CURSED (2005)

After the loss of one of my favorite horror icons, Wes Craven, I wanted to catch one of his films I hadn't seen before ... and had always been curious about Cursed (which I heard wasn't good, but I'm a sucker for a werewolf story).  The film stars Christina Ricci and Jesse Eisenberg as L.A.-based sister and brother Ellie and Jimmy, whose lives are changed forever when a night-time car accident in the Hollywood Hills ends with a woman dead - and Ellie and Jimmy both wounded by what appears to be a large wolf.  As Jimmy researches werewolf mythology, he and Ellie both start displaying symptoms that include heightened awareness, strength, and physical attractiveness, as something continues to stalk the siblings even as another night of the full moon arrives.  Living up to its name, Cursed was supposedly beset with re-shoots and both major script and cast changes, and the film shows it; disjointed, slow-moving, bland, and unfunny when its shooting for laughs, this was a misfire that - sadly - never gets off the ground. (rated PG-13)  C-