A Blasted Heath of a movie

THE CURSE (1987)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

According to H.P. Lovecraft scholars, "The Curse," which is adapted from Lovecraft's own creepy and menacing short story "The Colour of Space," is more faithful to the author's literary source than the 1965 version "Die, Monster, Die!" Not sure if Lovecraft was thinking of Bible-thumping farm owners, marital infidelity, worms that eat the innards of cattle and apples, a lascivious real-estate agent, a poop joke, shades of "The Exorcist" and lots of bile spewing phenomenon. Then again, I am not a Lovecraft devotee but, then again, I have read the story and this movie bears little resemblance to its literary source.

As directed by David Keith, "The Curse" left me feeling nauseated. The movie is exceedingly gross, featuring too many shots of worms and maggots eating away the inside of fruits and far too many shots of unhealthy-looking face sores. The story is set on a Tennessee farm run by the Biblical and righteous Nathan Hayes (Claude Akins) who has a new family to support. There is the wandering eye of his new and very horny wife, Frances (Kathleen Jordon Gregory - her sole film credit), who has to learn to make better bread rolls; a zombiefied-looking Wil Wheaton as the stepson Zack; Nathan's giddy and maniacally irritating elder son (Malcolm Danare) who teases Wil incessantly, and Amy Wheaton as Zack's younger sister. A glowing meteorite crashes a few yards from the Hayes farm and it spews liquids and unknown elements into the property and the water supply. Most of the family members drink the water that transforms them into mean killing machines with contorted faces and a few ugly sores. Then there are the worms that fester on the livestock and the fruits. Yuck. See how you react to the sight of chickens pecking away at Amy Wheaton's face. Only the Wheatons are smart enough not to drink the water.

The characters have no more than two dimensions, especially Claude Akins who appears to be a rigid, strict disciplinarian (he laughs at a "poop" joke from his son and that is about as animated as Akins gets in the entire movie). Danare's Cyrus is every brother's nightmare - a loud, obnoxious, bullying brat who you know will get his just deserts.  Kathleen Gregory's Frances is convincingly dour but she only comes alive in horror makeup. We also get "Dukes of Hazzard's" own John Schneider as a surveyor from the Tennessee Valley Authority (the short story was told from his perspective).

"The Curse" is a generic and frenetic "alleged" horror flick that is mediocre in all departments - a largely revolting movie I will always remember for the worms. A vomit-inducer of a movie, if that is your idea of a good time. A better vomit-inducer is John Carpenter's "The Thing." Better yet, read the original short story by H.P. Lovecraft - it is riveting.