The Curse (1987 film)

The Farm
Directed by David Keith
Produced by Ovidio G. Assonitis
Moshe Diamant
Lucio Fulci (also spfx)
Anselmo Parrinello
Written by H. P. Lovecraft
David Chaskin
Starring Wil Wheaton
Claude Akins
Malcolm Danare
Cooper Huckabee
John Schneider
Amy Wheaton
Steve Carlisle
Kathleen Jordon Gregory
Music by Franco Micalizzi
Cinematography Roberto Forges Davanzati
Edited by Claudio M. Cutry
Distributed by Trans World Entertainment
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1998- )
Release dates
 September 11, 1987
Running time
 92 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Box office $1,930,001 (USA)

The Curse (also known as The Farm) is a 1987 American horror film adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft's The Colour Out of Space directed by David Keith. Famed Italian director Lucio Fulci was listed as a co-producer in the credits, and is said to have supervised the special gore effects in the film. Compared to previous adaptations of the Lovecraft story, this version stays closer to the source material.

Three other Euro-horror "sequels" were distributed on video titled Curse II: The Bite (1989), Curse III: Blood Sacrifice (1991), and Curse IV: The Ultimate Sacrifice (1993); although all four films are completely unrelated to each other except through title.

Plot

A meteorite lands on the farmland property of Nathan Crane (Claude Akins) in Tellico Plains, Tennessee. Local physician Alan Forbes (Cooper Huckabee) is unable to explain why the rock keeps shrinking. He is dissuaded from contacting the authorities by Charlie Davidson (Steve Carlisle), a realtor who does not want the new arrival to discourage the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) from establishing a new reservoir in the area. As the rock shrinks away to nothing, a glowing color seeps out and into the ground. Within a few weeks, the farm's crops bloom but are soon discovered to be inedible.

Shortly after, the local animals, as well as Nathan's wife, begin to go mad and a previously unknown element is discovered in the property's well. Soon Nathan and his son Cyrus (Malcolm Danare) are also driven insane and begin terrorizing those who come near, including Nathan's other children, Zack (Wil Wheaton) and Alice (Amy Wheaton).

Ultimately, they are saved by TVA representative Carl Willis (John Schneider) and the house collapses into the ground.

Cast

Production

David Keith used his farm in Tellico Plains, Tennessee, for the exterior scenes. The interior scenes were shot in Rome.[1]

DVD release

MGM released the film onto DVD in 2007 as a double feature with its in-name-only sequel, Curse II: The Bite.

Reception

Lovecraft scholar Charles P. Mitchell referred to the film as faithful to the author's original work, but claimed that "[t]he last twenty minutes of the film are so disjointed that they virtually ruin the entire film."[2][3]

In their book Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H. P. Lovecraft, Andrew Migliore and John Strysik write: "This third feature film treatment of [Lovecraft's] favorite story, "The Colour Out of Space," has it all... everything except good dialog, believable acting, and a cohesive plot."[4]

References

  1. ↑ Mitchell, Charles (2001). The complete H.P. Lovecraft filmography. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-313-31641-8.
  2. ↑ Mitchell, Charles P. (2001). The complete H.P. Lovecraft filmography. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 249. ISBN 0-313-31641-4.
  3. ↑ Mitchell, p. 115
  4. ↑ Andrew Migliore & John Strysik, Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H. P. Lovecraft, Night Shade Books, February 1, 2006, ISBN 978-1892389350

External links