Cursed Films Episode 2: The Omen
Before I start, I just want everyone to know that the original episode guide for Cursed Films seems to be wrong. Episode 2 should be about Poltergeist but instead, it’s The Omen. Just a heads up.
The Omen, from 1976 by director Richard Donner is about a little boy who is the Antichrist. Since its release, there’s been three sequels, a 2006 remake and a legacy that changed the world of horror forever. Horror in the form of a child with a sweet face. The very concept terrified people as did the supposed curse that haunted the production.
The second episode of Cursed Films takes on a more mysterious route than its pilot. The episode is primarily split in half with part one explaining what might’ve cursed The Omen, and the second half explaining why so many people believe that it’s cursed at all. That curses appear only when you look for them, so desperately believing one exists that it actually manifests at a mental level. Your mind puts it there for you to see, to establish a form of make-believe control. That bad things happen because someone or something causes them, and a simple blessing, spell, or positive thought can redirect it elsewhere. This is essentially what happened with The Omen.
The curse of production
The episode begins with former members of The Omen crew listing everything that happened during production. Things that feel like it came straight out of the film itself. Before production began, they were told by a religious advisor that making a film about the Devil would invite him in. Podcaster Matt Gourley says it perfectly, “the curse attached to The Omen is an interesting one because it kind of almost seems self-inflicted.”
Several of the jets carrying crew members were struck by lightning, all within a few days of each other. Then a plane that was supposed to have Gregory Peck on it crashed, killing everyone on board. If there was a curse in that occurrence though, I would feel that the pilot was its target. Not only did he die but when the plane crashed, it hit a station wagon that had his wife and child inside. Feels less about The Omen when looked at objectively.
In London, the crew had additional trouble with the IRA, who were very active around this time. The restaurant, Scott’s Oyster Bar, they were planning to eat at was bombed. It wasn’t the only bombing that took place in 1975 though; Hilton Hotel, Green Park Underground Station and the six collective bombs that went off on January 27. None of which had any connection to the film. There was also a fatal car accident after the film wrapped and an event that took place in the zoo where they filmed the baboon scene. A trainer was killed by a tiger.
It all makes convincing evidence for a curse.
The why and the how
Cursed Films has an interesting technique when giving its final analysis. This was also in the case with Episode 1 but to a lesser extent. It offers two major explanations. One psychological and one paranormal. At least two speakers are members of the occult, a black magician and a witch. They share their opinion on the matter, including possible reasons that a curse might attach itself to a movie. They’re joined by numerous religious experts who claim the Devil himself is responsible.
At one point a man named Michael Correll (a witch known as Uncle Birth) casts a curse on an unnamed film for the viewers’ pleasure. The episode shows the whole thing. He stands in a circle in a Matrix coat and performs the ritual for the cameras. It’s probably the weirdest thing I’ve seen in a half-hour documentary. However, the whole second half backtracks against everything, giving a more straightforward, logical explanation involving the brain’s need to see patterns.
There is also the subject matter to consider. A taboo topic that, similar to The Exorcist, was too frightening for people to acknowledge. Fun fact: nothing unusual occurred during the making of the 2006 remake. Does that mean Satan only cares about original productions? Is he a film snob?
(3.5 / 5)
To a lot of fans, this is the film that killed the franchise. It says a lot that the next installment is yet another retcon. Halloween VI: The Curse of Michael Myers attempts to explain Michael’s unrelenting evil, which lead to mixed opinions from longtime fans. There are two cuts of the film, theatrical vs producer’s. For a lot of people, the latter is the only one worth mentioning. Aiming to be as accurate as possible, I will be talking about the producer’s cut. Let’s begin!
Plot
We start Halloween VI with a six-year time jump from part five. Jamie is now barefoot and recently pregnant, running away from Michael as he wants her baby. While she manages to hide the little one away, Michael finally gets his hunger satiated by killing her. The moment is one of the most brutal ways in the franchise up until that point. Rest in peace, Jamie, you held your ground for as long as you could, the sequels were just too relentless.
The movie then cuts to a whole different scene going on. We have a new family living in the Myers house and their youngest child is hearing voices telling him to kill his loved ones. Tommy Lloyd is watching the family, played by none other than Paul Rudd in his first-ever theatrical role. Tommy still carries trauma from the events all those years ago when Laurie Strode was babysitting him. So when he finds Jamie’s baby, his part in the story becomes even more essential.
Dr Loomis also stars in what was Donald Pleasance’s final role before his passing. He and Tommy try to stop Michael once and for all before the cycle can repeat itself. As it turns out, Michael is a victim of a druid cult which makes him want to kill his family members every Halloween. Thorn, the cult in question, thinks they can control Michael and make him do their bidding. This results in catastrophe and Michael goes berzerk and kills all the cult members. Once again, it’s one of the most gruesome montages for the franchise up until that point.
Tommy and Kara are left to face Michael on their own which they manage to do with some corrosive liquid and good luck. However, nothing stays dead in this franchise as it’s soon revealed Michael somehow escaped and this time Dr Loomis might not be so lucky…
Overall thoughts
I would say for me personally Halloween VI definitely ranks somewhere near the bottom. The whole point of Michael is that there is no rhyme or reason to his killings and this film tries to go against that. I am glad the mistake was rectified by the upcoming installment. There were still some good things about it, such as Paul Rudd’s acting that reveals some raw talent as far as I’m concerned, as well as some direction choices and musical score. However, I also think it absolutely deserves all the criticism that it gets.
(2.5 / 5)
We’ve reached the final episode of American Horror Stories, season three. After the ups and downs of the season, I didn’t know what to expect. I felt that we were due a big finish, Killer Queens. But I feared we were in for a big letdown.
As it turns out, The Thing Under The Bed was neither.
The story
We begin our story with a little girl named Mary, who is scared of something under her bed. She sneaks out of her room, only to be caught by her father and sent back to sleep. And of course, there is something horrible waiting for her under her bed.
This scene cuts away to a woman named Jillian. She has strange dreams, including one about Mary. But her husband, Mark, doesn’t want to hear about it. He’s only interested in a little lovemaking because he wants a baby. Jillian doesn’t, which makes total sense because she’s already married to one. But her irritation with her childish husband goes away when he goes away. And by goes away, I mean he’s sloppily devoured by something vicious under their bed.
What worked
In short, this episode just worked. The acting was professional and believable. The cinematography and lighting work were wonderful, adding spooky effects and startling moments without impairing visibility.
Best of all, the story was solid. There were no plotholes to be found. Our main character, Jillian, was relatable and sympathetic.
This was maybe my favorite part of the story. I thought Jillian was a remarkably sympathetic character. She was dealt a hand she never asked for, having her husband slaughtered in their bedroom. I don’t think she missed him, so much as she was afraid of the legal ramifications of being caught with literal blood on her hands.
Then, when it would have been safest for her to just lay low and save up for a good defense attorney, she instead goes into unlikely hero mode. She does her best to save people, putting herself in legal and physical danger. It’s hard not to root for her.
It’s also a little hard not to root for the antagonist, too. I don’t want to ruin the twist for you, so I’m going to tread lightly here. But it’s great when you have an antagonist who might be off their rocker, but also maybe has a point.
What didn’t work
I can only really think of one complaint with this episode. And that is how frequently one character says the word Chickadee. And if you’ve seen the episode, you know what I am talking about.
I get it, he has a pet name for his daughter. It’s adorable. It’s meant to convey that the two of them have a healthy loving relationship and I get it. We all get it. Blind monks get it. But the fact remains that no parent on Earth calls their kid by their pet name every single time they speak an individual sentence to them. It was just too damn much.
All in all, this was a good episode. It was a classic story, turned on its head, told by professionals from start to finish. And I hope that if there is another season, we see more stories like this one. But after the efforts put into this season at large, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the last we see of American Horror Stories.
(4 / 5)
If you’ve watched enough short-form horror anthology shows, you’ll notice that some stories are mainstays. Each show seems to put on the same sort of episodes, with the occasional surprising storyline that we’ve never (or at least rarely) seen before.
Leprechaun was an example of a repeated story—the story of a greedy thief whose punishment far outweighs the crime.
The story
We begin our story in 1841, with a drunk man leaving the bar one late night. He’s distracted by something glowing at the end of the well. When he reaches down for the glowing thing, he falls in. Moments later, he screams.
We then cut to the modern day. The well is still there, and now it’s surrounded by a dying town. In this town lives a young man named Colin. He’s married, his wife is pregnant, and he’s out of work. Like many of his friends.
Desperate for cash, Colin and his friends decide to rob a bank. They put together an Equate version of Ocean’s Eleven, and break in one night. But, of course, they find that the gold is nothing more than bait. And the creature waiting for them is something they never expected.
What worked
The first thing I want to point out is how real this episode felt. At least to anyone currently living in the same small town they grew up in. These characters felt like guys I went to school with. Guys I would see at the bar.
I appreciated the real anger and frustration these characters are feeling. Especially Colin. He’s bitter, and maybe he has a right to be. He did exactly what he was supposed to do to succeed. He went to school and invested in his career, and yet now he’s out of work and struggling to support his family. I probably don’t need to tell you how that feels. Because of this, we can all kind of understand why he was tempted to rob a bank.
I also want to talk about the fact that this was, as I said, an often-explored story. That can be a bad thing, but it can also be a good thing. This story is told over and over because it’s a good story. A relatable story. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
What didn’t work
That being said, this version didn’t try to do much to break out of the mold.
Because we have seen this story so many times, most of us could tell the story themselves. I would have expected something new, or some twist. But, in the end, the story didn’t bring anything new to the discussion.
Maybe because of this, the ending left a lot to be desired. Trapped in the basement of the bank, everyone just sort of stares at everyone else, until the thieves give up. And that’s it. The ending wasn’t scary, shocking, or funny. It was just sad, on multiple levels.
Overall, this was an okay story. It was entertaining, if not surprising. I would compare this episode to homemade macaroni and cheese. Everyone’s got their own version, they’re all pretty good, and none of them are exciting.
There’s just one episode left in this season of American Horror Stories. Let’s hope they’ve saved the best for last.
(3.5 / 5)
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April 17, 2022 at 7:27 pm
You got the person who did the cursing of a production wrong. And got the nickname wrong. E.A. Koetting was the “black magician” who did the curse. Michael Correll “Uncle Birch” was a witch who didn’t participate. (Just finished the episode and was trying to figure out which production, since they show him saying the production name after the end credits and found your post.)