'Cursed' an atmospheric horror tale with teeth

“The Cursed” - ★ ★ ★

I hesitate to label Sean Ellis' gothic thriller as a “werewolf movie,” simply because the term connotes a host of cliches and cheap, exploitative violence that does not apply here.

Instead, the atmospherically sumptuous “The Cursed” (a more generic title than its originally cryptic “Eight for Silver”) immerses us in a sharply edited, moodily photographed creature feature where you don't merely observe the violence.

You feel it.

You don't simply watch characters react to fear.

You experience it.

Ellis, who directed, wrote, produced and photographed “The Cursed,” puts his personal stamp on this work, one that does not command our attention but slowly draws us into a 19th-century world under assault by supernatural forces and by the unspeakable cruelty of human nature.

Somewhere in the quaint, French countryside, the wealthy Laurent family resides in a relatively posh mansion with patriarch Seamus (Alistair Petrie), his wife, Isabelle (Kelly Reilly), and two children Edward (Max Mackintosh) and Charlotte (Amelia Crouch).

When a tribe of Roma gypsies shows up, with evidence that they might have a claim to the Laurent land, Seamus musters his posse of nearby landowners to massacre the gypsies in a horrific sequence shot in long takes to capture the scope of the slaughter and tight shots to show the brutality of the violence.

As an old woman is buried alive, she curses the Laurents and the land.

In short order, the children experience horrible dreams about a scarecrow and a silver orb carved into a set of canine teeth.

Edward vanishes after being bitten by friend Timmy (Tommy Roger), who has found the teeth and felt compelled to place them in his mouth.

The mysterious body count begins.

Noted pathologist John McBride (Boyd Holbrook, looking relatively dapper) drops by to investigate, and quickly realizes the truth without the usual waffling and fretting by this stock character, leading up to a climactic assault on the local church where the fearful locals have assembled in the false hope they might be saved from the curse.

Ellis frames “The Cursed” with scenes from World War 1, 35 years after the gypsy slaughter. In the opening scenes, doctors pull bullets out of a wounded soldier, and something else: a strange, perfectly formed bullet the shape of a stretched triangle.

The movie returns to this setting at the end, which, to viewers paying close attention, should send a shudder up their spines as they realize what it means.

Granted, “The Cursed” lights a long, long fuse before the narrative explosions begin.

Both the Laurents and McBride are not easy characters to access and empathize with, unlike those in most mainstream horror tales.

But if you are the adventuresome type of horror enthusiast who appreciates Robert Eggers' “The Witch” over “Stephen King's Silver Bullet,” you might give “The Cursed” a try with its sly skewering of capitalism and understated plea for the Golden Rule.

Besides, how many movies depict werewolves as something resembling newborn bunny rabbits with exceedingly large teeth?

Starring: Boyd Holbrook, Kelly Reilly, Alastair Petrie

Directed by: Sean Ellis

Other: An LD Entertainment release. In theaters. Rated R for violence. 112 minutes