Cathy’s Curse is a low-budget possession movie that offers nothing original to the genre. It has a bit of the same charm you find in a lot of low-budget horror movies (stilted acting that makes for an amusing watch, poorly constructed scares that are more often comical because of the absurd sound effect choices or cheap special effects, and hilariously badly-written dialogue), but there isn’t enough of it to make for an entertaining experience. To make matters worse, the ending is just awful. The simple solution to the haunting is pathetic. Not to mention the fact that it completely contradicts what the movie spends so much time establishing.

The movie begins with George Gimble (played by Alan Scarfe) already abducted by his mother – note, it’s off screen and established via a title card in the American theatrical cut. Gimble’s father and sister race through the night to bring George home but end up in a fiery car wreck. Fast forward 30 years later as Gimble, his wife Vivian (Beverly Murray), and daughter Cathy (Randi Allen) move into his childhood home where strange and unexplainable things begin to happen around, and to, Cathy.

The bad acting in horror movies can sometimes create an almost endearing quality to the characters. In Cathy’s Curse, Agatha the medium played by Mary Morter has the best sequence in the entire movie. Agatha discovers the possessed Cathy in the attic. Cathy conjures an evil, more decrepit version of Agatha who acts as a harbinger to the medium. Considering how the evil twin speaks down to her normal self, I found myself wondering if the demon/ghost was toying with her or was it genuinely trying to warn Agatha?

Murray plays Cathy’s mother who suffers a mental breakdown before the move and begins to experience Cathy’s possessed rage whenever her husband George isn’t home. At one point, Vivian scolds Cathy, but Cathy begins to materialize at the top and bottom of the staircase. The funny part here is Murray seems troubled throughout the scene but not because of what she sees or experiences. Instead, she seems more frustrated that she has something to say, but Cathy won’t stay in one place to hear it. The musical queues as she vanishes only add to the ridiculousness of the scene.

With all that said, nothing here bothered me more than the final act of the movie. It’s revealed that Cathy is possessed by an entity named Laura. Who is Laura? She’s not George’s deceased sister Joanne. Why is this Laura lashing out? Could this be George and Joanne’s mother? I honestly don’t have any answers for you because this movie provides none. Throughout the movie, a couple characters suggest burning the doll to stop the possession, which would make sense if it were Joanne’s spirit because she died in a fiery car wreck at the start of the movie. But that makes way too much sense for this movie.

The ending doesn’t even have a dramatic sequence such as the doll burning or even the house burning down. It ends when Vivian cuts the stitches off the doll’s eyes. That’s it. The pathetic ending had me questioning everything to this point. Laura might have had the right idea, to be honest the best way to experience Cathy’s Curse is with your eyes shut.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5.

Cathy’s Curse is now available at Severin (on sale) on both Blu-ray and 2-Disc 4K UHD with booklet.

Severin Films upcoming Summer Sale is the perfect time to save on your favorite genre movies or take a chance with a movie you haven’t seen or heard anything about. Severin Films’ Summer Sale runs from 7-12-2024 through 7-16-2024.

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The writer of this piece is: Laurence Almalvez
Laurence tweets from @IL1511

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