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[Blu-ray Review] ‘Cathy’s Curse’ is More Proof that Dolls are Awful

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With Annabelle: Creation now in theaters it seems like as good a time as any to talk about the outlandish movie that is Cathy’s Curse. Before I attempt to dive into this movie let me be very clear about one thing — nothing I write here will be able to truly prepare you for Cathy’s Curse. It’s unlike anything else I have ever seen.

This film opens with a father racing out of the house with his small daughter. They get into their car and quickly drive off. Unfortunately, they soon get into a terrible car accident and their car burst into flames with both father and child trapped inside and forced to endure a horrible death. The important thing to do with this opening is that the daughter takes with her a doll. You’ll want to remember that doll.

A number of years after this incident George (Alan Scarfe) moves into the house with his wife Vivian (Beverly Murray) and their small daughter Cathy (Randi Allen). Once inside the house, George begins walking around finding things that bring back memories of his childhood. We soon learn that this is where he grew up and the man and girl from the opening were his father and older sister. This actually presents a couple of problems. The girl that died was very young, maybe 7 or so, meaning that George would have been younger so how much would he really remember? Also, the house still has all the stuff that was in it when George grew up. Has it just been sitting there all this time with no one living there? That seems weird.

These issues end up mattering not. Cathy’s Curse is pretty loose with logic, which is a nice way of saying there is no logic to anything that happens. That’s ok though because logic is pretty overrated if you ask me.

Cathy ends up finding a doll amongst some of the old clutter left in the house. The doll is the exact one that the girl from the opening — who we now know to be Cathy’s aunt — took with her before she died in the fiery crash. If the doll was in the car when it crashed, how did it survive all these years? And how did it get back into the house? Dun, dun, DUN!

From this point forward the film becomes a possession movie, sort of, with the doll possessing Cathy and making her do terrible things. The first terrible thing comes when she has her first play date with kids from the neighborhood. She literally tries to murder one of the kids. The parents shrug it off as, “kids will be kids.” What?!

Cathy’s craziness only continues to pick up the further along the movie goes. Vivian eventually starts to pick up on it. She knows the truth Cathy is…cursed. She desperately tries to explain the situation to George but he’ll have none of it. After all the man works 18 hours a day at a construction site, he doesn’t have to time to come home and deal with hysterics!

The stuff with Vivian and George is arguably nuttier than Cathy’s possession. Apparently, she’s coming off a recent nervous breakdown and getting used to a new home is a bit harder on her. At one point George mentions how easy it’s been for Cathy to adjust and Vivian snaps. Throughout the movie, Vivian has lots of reasons to be upset with George but this isn’t one of them.

Despite its severe lack of logic and cheesy effects, Cathy’s Curse does manage to create a moody atmosphere. There were a handful of times watching that I thought, “not great, but kind of creepy.” Lots of other movies fail to have that much impact.

Thanks to Severin Films Cathy’s Curse has been rescued from the world of obscurity and given a gorgeous Blu-ray. The film looks great, probably better than it ever did. People say you can’t polish a turd but I think there’s something poetic about cleaning up a film like this and giving it a first-rate Blu-ray release.

The special features are plentiful. The release comes with two cuts — director’s cut and alternate US cut. That’s right, you can watch two different versions of this film if you choose to do so! There’s a great interview with the film’s director Eddy Matalon which sort of suggests there’s a third cut none of us have never seen based on what he seems to think is present on screen. There’s even an interview with Randi Allen and her mother Joyce who served as costume designer on the film. The coolest bonus feature though might be the audio commentary with Brian Collins and Simon Barrett who are just as perplexed by the movie as you’ll be.

No one would classify Cathy’s Curse as a good movie. It’s majorly flawed and makes no sense. However, it does exist and it does so because there is some serious passion behind. It might fail mightily but there’s a genuine attempt to do something interesting and I’ll happily take that. Watch Cathy’s Curse. At the very least you’ll be fascinated.

Cathy’s Curse is now available on Blu-ray from Severin Films.

Chris Coffel is originally from Phoenix, AZ and now resides in Portland, OR. He once scored 26 goals in a game of FIFA. He likes the Phoenix Suns, Paul Simon and 'The 'Burbs.' Oh and cats. He also likes cats.

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‘Herencia Diabólica’ – 1993’s “Mexican Child’s Play” Finally Has a Blu-ray Release [Review]

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Did you know that there is a Child’s Play-inspired film from Mexico? If you didn’t, you can thank Vinegar Syndrome’s new label Degausser Video for making 1993’s Herencia Diabólica available for the masses to watch. Or at least for the VS hardcore fanbase, Chucky completists and anyone else who needs something like this in their lives.

Director Alfredo Salazar, known for his writing connection to the 70s Santo film series, also serves as the writer here to bring us a film seemingly inspired from the Child’s Play franchise. While it has been recently labeled as the “Mexican Child’s Play” (there’s a special feature on the disc with that very title), the killer doll concept is where the comparison should start and end. Despite having some seeds planted by that franchise, Salazar delivers a story that blossoms into something unique.

Tony (Roberto Guinar) receives a letter informing him that his aunt has died, and he has inherited her estate in Mexico. He quits his job and uproots his life in New York with his wife Annie (Holda Ramírez) to relocate south of the border and move into his new crib. Now I know what you’re thinking, what person just quits their job and drags their wife to another country without having reliable monetary income? Tony does, everyone, Tony does.

And what’s the first thing they do once they arrive in Mexico and check out the estate? They hit the bedroom, naturally. We are treated to a sex scene with an erotica song that feels like a knockoff of “Sadness” by Enigma (remember them?). Sounds fun and all, but the scene takes place completely in the dark and we see absolutely nothing. Maybe that’s why the sexy-time tune was pumping, so we could know what was exactly going down.

While Tony goes on a job interview, Annie explores the estate’s grounds in a tedious chore to experience, going room by room, plodding along. But it does lead us to her discovery of our antagonist—the evil clown doll, Payasito! Of all the things in the house, she decides to bring this monstrosity down to show Tony when he gets home. What an exciting way to celebrate (sic)! Then out of nowhere, she spouts off some exposition about rumors that Tony’s aunt dabbled in the dark arts and now we know where our title Diabolical Inheritance (the English translation for Herencia Diabólica) originates. For those of you who keep score for things like that.

Before proceeding with this review, you really need to visualize what Payasito looks like to truly embrace the rest of the film’s shenanigans. While Chucky resembles a cute ginger child, Payasito resembles a small clown that is much larger in stature than Chucky. That’s because Payasito is performed by an actor (Margarito Esparaza) in clown cosplay whenever he’s on the move (like Mannequin 2), and makes some really horrible facial expressions. Chucky dresses in “Good Guys” overalls and a striped shirt, but Payasito wears a new wave Santa hat while sporting a Sgt. Pepper jacket and Peter Pan tights. As you can now tell, he is quite beautiful.

Back to our story, Payasito begins to spook Annie cerebrally until she becomes unnerved to the point of having a complete mental break down, making her easy prey to eliminate. She dies but the unborn child survives, with Tony believing that her death was caused by her mental instability. Fast forward some years later and the couple’s surviving spawn has grown into child Roy (Alan Fernando), who at this point has already bonded with Payasito to help him over the loss of his mother. Dun-dun-duuunnn!

Meanwhile wealthy Tony remains single, still grieving his late wife, until his blonde assistant Doris encourages him to move on with his life and start seeing other people. And by other people, she naturally means herself. As the old Kanye West song lyric goes, “I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger…”, and it seems that she might be until we learn more about her character. Doris is played by the stunning Lorena Hererra who has an extremely extensive resume in Mexico, and she carries most of the film quite well during the feature’s second half. The singer and former Playboy centerfold for their Mexico edition is by far the most recognizable face in the cast.

Doris and Tony do indeed hookup and she moves into La casa de Herencia, where she does her best to impress Roy and lessen his obsession with the doll. There is a scene where they go to a nearby park without Payasito that is filled with famous fairytale figures, such as Pinocchio, Cinderella and King Kong! What, you didn’t know King Kong is a fairytale? Me neither. But Roy continues to be obsessed with Payasito after their trip, much to Doris’ chagrin.

Her actions to separate him from Roy gets Payasito angry, setting up the film’s most memorable scene. We already know that Payasito is a devil doll like Chucky, but now we learn he also has the power to invade people’s dreams like Freddy Krueger! Does Payasito enter the dream world and concoct a creative way to kill Doris in her sleep? No, he harnesses his power to sexually assault her instead. Yes that actually happens. After she awakens, Doris grabs the doll and tosses him into a lake, only to find him waiting for her by the time she gets back to the house. So now we know he also maintains the ability to “transport” like Jason Voorhees too. This doll is the total package!

More insanity happens before we close out the film with the longest victim chase sequence ever. It makes the previously mentioned painful house search scene seem like an eyeblink. It feels like it’s the film’s entire third act, filled with so much padding that you could soundproof an entire three-story house.

So how’s the transfer? Considering it was created using a mix of VHS and film source elements from 1993, they did one heck of a job! The work they put into it is especially noticeable in the dream invasion sequence, with the pulsing multi-colored psychedelic visuals. Super trippy stuff. Even the film’s score provides a pretty chill vibe, during the times when Payasito isn’t on the prowl.

If anything you read has piqued your interest in the very least, you should give it a shot. But if not, it is best to leave this doll on the shelf.

Herencia Diabólica is now available to purchase at VinegarSyndrome.com.

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