I’m not entirely sure I comprehend what is happening with the current Blu-ray release of Cathy’s Curse. Reviewers everywhere are falling head over heels in love with this movie, but after having watched it last night, all I got out of it was some annoyance.
Cathy’s Curse is a 1977 Canadian-made horror film that has shown up on numerous multi-movie packs that were always terrible looking. Severin Films has certainly fixed that problem, with only some issues of blown out whites being troublesome.
Okay, so the movie now looks pretty damn good, but what exactly is there about this movie that makes it worthy of all the praise it is receiving?
What has most likely happened with Cathy’s Curse is that is was so hard to obtain a good copy of the movie, it slowly built up a cult following, resulting in horror fans going gaga over Severin Film’s Blu-ray release. Severin can only attempt to make the film as good looking as the given transfer, and they exceed there, plus they throw on some rather nice special features that will please fans. Nonetheless, the movie still ends up being an incoherent mess.
Cathy’s Curse tries its hardest to tell a story about a family being troubled by a pesky ghost that has taken over the body of their daughter Cathy. Cathy has gone from being a talkative youngest to a foul-mouthed, doll loving killer. She now can conjure up snakes and spiders and hallucinations, all while laughing her little head off. Cathy, however, isn’t always haunted by the young ghost, as there are times where she struggles to regain control and wishes things would stop.
As the story progressives, the film starts getting weirder and weirder, eventually throwing out any continuity or a coherent plot. We have several scenes that have been jarringly crammed together and even a few times where characters show up and leave in a single frame. Cathy’s Curse can definitely be considered a technical mess.
Honestly, it’s quite easy to see why horror fans dig this film, as it has a so bad it’s good type of feel. As for me, though, I felt it trods along rather slowly and nothing super amazing happens, save for one scene involving a medium in an attic. Besides that scene, I found myself checking my watch numerous times. Thankfully, Severin was kind enough to offer the shorter US theatrical release that runs 3 or 4 minutes shorter than the Director’s Cut.
Terrible movie aside, Severin Film does an amazing job of dredging up this movie from the bottoms of DVD bargain swamps and does a big service to the fans of the flick. As previously mentioned, the only real issue I had with the Blu-ray was the numerous instances of blown-out whites, which very well could have been the director’s intention. Who knows, he was already wacky enough to regurgitate this movie up.
As for features, we won’t be rolling around in them for days, but you can expect to have some good times with a few of the interviews included. I really enjoyed the sit down with Cathy actress Randi Allen, who discusses her time filming and all the shenanigans she got into, with her mother also being interviewed and not being privy to some of the things she did. Also included is a commentary on the US cut and a quick introduction at the Cinematic Void Screening of the film.
In the end, part of me wants to blatantly tell you to not bother with this Blu-ray release and for most people out there, they will be fine passing it over. Of course, as this is just my opinion, there are plenty of other people out there that love the flick and this Blu-ray is obviously the version to get. I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether you should buy or not.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Director’s Cut
- Alternate U.S. Release Cut
- Tricks And Treats: Interview With Director Eddy Matalon
- Cathy & Mum: Interview with Actress Randi Allen and Costume Designer Joyce Allen
- Audio Commentary on US Cut by BirthMoviesDeath Critic Brian Collins and Filmmaker Simon Barrett
- Introduction To Cinematic Void Screening At American Cinematheque By BirthMoviesDeath Critic Brian Collins
- Theatrical Trailer
PRODUCT INFORMATION
DISCS: 1
RUN-TIME: 91 min, 88 min
ASPECT RATIO: 1.66:1
RESOLUTION: 1080p
AUDIO: Dolby Digital Mono
LANGUAGE: English
SUBTITLES: English
REGION: A/1
RATING: PG-13
PRODUCTION DATE: 1976
RELEASE DATE: April 11, 2017
PLOT SUMMARY
Forget what you’ve seen in blurry bootlegs and crappy budget packs. This first-ever restoration of the depraved Canadian shocker is being hailed as the genre re-discovery of the year: In 1947, a young girl is roasted alive in a car accident. Thirty years later, her grown brother returns to their childhood home with his mentally unstable wife and sweet daughter Cathy. But when the dead aunt’s vengeful spirit possesses the child, it will unleash an unnerving nightmare of creepy mediums, demonic dolls, and plenty of sick ’70s foul-mouthed moppet mayhem. Experience one of the strangest EXORCIST/OMEN/CARRIE-inspired grindhouse hits like never before, now transferred in 2k from recently-found film elements and featuring revealing new Extras with long-lost star Randi Allen and producer/director/co-writer Eddy Matalon.
