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YMMV / Cursed (2005)

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  • Alternate Character Interpretation: One that comes with the two reveals in the films finale. Jake is a werewolf and later revealed as the one who bit the Myers siblings, while Joanie is the one whose been going around killing people. Could Jake have been the one who killed Becky and Jenny? After all the werewolf who kills Becky was also the one who the one who bites Ellie and Jimmy. The werewolf who attacks Becky and Jenny both have a darker color pallet than Joanie's wolf form, and we never see Jake transform. With the revelation that he was looking for the perfect "mate" in Ellie, could he have also been killing the other girls who didn't meet his standards? If the revelations about Jake and Joanie are meant to be a Double Red Herring, this isn't expressly explained.
  • Better on DVD: The unrated DVD contains the R-rated cut in the film, with the gore kept in.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse:
    • Bo, especially considering they have Milo Ventimiglia turn out to be an Armored Closet Gay.
    • Joannie as well due to being played by perpetual darkhorse Judy Greer and becoming wonderfully snarky once she's revealed as the villain.
    • Jenny's pretty popular for the stealth and cunning she shows in her chase scene and for her leopard print dress.
  • Fair for Its Day: Despite the use of gay slurs in the movie, Bo's homosexuality is portrayed in a surprisingly positive light and he drops the Jerk Jock act after he comes out to Jimmy who, despite turning down his advances, doesn't have an issue with it.
  • Fan-Preferred Cut Content: Cursed was rewritten due to Executive Meddling after most if not all of the original script was filmed, with radically different characters and plot twists. The studio has refused to release the cut content, despite a fan consensus that it could give the movie a chance at real greatness when the theatrical version is generally felt to be So Okay, It's Average or worse.
  • Fanon Discontinuity: A lot of viewers like to pretend the movie ends at Tinsel.
  • Fridge Brilliance: Jake being swarmed by women at the party makes a lot more sense when you know that he's actually a werewolf, giving off the same sexual aura that Ellie and Jimmy are also giving off
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: One of Ellie's coworkers is played by Michael Rosenbaum - who played Lex Luthor on Smallville. Jesse Eisenberg would later play Lex in the DC Extended Universe.
  • Narm:
    • The scene where Kyle refuses to show Ellie and Jimmy his hand. It's such a blatant contrivance to make him into a Red Herring and makes no sense since he's killed immediately after.
    • Having the werewolf talk in the silly pitched-down voice takes away a lot of the menace.
  • Narm Charm: A werewolf giving Ellie the middle finger. Silly? Yes. Hilarious? Absolutely.
  • One-Scene Wonder: Portia De Rossi as the fortune teller Zela appears only in the opening and in one later scene. But she's wonderfully kooky.
  • Retroactive Recognition: Jesse Eisenberg a few years before his big role in The Social Network. Milo Ventimiglia was known for Gilmore Girls but this was before he'd really become famous for Heroes.
  • Signature Scene:
    • The scene where a werewolf gives the middle finger.
    • Jenny being chased by the werewolf in the parking garage and elevator.
  • So Okay, It's Average: Some fans have Critical Backlash to the movie's bad rating (16% on Rotten Tomatoes) and note that despite the Troubled Production and occasional Plot Hole, there are parts of the movie that are legitimately good. Not great or spectacular, but watchable.
  • Special Effect Failure: The CGI could be better and it is very noticeable in places. Averted with the prosthetic werewolf effects, which are quite decent.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Jenny's resourcefulness and the humanity and humor her friend Becky shows while stuck in an overturned car (as well as their performers being Mýa and Shannon Elizabeth) make it disappointing that they only have four scenes between them.
  • Unintentional Period Piece: Due to the lengthy production, the film became dated by the time of its release; Ellie works as a production assistant for The Late Late Show, with then-host Craig Kilborn appearing As Himself. When the film was released, Craig Ferguson had taken over as host. Then there's Jimmy's blocky computer, the obvious early 2000s web pages he researches werewolf mythology on (and the fact that he has to get out a bunch of books to get more facts).

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