User Reviews

while i give this an "average" score, it is a pretty good version of the story. in fact i was driven to write this review because i am currently reading "the colour out of space" (and yes, that is how the title is spelled) . i saw this movie a few years ago, but some of the parts will be stuck in my mind forever. the acting is par, (it isn't that bad, but isn't that good), the film work is par, but it does what Lovecraft's story did, it has turns in it that will stay in your mind for a very long time. perhaps the most disturbing thing i saw in it (other then their use of meal worms for certain effects) was the melting effect, if you watch this movie, that will stay with you for a very long time indeed, especially when the movie comes to its climax. it was a very good scare, and i recommend seeing it like i did, at 2:00 in the morning with no lights on, after all that is the best way to experience Lovecraft and his works. though it does not match the book by any stretch in terms of dialog, or even setting and writing, it is still very close to the original in terms of the way the plot develops. and after all what movie has been totally true to its literary counterpart? anyway, if you want a bit of a scare, and don't have a weak stomach, or are in to a "Twighlight Zone" type of scenario, this movie is for you.

"The Curse" 1987 by David Keith displays great horrific atmosphere and a nice cast with Wil Wheaton, Claude Akins , John Schneider , Malcolm Danare , among others . From the darkest part of the heavens , horror has arrived , a meteorite that lands near a small farm. The night of a storm , an unindentified, glowing object falls from space , it seems to be a meteor that crashes on earth and infects the water , food and near a farm in rural Tennessee , and , subsequently , the Alien parasites do gruesome things to a lonely family . With it comes a terrible curse for the astonishing family , while farm animals and fruits get infected . As the stiff father (Claude Akins providing nice acting) undertakes a crusade to rid the wife (Kathleen Jordon Gregory) and children (Wil Wheaton and his real-sister Amy Wheaton ) of these monstruosities , resulting in fateful consequences . It will consume you ! No one believe them ! Now , no one's left to save them. It takes your body. And your mind . Then it takes you straight to hell... It took seed ...now it needs to feed . A tale of crops , creatures and carnage !.

Terror movie with thrills , chills , scary events , strong violence and traditional but effective special effects . Concerning an outer entity , a huge, glowing meteorite falls on a farm and contaminates the grubby area , turning people and animals into slime-oozing mutants .Here stands out the colorful images and the gory and loathing FX with plenty of blood and grimy that deliver the goods enough . This is based on Lovecraft story titled ¨Color Out of Space¨, this notorious writer has been adapted in several films such as Dagon , The Dunwich Horror ,The Call of Cthulhu , Re-animator , Re-sonator , The Beyond , Valdemar Legacy I , Valdemar Legacy II , and many others . Stars Wil Wheaton as the good little boy who attempts to save his sister at whatever cost , Claude Akins as the fanatic religious as well as upsettling daddy and Malcolm Damre as the extremely nasty brother. The remaining ensemble cast includes , Steve Carlise , Cooper Huckabee and John Schneider , all of them giving decent acting . It was again adapted in 2019 as ¨Color out of space¨by Richard Stanley with fine performances from Nicolas Cage providing a really histrionic , gestual and almost farcical acting , Joely Richardson, Brendan Meyer and Julian Illiard.

The motion picture was professionally directed by David Keith. This filmmaker has made a few movies , in fact this "The Curse" 2019 resulted to be his first film, and his subsequent outing was ¨Adventures of Tennesse Buck¨. He's a good actor , in his starters , Keith had a supporting role in The Rose (1979) starring Bette Midler ; later on , he had a supporting role in Brubaker (1980), and co-starred with Richard Gere in An Officer and a Gentleman (1982). He played a local thug in The Great Santini (1979), starred in The Lords of Discipline (1983) and held a prominent supporting role opposite Matthew McConaughey in U-571 (2000). After that , he played opposite Drew Barrymore in the science fiction horror film Firestarter (1984) , among others . Rating : 6/10 . Acceptable and passable movie horror movie . The pic will appeal to H. P. Lovecraft enthusiasts.

A decent, but unspectacular late 80s cheesy low-budget b-grade horror feature starring Wil Wheaton (not too long after the hit movie "Stand by Me"). The peculiar plot is a very loose adaptation of a H.P. Lovecraft short story, and from that the film's pacing can plod about (quite talkie and then there was the family dramas) and throw around some ridiculous and elaborate occurrences. It's the performances that drives this one home and some icky, if tatty make-up FX work latter on (not including some very low-end special effects), but other than that there's not all that much to it. The idea isn't bad, but the execution (outside some well-shot scenes) is sloppy (like the use of slow motion towards the end). A respectable Wheaton makes for an agreeably sympathetic performance and a lively Claude Akins is the opposite as his aggressively headstrong, bible totting step-father. There's good support in the shape of Kathleen Jordon Gregory, Cooper Huckabee, Steve Carlisle and John Schneider. The setting of a remote farm does create a claustrophobic hold, where there's never a sense of feeling secure and surprisingly the night time sequences did draw upon some atmospheric spells. A fruity, small scale Horror/Sci-fi production, which can be a little dull.

The Curse is a grotesque vision of H. P. Lovecraft's "Colour out of Space." Most Lovecraft adaptions suck (save the Gordon-Yuzna-Combs collaborations), but I happened to like this one. And it looks like I'm in the minority on that. Why do people hate this movie so much? Yes, it has flaws. David Keith's direction isn't great. He's an extremely likable actor and he should stick to what he's good at. I feel like the prologue part should have been saved for the epilogue. It would have been a fitting end, it was not a place to start. Some of the acting is also hammy, mostly the supporting cast. As actors go, Wil Wheaton does a fine job, as does his sister. And they're the only characters you are supposed to care about. The mother character freaks me out as she changes during the film. Horror Director Lucio Fulci produced, and maybe influenced, this one. There are scenes of gore present that rival Fulci's own. Not of the "flesh-ripping" variety, but of the "lets see what disgusting things we can do to food" type of gore. The Curse is not a film to eat during. I suggest that you ignore most of the comments, see the movie, and make your own decision as to whether it's good or bad.

Don't watch this movie! Wil Wheaton has said time and time again that he was abused on the making of this film so if you want to respect the actors who were children at the time don't watch this movie!

The Curse (1987) was a film that was loosely based upon the short story "The Colour from Outer Space". This seminal horror/science fiction prose was written by the master of horror H.P. Lovecraft. The problem with adapting his original material is that the film makers tinker with success. Whilst a few directors such as Stuart Gordon and Dan O'Bannon have been successful in translating his stories for the silver screen, most of them are pure nonsensical tripe that's best avoided (except for John Carpenter's trilogy of the apocalypse that captures the aura of Lovecraft perfectly).

The Curse had all the makings of being a decent film. But the director and writers just don't fully understand the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Dumbingt down the man's work for a pedestrian horror film just doesn't cut it. Whilst it get's an A for effort it get's an F minus in execution. Bad acting, sloppy direction and lousy dialog dooms this movie from the get go. Better luck next time.

Not recommended, unless you're a H.P. Lovecraft completist.

IMDb rating almost kept me away from this jewel. That would be a big mistake. The first hour is a mystery drama with SF premise, and then in the last twenty minutes it grows into good horror. In my opinion, few scenes with lousy effects should have been skipped and without them movie would be more convincing, but even this way this is the best Lovecraft adaptation I saw so far and one of the best movies in its class, primarily because of excellent atmosphere it builds and succeeds to maintain on the level till the very end. This one definitely goes to my collection.

7/10 (8,5/10 within the genre)

The Curse (1987) is among the worst movies I have ever fully sat through. Not only is it dull, badly acted, badly shot, and horribly scored, but it also makes absolutely no sense and is easily one of the biggest misfires i've ever seen. It's one of those films that try so hard to be scary, even though it clearly knows it can't. Besides the bland scenery and cinematography- we are often treated to the exact same country banjo-toned music covered by standard ominous tones in nearly every single scene- and truly its enough to drive you nuts. The special effects aren't too terrible I suppose, at least for a low budget film like this, but they are quite obvious...and incredibly cheap looking...and look like something you can find at a dollar store- so yeah they're bad- but I guess they could have been worse? The acting is incredibly over the top as well, especially from the non-Wheaton's of the main family. That being, Claude Akins, Malcolm Danare, and Kathleen Jordon Gregory (the later of which never had a role other than this movie). Akin's is an over the top abusive stepfather who is hilariously forced on screen nonsense seems like something you would see out of an 80's family sitcom. Danare's portryalof the older step brother is so offuttingly dumb that you can't help but feel sorry for the actor as you're watching him- as you know he isn't going anywhere after this film. The Wheaton's are not great in the film either, but they try the right amount, and most of their flaws throughout the film are largely due to the ridiculous script- which, truth be told- doesn't really have a clear story to begin with. In the end, The Curse is an incredibly bland over-saturated little low budget horror film that should never be watched voluntarily. Simply said, just watch the 2019 Color Out of Space instead- it's actually good.

My Rating: 1/10.

Lmao!!! You guys think you have it bad watching this thing, I actually spent half my life in the little hick town it was filmed in.

Now that is bad.

Oddly only a small glimpse of the town is visible in the movie, in the scene where you can see an old barbed wire fence outside of the car window as John Schneider drives down the road... well the hill just above it has contained 3 apartment complexes since around 1992 and I currently reside in one of them.

In another scene you can see out the door of the "Inn" (if you can call it that) the old historic Co-Op building which used to be a Railroad Station that was used in the Civil War (tracks have been gone since 1990 or so).

Fortunately I did spend the other half of my childhood in various other places across the country.

Unfortunately, I am currently residing in good Ole' Tellico Plains Tennessee again ..... can't seem to stay out of this place .... aaahhh... omg it is a curse!!!!

There certainly are elements in this film that could have been left out, and the film would have been better off for it; why the cheap monster/demon makeup?(The increasing blisters are great though..) Why having that obnoxious fatso-brother appear in the film at all? And let's face it, the special effects in places were not exactly state of the art either, neither were the editing. So why give it an 8 then? Well my rating couldn't have been any lower, and this is based solely on the fact that the film positively reeks of unique and creepy atmosphere, atmosphere so dark that I put it up there with the Kane-scenes in "Poltergeist 2", and the atmosphere in "Exorcist 3". There truly are some psychotic and memorable scenes. Two that stands out are when the mother of the family tries to " connect the dots" on Cyrus's back, the other is when she sits quietly in the living-room sowing, and then starts to jam the needle and thread into her hands! Excellent! Not to mention the infested fruit and vegetables! All in all,there is in this film a disturbed and unsettling tension that you seldom get to witness in other horror flicks of the same decade, and certainly not in contemporary and crappy Hollywood blockbusters, that's for sure. If you are just curious, rent! If you are a true horror-fan, buy!

Actor David Keith made an unusual but creditable directing debut with this positively nasty adaptation of the H.P. Lovecraft story "The Colour Out of Space" (which had been previously filmed as "Die, Monster, Die!"). It takes the dying of the family farm quite literally. Young Wil Wheaton, who'd recently made an impression in the excellent drama "Stand By Me", is promoted as the star of this story about a small group of country folk and their yucky fate after a very strange meteorite lands on their property and oozes a substance that contaminates their water supply. It slowly but surely mutates some of the family - as well as the livestock - and drives them into a frenzy. Wheaton is appealing in the lead role, and is one of the few characters in the story with any brains. He knows the water is bad, but his Bible thumping, overbearing stepfather Nathan (Claude Akins) refuses to acknowledge that anything is wrong - at least, until he sees what's growing inside of his produce. Keith and his crew do a fine job of creating some *very* effective down-home atmosphere; this is both filmed in and set in the town of Tellico Plains, Tennessee. They also make this a decidedly grim affair, which only gets more creepy as it goes along. However, that's not to say that they miss the potential for humour, as witness the "connect the dots" sequence. Visual and makeup effects are generally well done, with the blisters that grow on peoples' faces growing bigger all the time. The music by Franco Micalizzi is quite good throughout. The cast features an interesting bunch of actors. In addition to Wheaton and the entertainingly hammy Akins, the actors include Malcolm Danare ("Christine") as obnoxious, bullying slob stepbrother Cyrus, Wheatons' adorable younger sister Amy as his sister in the film, the solid Cooper Huckabee ("The Funhouse") as the doctor who tries to do the right thing, and in an amusing case of "What is HE doing here?", John Schneider of 'The Dukes of Hazzard' fame plays the straight laced water company representative. Steve Carlisle is hilarious as unsubtle slimeball Davidson (then again, very little in this film is subtle) and Kathleen Jordon Gregory is memorable as the increasingly demented mother Frances. The film isn't without its problems: viewers can find the characters infuriating, and the script (by David Chaskin) isn't too coherent (just where does Schneiders' character come from during the finale?) overall. Still, horror fans should find this a pretty agreeable gross-out experience (that bit with the apples is fun) that is slickly made and full of cool moments. Associate producer "Louis Fulci" is actually film director Lucio Fulci. Seven out of 10.

"The Curse"is a total,almost unwatchable garbage,I can't believe the positive reviews people give it here.The acting is bad,the special effects are lame,and the script is obnoxious and stupid.More boring than scary "The Curse" is one of the lamest horror movies I have seen.Why such great director like Lucio Fulci produced this one is beyond me.Watch it to make fun of it.Not recommended.

This movie is about a family living on a farm in the country: a husband, wife, and two sons and a daughter. The father, being an EXTREMELY religious type, finds out that his wife is cheating on him. Not long after that, a meteor hits the backyard (how stereotypical can you get?) and begins to pollute the water and the vegetables. Those who eat the vegetables and drink the water slowly turn into hideous, slime-spewing homicidal mutants!!!

Duh-Duh-Duhhnn! I'm guessing that maybe this meteor is supposed to be a punishment from God (or so the husband says.)

Everyone but the younger brother and his sister eat the food and drink the water from the farm. First, the fruits and vegetables start to rot/become infested with insects/fill up with brownish fluid. Next, the chickens attack the daughter, and the horse kicks one of the brothers. After that, the cows become sick and start spewing up maggots. By this time, the mother, who was infected first I'm guessing, starts to break out in these nasty little blisters. Eventually, she starts talking in gibberish, eats with her fingers and tries to stitch a cloth to her hand, then she tries to kill her husband. The husband puts her in the shed for the next few days. The next person to show signs of infection is the brother, who starts acting like more of a buttmunch than usual. A dog on their farm kills a traveling salesman's assisstant, and the wife ends up munching the salesman's guts. When the husband finds out he moves his wife to the attic. Meanwhile, the main character (Will Wheaton) tries to figure out how to save his sister from his now-criminally insane family. That night, his father finds him in the shed looking for his mother. Then he notices that his son has a backpack filled with evil, sinful, store-bought food. His father tells him he's unappreciative and tries to beat him. When that fails, he tries to kill him. The brother is able to hold him off until the house starts collapsing. A friend of the family comes by to save Will Wheaton and his sister, but Will says he has to save his mother. He goes up to the attic, and in one of the most creepy scenes of the movie, he watches his mother rot away into a puddle of black goo. He escapes just in time to watch the house sink into the ground, sending his unholy kinfolk into redneck hell!

I liked this movie, it WAS poorly acted, but it was far-fetched to begin with. There are some genuinely nasty moments that will make your skin crawl. For instance, after the chickens attack the little girl the camera zooms in as their eyes collapse in the sockets and start bleeding this nasty yellow goop. Or the scene where the cow's udder splits open and locusts fly out. Or the scene where the mother cuts open a head of lettuce to reveal it's putrid, rotting innards (and lettuce doesn't even HAVE innards!). The film is very dark in atmosphere and there is a sense of impending doom throughout the whole film, not unlike that of Poltergeist. I give it 6 1/2 out of 10 because the acting, other than that of Wheaton and Akins, was horrendous.

Movies are meant to entertain. This is not Hitchcock but it is entertaining. It keeps moving along and with a little imagination it is pretty creepy. All in all a fun little movie.

I have actually never watched the 1987 horror sci-fi movie "The Curse" before now in 2023. I didn't know that it was a movie heavily inspired by H. P. Lovecraft's "The Color Out of Space". And had I known that it was based on that particular story, I do believe I would have tracked down this movie from director David Keith a lot sooner.

The movie's title, "The Curse", does strike me as odd. Not that I don't understand the meaning of it, nor the fact why the movie was titled as such, but why not just call it by Lovecraft's title? Because of the minor adjustments to the storyline made? Perhaps...

But nonetheless, if you enjoy reading "The Color Out of Space", then "The Curse" should prove entertaining for you as well. I was genuinely entertained throughout the course of the movie. Sure, it wasn't as impressive as the 2019 adaptation of the same story, but it definitely was an entertaining movie.

The acting performances in "The Curse" were good, and it was fun to watch a young Wil Wheaton in the leading role. He actually carried the movie quite well. The movie also have the likes of Claude Akins and John Schneider on the cast list.

Visually then "The Curse" was good. Sure, the special effects are showing signs of aging, as the movie was made in 1987 after all. But generally, then the special effects are adequate even today.

My rating of writer David Chaskin and director David Keith's 1987 movie "The Curse" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Bible verses and abuse go hand-in-hand in Hollywood. Not that it's totally groundless; the good Baptists of the South would beat, lynch, kill, and go to church faithfully. It has come to the point that if you hear the Bible being quoted on screen in a scary movie then that person is to be hated and/or feared.

The Bible thumping farmer in "The Curse" found himself on the receiving end of the curse. All of his bible reading and beating didn't save him. The curse was awfully similar to what happened in "The Crazies." The water was contaminated and with that came all kinds of maladies including psychopathy. "The Curse" wasn't as appealing as "The Crazies." It had an overall weakness to it--the acting, the story, the production were all toothless. Great if you want your daily dose of angry religion, but not good as a movie.

A meteor falls in the farm of the religious man Nathan Hayes (Claude Akins). The local Dr. Alan Forbes (Cooper Huckabee) decides to call the appropriate authorities to investigate it. However, he is convinced by a speculator, who wishes to buy the lands, and by his sexy wife Esther Forbes (Hope North), who wants to move from that place, to analyze the meteor by himself. A dam will be built In this place and the value of the lands will increase, and Esther will receive an extra bonus from the speculator, if the Hayes sell their lands. Meanwhile, the meteor releases a strange substance in the water table, contaminating the water of Hayes` farm. The young Zachary Hayes (Wil Wheaton) notes that something weird is happening with his mother, but Nathan disregard his observation. Zachary`s family is affected by the water. This movie is a trash C-movie. I bought the VHS just because of Wil Wheaton, from Star Trek, but it is only indicated to fans of trash-movies. The special effects are very poor. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): `A Maldição , Raízes do Terror' (`The Curse, Roots of Terror')