Abundant with seventies horror tropes, effects and seventies aesthetic in general, Cathy’s curse has a great deal going for it. It’s not your typical haunted house movie, it’s more of a curse movie. George moves his family into his fathers big, old style house. His wife Vivian has had a nervous breakdown recently and can become distressed at the drop of a hat. This effects the family unit as a whole. After meeting the housekeepers the family get settled, this however does not last long as an evil from the past lurking in the attic begins to warp young Cathy. Turning her into a little monster with a foul mouth and bad attitude to go with it.
The being showing what occurred with George’s father sets the tone nicely. Things start restively slow narratively. Then events in the movie go from 0-100 very quickly as the plot becomes more nasty and intense in the middle and final acts. Cathy’s Curse is not a killer kid flick or a haunted house movie as such. It does involve these elements mixed with other plot devices and creepy scenes. Transforming itself into something quite different. There’s plenty of drama, showing the cracks as the family breakdown.
Two scenes stand out to me, the first being when groundskeeper Paul is babysitting Cathy and the medium stops by to visit Vivian. She is met with a barrage of verbal abuse from Both Cathy and an intoxicated Paul. The second also involves the medium again as she stops by the house. She attempts to investigate what is happening in the house and affecting young Cathy. In the attic she is met by Cathy who spins round whilst sat in a chair clutching the possessed doll who is controlling her. There’s more verbal berating from Cathy’s mouth. An old disfigured witch character emerges too and threatens the medium. All this whilst weird sounds are echoing the room.
The doll, also referred to as “that old rag”, is a vessel for the spirit of another little girl who is basically trying to possess Cathy. The movie is acted well and I enjoyed the sound effects, the piano score is also haunting. The classic creepy kid possession horror is one you don’t want to miss. I am getting the urge to revisit Burnt Offerings now and I think that movie and Cathy’s Curse would make the perfect double feature.