Cathy’s Curse – aka Cauchemars – is a 1977 French-Canadian supernatural horror film directed by Eddy Matalon from a screenplay co-written with Myra Clément and assistant director Alain Sens-Cazenave.
Main cast:
Alan Scarfe, Beverly Murray, Randi Allen, Dorothy Davis, Mary Morter, Roy Witham, Bryce Allen, Sonny Forbes, Robert V. Girolami, Renée Girard, Linda Koot, Jeffrey LaFlamme, Peter MacNeill, Lisa Nickelt, Hubert Noël.
Plot:
November 1979: Cathy is possessed by the spirit of her dead aunt, who died in a car accident in 1947. Soon members of her family begin to mysteriously die off.
Buy: Amazon.co.uk
Reviews:
“Cathy’s Curse is a terrible film. I mean a really terrible film. I could go into great detail about how awful it is but I don’t have ten additional paragraphs in me right now. Best I can say is that it provides a few laughs (all unintentional, of course), just not nearly enough to make this worth sitting through.” The Bloody Pit of Horror
“But I was mostly entertained and drawn in by its surreal atmosphere and its commitment to hurling out a bunch of crazy scenes for 80 minutes. It’s sort of brazen in its disregard for character development and logic, which makes it quite possibly one of the best Euro-horrors ever produced from Canada.” Brett G., Oh, the Horror!
“The script places a lot of emphasis on ‘possession’ special effects, which quite laughably fail to deliver. The direction between these ‘climatic’ scenes is amateurish. All of which wastes a potentially interesting idea: Cathy’s possession begins with a rejection of her female identity.” Verina Glaessner, Time Out
” … wholly unlikeable – annoying characters, dull direction, trite shocks. Yet I must give credit for the high percentage of activity and action. After the initial 20-minute set-up, something happens every five minutes.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers
“The uninspired direction and script devote a great deal of footage to showing cars driving up to the house and people getting in and out of them. The effects are basic, the acting nondescript and the script makes nothing of the interesting thematic possibilities of the alienation of a young girl from her female body.” The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror
“Special effects are undistinguished, Eddie Matalan’s direction is tedious, and Randi Allen as Cathy seems more insufferable than evil.” John Stanley, Creature Features
Choice dialogue:
George: “Listen to me Vivian. I have been working at the construction site for eighteen hours a day and I am exhausted. You know how important this project is to me. I just can’t stand anymore of your hysterics!”
Image credits: The Bloody Pit of Horror
Plot keywords:
accident | alcoholic | anger | bath | breakdown | car crash | child | construction site | dog | drowning | father | fire | game | girl | handyman | leeches | medium | mind games | mother | old house | paranoia | paranormal | police | pond | rats | resentment | restaurant | screaming | shouting | snake | snow | spider | telekenisis
