Wes Craven’s Cursed (the original version) – WTF Happened to This Unmade Horror Movie

Cursed was a very fitting title for the 2005 werewolf movie that reteamed Scream director Wes Craven with screenwriter Kevin Williamson, because studio meddling ensured that the project – which had a promising start – ended up being a mess that bombed at the box office. The journey to the screen began in the year 2000, when Williamson wrote a script about a New York-based serial killer who discovers he’s a werewolf. Dimension decided to have Sean Hood and Tony Gayton do rewrites, turning Cursed into the story of a late night TV associate producer who gets attacked by a werewolf after a car crash on Mulholland Drive. Days before Craven was set to go into production on Pulse, a remake of the Japanese horror film Kairo, Dimension pulled him off that project (it ended up being the feature directorial debut of music video director Jim Sonzero) and threw him onto Cursed, which they had on the fast track. 54 days into filming, with just the ending left to shoot, Dimension shut down the project and decided to do a complete rewrite of the script. Only 12 minutes that Craven shot during those first weeks of filming ended up in the finished film. To hear all about the troubles of Cursed (watch it HERE) and what didn’t make it to the screen,, check out the video embedded above – the new episode of the WTF Happened to This Unmade Horror Movie series!

Cursed has the following synopsis: A werewolf loose in Los Angeles changes the lives of three young adults who, after being mauled by the beast, learn that the only way to break the curse put upon them is to kill the one who started it all!

The film stars Christina Ricci, Jesse Eisenberg, Joshua Jackson, Judy Greer, Milo Ventimiglia, Kristina Anapau, Portia de Rossi, Shannon Elizabeth, Mya, Michael Rosenbaum, and Derek Mears.

The WTF Happened to This Unmade Horror Movie series (formerly known as The Horror Movie That Almost Was) focuses on the various horror projects that could never seem to get things off the ground, be it for budgetary concerns, creative differences, or just an ever evolving Hollywood landscape. We dive into every aspect and see just how close these films had come to cameras rolling.

This episode was Written, Narrated, and Edited by Tyler Nichols, Produced by John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

What do you think of Cursed? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.

A couple of the previous episodes of WTF Happened to This Unmade Horror Movie can be seen at the bottom of this article. To see more, and to check out our other video series, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!