Fantastic Fest 2025 Review: “The Curse” – A Familiar Fright!
In the 90s and early 2000s, social media was not the scariest form of networking and communication plaguing preteens and college kids. What many of us can recall is getting our first cell phone and using it to text and communicate with friends through instant messaging. However, late at night we can all remember getting a text chain message every once in a while. These messages would urge us to send a given text to ten other recipients or risk being cursed for eternity. Many of us were aware that a curse through a text chain could never be real. However, what was the harm in sending it just in case it were?
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The power of stories documenting curses have been passed down through campfire tales and even cultures for centuries. Curses have a place in Taiwanese culture incorporated in their beliefs and their folklore. The Curse explores this idea through its implementation of how social media plays a role in the curses that are placed on individuals in modern society through its main character Riko. Heavily influenced by the film Ring (1998), The Curse follows a traditional structure and outline for “cursed” films that cements itself as an entry that plays it safe.
Riko (YUKINO KAIZU) lives with her best friend Airi while working as a receptionist at a local salon. Everything about her life is quiet. That is until she sees one of her friends, Shufen, display a cryptic social media post. She contacts her ex boyfriend to ask about Shufen’s post only to learn of her death six months prior. Confused and scared, Riko and Airi dig deeper on social media only to get wrapped up in a sinister curse that threatens to destroy them and their own family and friends.
Utilizing “cursed media,” as one of its villains, The Curse modernizes its ideas to match the time period of today and the technology used by young men and women. Where Ring featured a killer videotape that cursed anyone who watched it, The Curse features social media as the catalyst for Riko to be found by evil. The film heavily takes on the ideas of one’s identity and privacy being shared globally and the dangers that come with sharing too much.
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In how it is able to present this idea, The Curse is able to hit its mark as the film unfolds to identify the power of others to threaten those who put themselves out there. It has an unexpected nature about it in its rules on how “the curse” chooses its victims, not just in who it chooses to target but in the hosts’ associations with others too.
Where the film struggles is in its ability to tie together its ideas of social media dangers and the folklore it takes on regarding Taiwanese curses. Jiahao (YU), Riko’s ex-boyfriend explains how Taiwan takes curses seriously and believes in their power. Wheb he tells Riko he will dig into more information he can find, it opens up the opportunity to explore the history and tales of Taiwanese curses and how it applies to the modernity of social media.
The Curse falls a little flat as the tale unfolds, only giving its audience the bare bones as to how a curse is inflicted on its hosts and the motivation behind it. The motivation feels slightly far-fetched because the film wasn’t able to create a foundation that felt cemented the dangers of social media on individuals using it and on onlookers to other peoples profiles.
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The Curse balances its horror visuals well in conjunction with its story never overdoing itself to solely shock audiences. It allows itself to explore the story it wishes to tell and allows its terror to add to the character’s fears and desire for information on their situation. As an independent film, the visuals and effects are at the liberty of its budget but does the best it can by using editing in its favor.
The Curse familiar and thus struggles to set itself apart from the path the audience sees coming. It felt like a couple more drafts could have benefited the film to strengthen its themes and execution. The Curse has its strengths but overall needed a little bit more fine tuning to fully develop.
‘The Curse (2025)’ Rating – 2/5
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