Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: THE CURSE [Fantastic Fest 2025 - Austin, Texas]
Making horror films is an evolving process. The more one learns (and the more budget one received) it creates a sense of self and style. Kenichi Ugana who made the work-in-progress "Visitors" a couple years ago for Fantastic Fest, knows the importance of promotion but also was very assured in his brand of horror. While "Visitors" despite its ambition was more DIY, "The Curse" is much more refined and yet builds to an interesting climax, every bit as dynamic as "Visitors". The difference here is tone. Now while there is some ironic humor at key points, this tale is more dire and serious in certain ways. The film starts in a specific way to perhaps throw off the viewer before it sets into the mythology. "The Curse" follows the aspect of a curse but progressed through social media. Riko (Yukino Kaizu) works at a beauty salon and notices unusual social media posts from her friend before she finds out from a supposed former boyfriend in Taiwan that she died six months ago wrapped in fishing line on a beach. There is a certain ritual shown with people's faces and then it starts affecting them but no one knows where it is coming from.
Interesting enough the tracking of IP addresses is never really debated. Riko just wants it to stop and then it starts affecting roommates and friends, who think it is a joke. Ugana opts into reflections very well and uses key details to bring out a sense of horror (yet not overwhelming so). But it is only when he takes the setting to Taiwan where Riko and a small team of friends start investigating what actually happened, that the film picks up. The sister of the original victim keys in the fact of how the curse started affecting their family. Ugana then integrates two interesting locations which each provide their own interesting environment, one being a temple and the other a tucked away apartment during the day. Horror films tend to want to exist at night but here by setting one of the later sequences during the day it really heightens the horror (as did "Visitors" in a different way) because there are less places to hide. The film still does have a handmade touch to it but the ending, especially one shot, shows how Ugana ups the game. The reasoning and resolution for what is fueling this curse makes sense in the current climate but is also psychotic in its own way which is part of the point. The final shot also speaks to the duality of being not one thing while still adding on Kenichi's ironic sense of humor. B
By Tim Wassberg
