Actor David Keith made an unusual but creditable directing debut with this positively nasty adaptation of the H.P. Lovecraft story "The Colour Out of Space" (which had been previously filmed as "Die, Monster, Die!"). It takes the dying of the family farm quite literally. Young Wil Wheaton, who'd recently made an impression in the excellent drama "Stand By Me", is promoted as the star of this story about a small group of country folk and their yucky fate after a very strange meteorite lands on their property and oozes a substance that contaminates their water supply. It slowly but surely mutates some of the family - as well as the livestock - and drives them into a frenzy. Wheaton is appealing in the lead role, and is one of the few characters in the story with any brains. He knows the water is bad, but his Bible thumping, overbearing stepfather Nathan (Claude Akins) refuses to acknowledge that anything is wrong - at least, until he sees what's growing inside of his produce. Keith and his crew do a fine job of creating some *very* effective down-home atmosphere; this is both filmed in and set in the town of Tellico Plains, Tennessee. They also make this a decidedly grim affair, which only gets more creepy as it goes along. However, that's not to say that they miss the potential for humour, as witness the "connect the dots" sequence. Visual and makeup effects are generally well done, with the blisters that grow on peoples' faces growing bigger all the time. The music by Franco Micalizzi is quite good throughout. The cast features an interesting bunch of actors. In addition to Wheaton and the entertainingly hammy Akins, the actors include Malcolm Danare ("Christine") as obnoxious, bullying slob stepbrother Cyrus, Wheatons' adorable younger sister Amy as his sister in the film, the solid Cooper Huckabee ("The Funhouse") as the doctor who tries to do the right thing, and in an amusing case of "What is HE doing here?", John Schneider of 'The Dukes of Hazzard' fame plays the straight laced water company representative. Steve Carlisle is hilarious as unsubtle slimeball Davidson (then again, very little in this film is subtle) and Kathleen Jordon Gregory is memorable as the increasingly demented mother Frances. The film isn't without its problems: viewers can find the characters infuriating, and the script (by David Chaskin) isn't too coherent (just where does Schneiders' character come from during the finale?) overall. Still, horror fans should find this a pretty agreeable gross-out experience (that bit with the apples is fun) that is slickly made and full of cool moments. Associate producer "Louis Fulci" is actually film director Lucio Fulci. Seven out of 10.
Review of The Curse
