BUZZ BEAT MEDIA

Halloween 2022 is here and many of us are looking for a good scare. Hundreds of horror flicks are produced each year so there are many sub-genres to choose from. Curses in horror movies can be really troublesome especially if you don’t know how they came about in the first place.

Here are 7 curse-themed horror movies to watch this Halloween which will surely make your skin crawl:

1. Smile (2022)

Based on ‘Laura Hasn’t Slept’, the director’s 2022 short film, this stars Sosie Bacon (Kevin Bacon’s daughter) as Rose Cotter, a therapist whose brush with the supernatural started with a new patient suddenly taking her own life. She becomes haunted by smiling faces after this. As her life begins to fall apart, she discovers that she and that patient may have something in common.

2. Drag Me to Hell (2009)

Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) is a loan officer who has to make tough decisions, like denying an old woman’s mortgage extension. However, she turns out to be a gypsy who ends up dead. Too bad that she placed a curse on Christine which will make her end up in Hell after three days of excruciating agony.

3. It Follows (2014)

Jaime “Jay” Height (Maika Monroe) is forced to flee for her life after a sexual encounter makes her a target for an invisible creature. The curse can be transferred by doing the deed with another individual. Even if she manages to do that, the curse seems unbreakable, for the creature will chase her again if the person she passes it on gets killed by this supernatual entity.

4. Incantation (2022)

This found footage Taiwanese horror film begins with the narration of Li Ronan (Tsai Hsuan-yen), who asks the viewer to recite an incantation with her after keeping in mind a holy symbol. The movie goes back to 6 years prior, when she, her boyfriend Dom, and Dom’s cousin Yuan, goes back to their village so they can document the ritual for the esoteric Yunnan religion. Things get out of hand when they enter a forbidden area and death comes after them.

5. Hellraiser (1987)

Based on his 1986 novella ‘The Hellbound Heart’, this film revolves around a mysterious puzzle box which changes its form after certain conditions. Touted as the “greatest horror film made in Britain” by the Melody Maker Magazine, the novella now has a 2022 adaptation. The common element of those two films is that you can’t get rid of the box unless you are willing to be the sacrifice, or a make a sacrifice to experience the greatest pain and pleasure thanks to the Cenobites, deformed beings from another dimension.

6. The Conjuring (2013)

This film about alleged real paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) Warren catapulted the director to international fame. The setting is 1971, when the Perron family gets haunted by a malevolent spirit after they move to a farmhouse. After conducting an initial investigation, the Warrens conclude that dark forces will not leave the family alone even if they vacated the property.

7. Ju-On aka The Grudge (2001)

This very successful horror franchise made the the curse film sub-genre very popular. The title refers to a deep-seated hatred giving birth to a curse. In this case, Toshio is the malevolent spirit, a kid who’s a victim of parricide.