Abhiroop Das
Helmed by Sean Ellis, ‘The Cursed (2021),’ also called ‘Eight for Silver,’ presents a period piece about a rural village in France that is overrun by supernatural forces beyond its control. When the cruel land baron orchestrates the massacre of a Romani tribe, he and his villagefolk suddenly find themselves hunted by strange beasts. Pathologist John McBride enters the scene, carrying a trauma of his own, and eager to put the mystery to rest. In the end, he navigates through reality and mythology to figure out a way to fight the beasts, and ultimately finds a solution at the unlikeliest of places. With the curse festering throughout the village, many innocent lives hang in the balance. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Cursed Plot Synopsis
A wounded French Captain is ushered to the field tent during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. During surgery, the doctors take out three bullets from his body, but are surprised when they uncover a fourth; it is made of silver, noticeably larger, and not of German make. The bullet traces back to rural France in 1881, where a cruel land baron, Seamus Laurent, leads a massacre of a Romani clan that had set up camp on land he claimed as his own. Before the attack, the Romani elder forges a pair of silver fangs shaped like those of a wolf. After the killings, one Romani man is cut apart and hung like a scarecrow, while the elder is buried alive, clutching the silver fangs. Soon after, Seamus’s children, Edward and Charlotte, begin having vivid dreams tied to both the scarecrow and the fangs.
Timmy, a young boy from the village, tells the other children he knows where the scarecrow is. They follow him to the site, where he digs up the silver fangs and puts them in his mouth. Edward tries to stop him, but Timmy attacks and bites him before running into the woods. As a result, the other boy falls feverishly ill. His condition inevitably worsens, and one night, Charlotte hears him screaming and sees vine-like growths sprouting from his body. Eventually, her brother flees from the manor and disappears into the forest. Charlotte later finds Timmy in the church. He claims to remember nothing after wearing the fangs and admits he hid them inside. When Charlotte’s maid Anais uncovers the fangs, Timmy escapes again. He is eventually hunted by a hidden creature and found torn apart in a shack near the woods.
Pathologist John McBride arrives in the village to investigate reports tied to the Romani clan. He joins Lieutenant Molière, who has been summoned by Seamus to help locate Edward. They discover Timmy’s body and, while Molière believes Edward to be dead, John chooses to stay behind. That night, a strange beast attempts to enter Seamus’ manor but fails. The next day, three townspeople are attacked. Two are killed, and Anne-Marie returns severely injured. John suspects she has been infected, but before he can intervene, she transforms and escapes. He traps and kills the creature and performs an autopsy, revealing Anne-Marie is still alive inside. He tells the villagers the infection is irreversible. Later that night, Isabelle reveals to the pathologist that Seamus led the Romani killings. Thus, John explains that the curse now targets Seamus and his kin.
In time, Charlotte tells John where the fangs were hidden, and he melts them into four silver bullets. That night, Anais is bitten during an attack and hides the injury. Seamus returns from an unsuccessful hunting trip to find her in the middle of transforming. She attacks him and knocks over a candle, starting a fire. Seamus kills her, but not before being bitten. Knowing that he is doomed, he chooses to protect his family by setting himself on fire in front of John. As the house burns, the pathologist rushes Charlotte and Isabelle to safety, knowing that one of the beasts is still at large and soon to find its way. Their only hope seems to be the silver bullets that are now ready, and with this, the story moves to its final showdown.
The Cursed Ending: Who is The French Captain? How Did Edward Survive?
In the end, the French Captain from the beginning of the story is revealed to be none other than Edward, who survived the ordeal thirty-five years ago and eventually became a soldier. The context behind his survival paints a tragic story, one marked by loss and trauma. While John, along with Charlotte and her mother, takes shelter in the barricaded church, the single remaining beast soon makes its way there. At night, Isabelle wakes up to the sounds of Edward crying for help and rushes to his aid, opening the barricades. Inadvertently, her decision lets the beast in. As it begins to tear through the villagers, John immediately gets into action, aiming at it with his silver-bullet loaded gun. In that moment, Isabelle steps in, hoping to pacify the beast all by herself, but is ultimately attacked herself.
This forces John to make the hard decision of shooting through Isabelle, and the bullet soon pierces the beast’s body. However, her actions prior to this make sense, as the beast’s body gives way for Edward to come out, seemingly alive and in one piece. On death’s door, Isabelle musters the last bits of her strength to embrace her son before passing away. Edward weeps, despite not remembering anything, which points to how overwhelming the experience has been on the child’s psyche. Although he is likely to blame himself for the cruel series of events that have descended on the village, it is made clear that he was not in control of himself while committing atrocities. The root of the curse, as such, remains in the horrific actions of his father.
Notably, Edward’s fate turns out to be different from Anne-Marie’s. Upon coming out of her beast shell, she retains her murderous intent and has to be killed. However, Edward’s return to his human form also comes with a return to his humanity. This is likely a result of two key elements in his reanimation process: first, his mother’s love and trust, which likely trigger an emotional reaction deep in his subconscious. Secondly, the silver bullet’s magical properties are likely key to undoing the effects of the curse. This is further substantiated by his fate in the present. Edward Laurent passes away shortly after the silver bullet is extracted from his body. This represents how his fate is tied to the silver bullet, and it is the key to both his protection and sustenance.
What Are the Beasts? Why Can Silver Bullets Kill Them?
Edward’s return from beasthood also confirms the true nature of these entities. They are not an outside force that takes over its host. Instead, they are the extrinsic expression of the curse that takes shape by manipulating the bitten individual’s body, mind, and soul. As such, the beasts’ form can be interpreted to be a representation of the cruelty humanity is capable of, which is initially depicted in the narrative not by these creatures, but by humans themselves. Seamus’s brutal slaughtering of the Romani tribe is the inhuman practice that triggers it all in the first place, and the tribe elder’s curse, as such, is merely her summoning karmic forces.
The beasts’ close resemblance to werewolves also aligns with the original nature of the silver dentures cast by the tribe elder; the shape of a wolf’s fangs. The original design may be a call to forest spirits, marked by animals such as wolves, for protection against external authorities. When the woman is murdered nonetheless, her plea takes on a darker shade, converting into a malediction that promises to spread harm. John reasons that the curse is to end the lives of Seamus and his kin. Yet, its target appears to be the entire village, as shown by how the curse spreads: an indiscriminate bite. It likely points to how the villagers were all complicit in the horrific death of the Romani tribe; in particular, the man whose limbs were cut off by the mob before he was mounted as a scarecrow. His role as one of the primary omens of the curse is a reversal of the scarecrow’s original function: guarding against threats.
In a role-reversal similar to that of the scarecrow, the very instrument used to trigger the curse, the silver dental fixtures, ultimately end up being the key to stopping it. The bullets forged from that metal seem to neutralize the beasts, although the reason remains ambiguous throughout the narrative. Timmy, the first victim of the dentures, supposes that the silver teeth are actually forged from the 30 silver coins that Judas received for betraying Jesus Christ, adding a spiritual element to their abilities. While these claims are never substantiated, the fact that Timmy says this after wearing them lends the fact some credence. It also aligns with the fact that the final confrontation of the story happens in a church. This adds depth to the symbolism, as the silver takes on a cyclical role, showing the balance exemplified by nature and the consequences of not abiding by it.
How Does John Save the Village? What Happens to Charlotte?
When John realizes that several beasts are running amok, he recommends that every villager take refuge in the church. This decision is likely influenced by multiple factors, including the religious significance of the fixture. Being in the church empowers the villagers to endure, believing that they are being watched over. Furthermore, there is also a practical reason for this, as the church is the largest and most secure building in the entire village. Moreover, it soon receives further fortification, with barricades around every opening. When the barricade eventually comes down, the pathologist is also the one to bring down the final beast, saving the village from a cruel fate.
John’s contribution doesn’t end here, as he is the foremost investigator of the beasts that take over the town. He reveals his personal reasons for doing so, as his wife and daughter were killed by similar beasts. Following this, the Romani tribe’s folk declared that the curse on his plans had been lifted. Since then, John has tailed the tribe, hoping to understand what they meant. Given that we now know what their actions entail, it is likely that John also has a dark past, wherein he sinned and was adequately punished for it. However, his subsequent reformation makes him a heroic character, as made evident by his continued attempts to save innocent lives. As a result, he makes great strides, eventually capturing one of the beasts and revealing its true nature to the villagers.
When Edward is ultimately rescued, John realizes that he and his sister, Charlotte, are now orphaned and homeless. In light of this, John decides to adopt them and start his life anew. His decision serves as a chance to amend his past mistakes, this time with a new family. Similarly, Edward and Charlotte are freed from the oppressive practices of their father and are now also safe from the horror of the beasts. In the present, the news of Edward’s death makes it to Charlotte, who soon retrieves the silver bullet. From there, she makes her way to her parent, John, who is now lying on his deathbed. Upon seeing the bullet, the last of the four that were made, he smiles in relief, knowing that the curse has finally come to an end, and Edward has found peace.
Read More: Is The Curse Based on a True Story?
