Search - Cathy's Curse on DVD

If Moses had seen this film, there would have been an 11th c

Daniel Jolley | Shelby, North Carolina USA | 09/21/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Ah, here's proof that the worst movies don't always come out of Hollywood. I believe this putrid cesspool of a film came from north of the border. Good day, eh? I think not. Some joker unplugged my little refrigerator over spring break one year, and my reaction upon returning to college and opening that refrigerator door is very close to the reaction I had to this movie. Cathy's Curse stinks like Limburger cheese left out in the hot sun for about four months. You have to start with the film quality itself. Something made in 1977 should not look this bad - the print is terribly faded, there are lines popping up in the middle of the screen constantly, and the two little background place cards used to introduce the back-story look like something out of the early days of silent film. I think we finally know what was inside that piece of Samsonite luggage that big gorilla threw around and jumped up and down on back in the late 1970s - it was the original print of this movie.

Of course, even the most vibrant of prints could never add any color or vitality to these insipid characters. Here's the story in a nutshell. A mother runs off with her son, and then the boy's father and sister are killed in a car crash. Fast forward about twenty-five years. The boy moves back to the old family home, bringing along his wife and daughter. The daughter immediately falls under the "curse" which manifests itself in a filthy old doll with sewn-up eyes. The mother has already had a nervous breakdown some time earlier, but you can't possibly feel sorry for her because she's just so incredibly annoying. The dad, of course, thinks his little girl is an angel, so he doesn't believe all of his wife's crazy talk about the way she's changed. He seems oblivious to the fact that some really weird things keep happening, including a couple of suspicious deaths. The little girl - bless her heart - is the only person with any acting ability whatsoever, but all she really has to do is stare at people.

You know how everything's going to end - the only element of suspense involves the number of characters that will die. Believe me, you'll be fervently hoping that just about every character bites the big one after about ten minutes in. The idea behind the story isn't all that bad (although it's already been done to death), but the execution is abysmal. The acting is bad, but the editing is even worse; the director obviously employed the hopscotch style of filmmaking, just hopping from one scene to another, never raising his eyes to look either forward or backward. Cathy's Curse is a textbook example of bad filmmaking."

She Did A Bad, BAD Thing...

Bindy Sue Frønkünschtein | under the rubble | 10/11/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"In 1947, a woman takes her son and abandons her husband and daughter, Laura. The husband takes the daughter out to find mum, only to crash the car into a ditch, killing them both. In 1979, the boy who ran off with mum returns to his childhood home with his wife and Daughter, Cathy (Randi Allan). Strange things start happening when Cathy discovers an old doll in the attic w/ sewn-shut eyes. Cathy ends up possessed by Laura, exacting vengeance upon all who get in her way! Sort of a cross between THE OMEN, THE EXORCIST, and THE BAD SEED, CATHY'S CURSE is nowhere near as suspenseful or scary as these classics. However, it's not terrible either. I liked the story and enjoyed many of the bizarre scenes, including the doll turning it's head, the blazing eyes of Laura's picture, the snake-tarantula-rat attack on the handyman, and Cathy's encounter w/ the medium, Agatha. No, there aren't any big "grabbers" in this one, but there is enough atmosphere and horror to make it watchable..."

Cheesy, Campy Craptacular! Unintentional comedy gold!

BlackMarketLemonade | NJ, USA | 08/05/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"We picked this up in the bargain bin because the chick on the cover was hot - a Fairuza Balk type. Turned out to have nothing to do with the movie, it was a new photo on an old flick.

The movie was in fact a stinky turd, but so awful, so badly made, so badly written and so badly acted that it was hilarious!

The plotline makes no sense, and continuity is nonexistent. Why did dad keep asking the old drunk to watch his daughter? Why didn't the mom notice when the girl disappears before her eyes? Three times? Why did they show the dad coming home and then 20 minutes later (their time) when the cops show up to haul off the dead maid the dad wasn't home at all, but only just arriving? Why was the dead aunt (or whoever) evil? What did the doll have to do with it? Why did the doll look like something from the "Living Dead Dolly" collection? Why does this obviously gay man have a wife and daughter? What IS his job, actually? Why, in fact, does Alan Scarfe who plays the dad say every line - even the cliche "I feel so useless" as his wife is taken out on a stretcher - with a smirk frozen on his face, that threatens every second to break into a grin or full-out laughter? Why did none of the characters react to a single event normally? What was the medium doing at their house, and why after the horrifying vision she had did she leave with a smile on her face? Why were those old women all mothers of young children? When the drowning girl was lifted from the water, why was she completely dry, hair and all? Were the filmmakers actually TRYING to make a movie?? So many questions, so many questions. You will come up with many more that will keep you amused throughout.

Do not expect that ANY questions the plot raises will be answered in the course of the film however - they will not. The police never return despite their hackneyed threat "Don't leave town", the fact that the girl gives the time-lapsed rotted food to her mom never comes into play, there is just an entire disconnect from one scene to the next, from one moment to the next, usually painfully (hilariously painfully) so. But hey, that's part of the flick's charm.

The editing alone provides many laughs. The little girl for some reason throws a bowl at the wall, shattering it, and the maid says "Oh don't worry" and goes to pick it up. She goes over to the shattered mess, bends down, picks up two pieces from the middle of the pile, and declares "There it's all done!" as she stands. We had to replay it three times, laughing harder each time. So far as we can tell, the mess at the bottom of the screen was meant to be out of camera view, but the filmmakers seemingly didn't watch a single frame before committing it to release. In another scene that will have you spitting out your drink, the drunk handyman goes to bust into the little girl's room, but the prop door breaks in on his first try. So he looks up at the boo-boo he just made, deliberately CLOSES it again, then resumes his pounding and yelling to get in. You can't make that stuff up! Once again, we watched that part over and over. But there's plenty more! Look for fun moments like the handyman's frozen expression as he's covered with every cliche they could pack into the scene - a tarantula, rats AND some rather cute snakes. Enjoy Alan Scarfe's brilliantly cardboard, utterly clueless and unintentionally comedic performance. Look for the scene when every breakable in the house is broken, likely by BB guns fired offscreen.

Yes, the editors, director and writers obviously hold the audience in contempt, the actors clearly couldn't give a flying crap about their roles or the story (what story?), but this is all to our viewing pleasure. They produced a stinker of such quality that it's worthy of an MST3K style skewering, again and again."

It's a classic! But seriously, what is with the cover art?

J. A Miller | Computer Chair | 12/05/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm not sure who is now distributing this but that cover art has NOTHING to do with the movie. Cathy's characters is probably about 10 and about as close to goth as China is to Arizona.

If you are interested in seeing a just horribly made film from the 70's for the shear entertainment then you can't go wrong with this. I wont' lie; it's BAD! But that is what makes it enjoyable. My buddies and I have had great laughs watching this one.

If only everyone else looked at it that way... Lighten up and check it out."