Cursed Films

Shudder is a channel for horror fans, right? Horror fans are generally obsessive and do research on most the films they love, right? The concept of this show is terrific, in theory. However, it just feels like you're reading through a wikipedia page. The show offers no new knowledge and the pacing is all over the place. Especially in the second episode. Poltergeist didn't offer much new info either, but was more grounded in the emotional impact of O'Rourke and Dunne's deaths. The show had potential. So far, it's not mustering up the excitement i hoped for. Let's hope "The Crow" and "Twilight Zone : The Movie" conclude the season on a higher note.

The show isn't too bad, informative but they do derail from their topic on the episode each time, especially the last episode spent more time discussing things not related to the title. I do enjoy the stories though from the original people on these cursed sets and what not however.

All the episodes are very entertaining/intriguing. A couple episodes have moments where they go on misdirected tangents, but it all still works. That said, I thought The Crow episode was the most effective. And that shot in the Twilight Zone episode... Holy crap. I'll remember that footage for the rest of my life. I'd love to see another season of this show. Jay Cheel is a talented filmmaker.

Besides the episode on The Twilight Zone which digs a little bit deeper into the topic of on-set safety and what actually took place that tragic night, Cursed Films feels as basic and cursory as a click-bait article on cursed productions.

If you've never heard of most of these so- called curses, it's possible that you'll find some of this interesting, but most horror fans who already know most of this information will get bored quickly. For example, there are wonderful E True Hollywood Stories out there on both The Exorcist and the Poltergeist films that cover far more ground and are way more interesting.

If you're a newbie, you might enjoy it. It's still well produced and edited.

"Shudder" really made a nice stab with it's latest doc series "Cursed Films" a five part doc series that examined strange and fatal happenings on the set of some of Hollywood's most famous horror films. Featured in each episode is interviews with those involved and never before seen film footage is often shown of the behind the scenes making. Also featured are pop culture and paranormal and religious experts who give their take on why these things happened to people or why this certain kind of film set seems to be cursed! Episodes are entertaining and informative it takes any horror fan back in time as most episodes involve telling the tragic deaths of actors who worked on the set of their film. "The Crow" episode tells how Brandon Lee was fatally shot by a weapons malfunction and how it was a curse as a demon haunted the Lee family as from his father Bruce's death they all seemed doomed. And the footage of the plane crash from the Twilight Zone episode was tough and crazy to watch as the crash and explosion killed Vic Murrow. Was it that John Landis pushed things to hard and ignored safety? Watch this and be the judge were things just meant to happen or was the devil involved or was a curse meant for these legendary pictures. A must for any horror buff and film history fan!