[Review] Cursed Films examines popular legends

Today is the premiere of Shudder’s Cursed Films, a docu-series that explores the legends surrounding certain movies being cursed. The five-part series looks at the curses connected to The Exorcist, Poltergeist, The Omen, The Crow, and Twilight Zone: The Movie.

Shudder made available the episodes focusing on Poltergeist and The Omen for early review, so I’ll be focusing on those two.

Initially, I was concerned that at only thirty minutes, the episodes wouldn’t be long enough to cover the stories in detail. I was surprised to find they save quite a few minutes by not giving a run down on the movies’ plots. It’s got to be a safe bet that the Shudder horror documentary audience is already familiar with the basics of these iconic films. It’s you’re not that familiar with the movies, or it’s been ten or twenty years, I’d recommend giving them a rewatch before checking out Cursed Films.

They pose a lot of questions about how legends spring up around these movies, why these films in particular, what the idea of a curse even is. And the interview subjects run a great variety of film critics/historians/fans, psychologists, spiritual experts, and industry professionals involved with the specific movies.

There’s a lot packed into those thirty minutes, and if you’ve taken a few basic psychology classes or ever googled “Poltergeist curse” you’re going to hear material you already know, but you’re also going to get some great observations and learn quite a bit you didn’t before.

Poltergeist III director Gary Sherman

Tonally, the Poltergeist episode and The Omen episode are polar opposites, although I think that works in an anthological sort of docu-series like this. It comes from the situations surrounding the idea of the curses. Poltergeist is mostly considered cursed because of the tragic deaths of it’s two young leading ladies through domestic abuse and a misdiagnosed congenital condition. Cursed Films respects them in my opinion, and doesn’t treat it as fun trivia, but a real human loss. Just try to watch the powerful interview with Poltergeist III’s director Gary Sherman, and not get moved. That’s not to say the entire episode is depressing, because it is respectful.

Meanwhile, The Omen’s curse mostly involves several near misses with cast and crew who came very close to death. Because of this, the episode on The Omen is much, much lighter and has more fun with the idea of curses themselves. About ten minutes in, I came to a quirky conclusion about The Omen curse that the episode made ten fifteen minutes later which felt like we were on the same page, which was fun.

Troy’s takeaway: Cursed Films offers a fun, and occasionally sobering, look at some pretty weird connections around iconic horror films. If you’re a fan of the movies, or enjoy these sorts of niche examinations, then check it out. Episode one is available now on Shudder. Episodes two and three premiere next week, and four and five will be released the following Thursday.