New Craven flick 'Cursed' with PG-13 rating

Ah, to live the life of a werewolf. Increased senses, improved athletic ability, more sex appeal. If it weren't for the minor details of a lust for blood and all the hair, it might be worth it. That's the lesson learned after watching "Cursed."\n"Cursed" is the story of Jimmy (Jesse Eisenberg) and Ellie (Christina Ricci), brother and sister, who are attacked by a werewolf while driving home and are therefore "cursed" to become werewolves themselves. The horror is a race to ward off becoming a werewolf, as well as avoiding death at the hands of the head werewolf that spread its disease.\n"Cursed" is a cross between Craven's "Scream" of the '90s and the slasher movies of the '80s. It tries to keep the humor of modern horror films but resorts to topical humor and too many gay jokes. Also, the movie largely incorporates "The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn" into its plot which can be annoying since Kilborn has since left the show. The film does do a good job of following the lore of werewolves. It doesn't try to change the rules of werewolves; it remains faithful to them, honoring the classics that came before it, i.e. 1941's "The Wolf Man."\nThe entire movie feels rather forced. The acting is very weak. Many of the actors (Ricci, Joshua Jackson, Shannon Elizabeth) should all be beyond making this sort of film and should be looking for more legitimate acting roles. The CGI werewolves look extremely unrealistic. The fact that this film necessitated two separate shoots is indicative of the problems that plagued it.\nTo give it some credit, there are some genuinely good scares that will frighten most viewers. And at least there aren't any major plot holes that tend to pop up in movies like this one. There is even one very cool scene in a hall of mirrors that takes advantage of the surround sound capabilities of the movie theater. \n"Cursed" was edited from an R rating to a PG-13 so high school students can see it. What were to be the more gory shots of the film were cut to black or an alternate view and rely on sound effects to tell what is happening. It's rather annoying that a horror movie can't actually show very much blood. The gluttony for money by Dimension Films hurts the movie as a whole.\n"Cursed" is very much like the "bad horror" movies largely released in the '80s. For people who enjoy that sort of film, this movie will be right up their alley. For everyone else, they would probably be better off spending their $8 to see something else.