Alabama. During the Civil War period, a group of deserter soldiers, after robbing a bank and causing a massacre, find refuge in an old abandoned house in the middle of a cornfield. The bandits' plan is to stay there until the waters calm down and then flee to Mexico with the loot. However, during the night, strange beings appear between the walls of the house where it seems that a passage to another dimension has been opened.
Large isolated houses where darkness and creaks reign, demons from a dark dimension, terrifying creatures that crawl under the bed, eerie and endless cornfields watched over by black-clad scarecrows. These are the ingredients that, skillfully inserted into an unusual western setting, give an area of originality and unease to Alex Turner's debut film, a former music video and TV commercial director who seems at ease with cinematic horror.
Although the film in question is predominantly set in a haunted house, the too anonymous Italian title does not do justice to the film in question which in its original version is called "Dead Birds", with a cryptic reference to the last creature that the protagonists of the story see in the path that leads them to the haunted house before venturing into the nightmare. For obvious reasons of translation, the Italian distribution opted for "The Cursed House", thus throwing Turner's film into the anonymity of the many products that have a haunted mansion and domestic demons as their protagonist, born in the wake of the international successes of "Amityville Horror" and "The House". In reality, "The Cursed House" does not draw much inspiration from the classic sagas about the colonial villa of Rhode Island and the adventures of the demon slayer Ash, but rather attempts the risky path of the hybridization of themes and styles belonging to the different Eastern and American traditions. In fact, the film in question has a spatial and temporal setting of a classic secessionist western, with soldiers in blue jackets, bank robberies, shootouts and horseback escapes, but fills this dusty frame with the rhythms and suggestions of some horrors belonging to the modern Eastern tradition. Therefore, diabolical and frightening children, with tarantula-like movements, slow narrative rhythm and little action. This is combined with some slight Lovecraftian suggestions.
Probably it is this bizarre mix between western and ghost story that gives originality to "The Cursed House", which otherwise would have enjoyed much less appeal (if not totally absent) due to some "defects". First of all, the basic plot is too simple and does not present any surprise, sewing together the now well-known rivalry between the members of the group, often moved by greed and mistrust towards others, with the story of the human sacrifice that opened some door of hell. In short, every twist is rather telegraphed. This is combined with a little developed development of the psychologies of the protagonists, more similar to simple slasher meat than to disillusioned deserter soldiers and mistrustful of their country. The rhythm of the film is also rather alternating: it begins with an adrenalinic bank robbery that turns into pure splatter, then passes to a central part a bit too slow that dangerously threatens the attention of the spectator, to finish with an excellent epilogue rich in macabre bloody scenes.
The special effects are one of the strong points of this film, capable of combining computer graphics with mechanical effects in a rather functional way, often giving rise to surprising turns towards the most extreme splatter.
Good cast, although not exploited to the fullest; among the known faces are Henry Thomas ("E. T. – The Extra-Terrestrial"; "Masters of Horror: Chocolate"), Patrick Fugit ("Almost Famous"; "Saved!"), Mark Boone Jr. ("2 Fast 2 Furious"; "Batman Begins") and Muse Watson ("I Know What You Did Last Summer"; "Incubo Finale").
In conclusion, "The Cursed House" is a good product, not exempt from defects but sufficiently original and suggestive. It definitely deserves a viewing.
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