Remember that viral story about an allegedly cursed painting in a UK charity shop from a few years back? That tale is the inspiration behind upcoming horror movie Curse in a Frame.
Variety reports that Susan Wokoma (“Enola Holmes”), Jessie Cave (“Harry Potter”), Velvet Brown (“Troubleshooting”), Kaja Chan (“Split Fiction”), Michael Kinsey (“Three Day Millionaire”), and Michael Brandon (“Dempsey and Makepeace”) star in the upcoming film Curse in a Frame, which is said to blend “comedy, horror and satire.”
Curse in a Frame marks the feature debut of writer-director Maria Pawlikowska.
Variety details, “the film takes its cue from a story that went viral in 2023 about a portrait of a young girl discovered in a Hasting charity shop and was ‘bought twice and returned twice after having ruined the lives of its owners.’ One of the owners told U.K. TV that she believed it was haunted, with strange events happening to her — and her mother — soon after she bought it.”
The outlet further previews, “Set against the local folklore and eerie coastal atmosphere of Hastings, Curse in a Frame takes the story and adapts it into what the filmmakers describe as a ‘sharp contemporary feature about belief, ambition, friendship — and the chaos that unfolds when a local story becomes an international obsession.'”
“What drew us to Curse in a Frame was its originality and the fact that the story already arrived in the culture with its own mythology,” said producer Ana Emdin. “It was funny, unsettling, and very contagious. Working with Maria Pawlikowska, whose voice as a filmmaker is so prodigious, we were able to build that initial spark into something bolder, stranger and far more expansive. And it was mind-blowing to see our exceptional cast elevate the story even further.”
Maria Pawlikowska co-wrote the screenplay with Tom Woffenden.
“I was interested in the ‘crazy but true’ premise of Curse in a Frame for its potential to mix tones, genre, formats — in a way that feels very much of the moment,” said Pawlikowska. “We journey with these lovable, contemporary characters (played by our extraordinary ensemble cast) in this mysterious, mythological setting, and it was this clash of the modern and the ancient that got me excited, that seemed to allow for a morality tale to unfold – of friendship, ambition, belief, karma.”
Stare into the eyes of the allegedly cursed painting below… if you dare…
