Leofwine_draca THE CURSED is a very low budget, straight-to-video local horror production from America. It was filmed in Tennessee and is notable for featuring real-life siblings Costas and Louis Mandylor who also play siblings in the movie. Costas Mandylor is of course well known for his prominent role in the SAW sequels. In this film they're sheriffs looking into a rural mystery involving supernatural horror. The film is slow and occasionally atmospheric, but the demonic storyline doesn't really convince and the supernatural scenes are quite laughably over the top.

Wuchak Although "The Cursed" was shot in 2007 it wasn't released until early 2010 on Syfy.THE PLOT: A writer (Brad Thornton) comes to a small Tennessee town to complete a book and strange things start happening – animals and people mysteriously disappear or are slaughtered. He hooks up with a good-looking librarian (Francesca Cecil) and they trace the problem to a satanic curse from the post-Civil War era. Meanwhile the sheriff (Louis Mandylor) is at his wits end trying to figure out what's going on and increasingly suspects the writer's involvement.Although this is a low-budget, independent film it's considerably better than Syfy's usual fare, e.g. "Gatorade vs. Mega-Cleavage." How so? For one, it maintains a serious vibe, which is important in an age when most mystery/horror films belong in the comedy section. Secondly, the film creates a mysterious ambiance throughout, akin to "The Fog" but with a Stephen King plot minus the cartoony characters.Speaking of the atmosphere, I really liked how you can hear the distinctive Eastern forest sounds, like the crickets and peepers, etc. I realize it's odd to point this out but the movie did this better than any that I can remember. The film was shot in McMinnville, Tennessee, by the way (and it's nice to see a film of this ilk shot somewhere other than Bulgaria, Romania or British Columbia).Another positive is the monster's appearance, particularly when it opens its mouth (when it's closed it doesn't look very impressive).Negatives include too much obvious dubbing and plot elements that simply don't make sense (why would the killer of the demon become the monster? And how would the old black guy know this with any certainty?); in addition, I disapprove of two important people biting the dust and the very end is lame.FINAL WORD: Although it's nothing to get overly excited about, "The Cursed" is effective for a TV horror film. The filmmakers and actors take the material seriously and the film evokes a cool creepy atmosphere, but the negatives cited above force me to give it a fairly mediocre rating or "almost good".GRADE: C+.

ctomvelu1 The Mandylor brothers, Louis and Costas, who aren't getting any younger or better in the acting department, costar in this no-budget demon-hunting tale set in a Steven King-type small town. The demon has been awakened from a long sleep by the arrival of a young writer, whose family was from the town and who is connected to it somehow. It starts off by killing some cattle and then tears up a whole bunch of people, including most of the cast, which isn't all that large. The script is pretty bad, the acting is wooden, and the special effects are just so-so. The demon itself isn't all that bad-looking and wisely is kept in shadow most of the time -- and frankly it could just as easily have been a werewolf. I think the filmmakers were influenced by the TV show, SUPERNATURAL. The ending is lifted from both John Carpenter's THE THING and THE FALLEN.

Neil Doyle BRAD THORNTON and LOUIS MANDYLOR star in what feels like a Stephen King story about a sheriff (Mandylor) trying to solve the mysterious deaths of townspeople and farm animals in Tennessee who have fallen prey to a blurry dark figure who seems to be impossible to kill.With phony Southern accents for some cast members and CGI effects that are unworthy of even a made-for-TV thriller, none of it appears to be the least bit convincing. It doesn't help that none of the principal roles are played with any distinction.Director Joe Bender must be partly to blame but the script is trite, shallow stuff with cardboard characters that have no dimension whatsoever.Apparently, the scriptwriter ran out of ideas for the ending and leaves everything pretty much unresolved as to the fates of our hero (Thornton) and the town sheriff.