowing eyes. Unfortunately none of the adult actors here are up to Allen's level. Beverly Murray is particularly over-the-top as her overbearing mother and the less said about the man who plays a constantly coughing drunk who she befriends the better. The biggest issue (or 'curse' if you like) with the film though is that it never really makes up its mind what it wants to be. There is no tangible motivation driving the possessed aunt and a lot of what Allen does comes off as weird for the sake of it. The film does benefit from a pulsating music score and refreshingly minimal (decent) special effects, but to what end here is uncertain.

Hokey supernatural thriller about the possession of an innocent little girl by the spirit of a mean-spirited little girl who died in a car crash, and who would've grown up to be the first girl's aunt. The possessed girl now seems to have powers that equal those of the Antichrist in the "Omen" films, although how she got them is never explained, and we also never understand what exactly she is trying to accomplish with her random killings (she even kills the dog!). The film is totally unbelievable and ineptly edited, but there is the occasional effective moment (the scene with the spiders may give you the willies). (*1/2)

Low budget Canadian knock-off of superior major releases such as "The Exorcist" and "The Omen" is nonetheless fairly pleasing on a "so bad it's good" level. It begins in the 1930s, as a man (Peter MacNeill, "Crash", "A History of Violence") and his young daughter perish in a car accident. 40 years later, the girls' now grown-up brother George (Alan Scarfe, "Double Impact", 'Seven Days') moves into the old family home with his wife Vivian (Beverly Murray, "Street Smart", "The Carpenter") and their kid, Cathy (Randi Allen). Soon, the kid is behaving strangely, the wife is coming unglued, and various bizarre & macabre things are happening.

"Cathy's Curse" is NOT without entertainment value: it's slipshod - and hysterically scripted - enough to make it pretty amusing in spite of itself. The acting is pretty bad from just about everybody, but that doesn't mean that it isn't enjoyable. The pretty Murray is the worst offender; she seems incapable of delivering a good performance if her life depended on it. Young Allen is a hoot, especially as the story progresses and the movie gets more and more priceless.

Special effects and gore are kept to a minimum, with French-born co-writer & director Eddy Matalon ("Breakout", "Sweet Killing") struggling in vain to give his movie some semblance of gravitas and atmosphere. But ultimately, "Cathy's Curse" is entertaining because of it being so laughable. It's hard to say whether this was intended; the actors, as underwhelming as they are; do largely play the material straight. Roy Witham ("Agency"), as old caretaker Paul, is amusing, as is Mary Morter ("The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane") as the medium. Best of all is when the dialogue suddenly turns vulgar, and the kid is hurling insults at her elders.

A must if you're eager to delve into the cheesier side of Canuxploitation, but don't go in expecting anything resembling a good film.

Filmed in Quebec.

Five out of 10.

No, I'm not insulting your mother with that summary. That golden prose is actually uttered (poorly) by Cathy's drunk driving father to his psychic/psychotic child in the first five minutes of the film. It's a pretty good encapsulation of what you're getting yourself into.

Amazingly, I forced some friends to watch this and they actually made it to the end. Unfortunately, some of them only squeezed by, relieving their frustration by punching chairs, screaming into pillows and then, when all else failed to relieve their seething rage, they physically attacked me. Lets just say, I'm not allowed to pick the movies at the video store anymore. Along with the freakish "Pieces" and Doris Wishman's "A Night to Dismember", this film is basically the worst horror film ever made. That might be a pretty bold statement, but Cathy's Curse is a pretty bold movie. The car crash at the beginning of the film is so poorly shot and edited, it will probably give some of you seizures.

Of course the only way to watch this film is on the worst print you can find. I strongly suggest the Brentwood release. The full-frame, non-pan and scan makes the dialogue even more hilarious when it's coming from talking noses at opposing ends o the screen.

As a Canadian, there's no excuse for this exercise in crap.

The unholy spawn of The Exorcist, The Omen, and The Bad Seed, Cathy's Curse feels like a made for TV or family approved riff on all those movies without any of the scares. Poor little possessed Cathy won't curse like Regan in The Exorcist, but she will call people "fat cows" with a nice amount of vitriol.

As silly as it is, there is some great low budget 70's ambiance in here that keeps it from being a total misfire and it's not a very long movie, so it won't feel like a complete waste of time.