New U.S. Release

Cursed

By ROBERT KOEHLER

Christina Ricci and Jesse Eisenberg star as sister and brother in Wes Craven's werewolf tale ''Cursed'' from Dimension Films.

A Dimension Films release of an Outerbanks Entertainment production in association with Craven/Maddalena Films. Produced by Kevin Williamson, Marianne Maddalena. Executive producers, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Andrew Rona, Brad Weston. Co-producer, Jennifer Breslow, Dan Arredondo, Julie Plec. Co-executive producer, Stuart Besser. Directed by Wes Craven. Screenplay, Kevin Williamson.
 
Ellie - Christina Ricci
Jake - Joshua Jackson
Jimmy - Jesse Eisenberg
Joannie - Judy Greer
Scott Baio - Himself
Bo - Milo Ventimiglia
Brooke - Kristina Anapau
Zela - Portia de Rossi
Becky - Shannon Elizabeth
Jenny - Mya
 

Reteaming from their "Scream" days but without a knockout game plan, director Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson go through the horror motions in "Cursed," which ponders what a sister and brother do when they're bitten by a werewolf. Routine but unmistakably marked by the director-writer duo's recognizable devices, pic is a kind of fanciful update of "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" and hardly deserving of being dumped in the marketplace by Dimension with nary a critic's screening in sight. Craven's name will pack 'em in opening weekend, but most commercial bites will be in vid.

Simply knowing that Shannon Elizabeth is the first victim of the marauding beast will make teen boys interested in "Cursed," and they'll have a rooting interest in Jesse Eisenberg's nerdy high schooler Jimmy, who has lived alone with his sister Ellie (Christina Ricci) since their parents died in an accident.

When Ellie and Jimmy try to save Elizabeth's Becky after they smash into her car, they are wounded by a huge toothy, furry critter, which then drags Becky away for dinner.

Eisenberg, just off a smashing perf in "The Squid and the Whale," plays the ideal thinking boy as well as a punching bag for school bully Bo (Milo Ventimiglia), while Ricci's Ellie puts up with abuse at work from bitchy publicist Joannie (Judy Greer). Ellie starts to feel strange -- but perhaps not as strange as auds feel trying to figure out how she can be a staffer at "The Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn," considering that Kilborn departed the chatshow last August.

Juggling their usual formula of pop cultures snipes and horror thrills, Craven and Williamson mine prime material by fashioning a Hollywood bash thrown by PETA, with guests dressed as their favorite endangered species -- until one guest meets the wrong end of the loose werewolf's fangs. Except for Eisenberg's superb comic timing and his ability to make the familiar seem interesting, the high school scenes play like "Scream" outtakes, filling in time before the third act battle begins in earnest.

Ellie tries to get close to would-be b.f. Jake (Joshua Jackson), a producer of a fright show at a Hollywood club, but he seems out of sorts in ways that become clear when Ellie finds her body gradually taking on werewolfish dimensions during the full moon cycle. There are twin jokes here (first, with Jimmy and Ellie's inner beast attracting the opposite sex; second, with Jake admitting that he's been able to "live" with his mysterious ailments, not to be disclosed here), but Craven and Williamson don't have as much as fun with them as might be expected.

Instead, pic wends its way through a fairly standard set of face-offs (one of which may surprise fans of the usually comic Greer), which showcase yet another example of effects makeup maestro Rick Baker's fascination with wolf creatures.

Perfs similarly hit rote genre notes, while production package is as slick and handsome as one expects from Craven. CG effects and action look recycled from far scarier projects.

Camera (Deluxe color, Clairmont widescreen), Robert McLachlan; editor, Patrick Lussier; music, Marco Beltrami; music supervisor, Ed Gerrard; production designer, Bruce Miller; art directors, Jeff Knipp, Andrew Max Cahn; set designers, Barbara Mesney, Sharon Alshams, Gae Buckley, Mark Poll; costume designer, Alix Fridberg; sound (Dolby Digital/SDDS/DTS), Jim Stuebe; supervising sound editor, Todd Toon; special makeup effects, Rick Baker; visual effects supervisor, Richard R. Hoover; special effects supervisor, Ron Bolanowski; visual effects and animation, Sony Pictures Imageworks; additional visual effects, Luma Pictures, FX Cartel; stunt coordinator, Charlie Croughwell; associate producer, Nicholas C. Mastandrea; assistant director, Nicholas A. Mastandre; casting, Lisa Beach, Sarah Katzman. Reviewed at The Grove, Los Angeles, Feb. 25, 2005. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 97 MIN.
 

With: Craig Kilborn, Lance Bass.