Review: Shudder’s “Cursed Films: The Crow” and “Cursed Films: Twilight Zone: The Movie”

May 7, 2020

Written by Joseph Perry

Joseph Perry is the Film Festival Editor for Horror Fuel; all film festival related queries and announcements should be sent to him at josephperry@gmail.com. He is a contributing writer for the "Phantom of the Movies VideoScope" and “Drive-In Asylum” print magazines and the websites Gruesome Magazine, Diabolique Magazine, The Scariest Things, B&S About Movies, and When It Was Cool. He is a co-host of the "Uphill Both Ways" pop culture nostalgia podcast and also writes for its website. Joseph occasionally proudly co-writes articles with his son Cohen Perry, who is a film critic in his own right. A former northern Californian and Oregonian, Joseph has been teaching, writing, and living in South Korea since 2008.

Cursed Films, the original five-part documentary series from  streaming service Shudder, strives to examine the facts behind the rumors and the tragic events that affected the making of some beloved classic horror movies produced in the 1970s and 1980s. These cinematic offerings have been deemed cursed, often because of urban legend and gossip. After launching with impressive episodes about The Exorcist, Poltergeist, and The Omen that offered rational considerations of their topics, the series wraps up with equally engaging looks at The Crow and Twilight Zone: The Movie.

As he did so well regarding the tragic deaths of young stars Heather O’Rourke and Dominique Dunne in the Cursed Films: Poltergeist installment, series writer/director/editor Jay Cheel once again provides poignant, respectful views on how on-set deaths and accidents affect those close to the victims — from those who worked with Brandon Lee on The Crow and with Vic Morrow and the two young child actors on Twilight Zone: The Movie to the victims’ families — rather than sensationalizing or exploiting these tragedies. 

 

Cheel interviews cast and crew members and other behind-the-scenes witnesses to the filmmaking events, along with scholars, noted film critics, and writers. The gut-wrenching accidental deaths of Lee by accidental gunshot and Morrow and the children as the result of a helicopter crash are well documented; Cheel doesn’t merely rehash familiar points, though he does bring viewers who might not know the basics up to full speed quite well. He searches for sense behind these incidents rather than focusing on the sensational. He also allows those who worked on The Crow and Twilight Zone: The Movie to relate their  versions of what happened, and in doing so, those such as The Crow’s special effects artist Lance Anderson and actor Michael Berryman and Twilight Zone: The Movie’s  production designer Richard Sawyer’s passionate, heartfelt remembrances are touching highlights guaranteed to emotionally impact viewers. 

Cursed Films: The Crow and Cursed Films: Twilight Zone: The Movie are two of the best volumes in this series, with Cursed Films: Poltergeist being equally strong. Highly recommended, the entire series of Cursed Films is now available on Shudder in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. 

 

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