Poor George… After his mom leaves his dad, she takes him with her and leaves his dad and little sister behind, and he later finds out that his dad and sister were killed in a terrible car accident. We then flash forward about 30 years. George is now married to a mentally unwell woman and has a precocious daughter of his own named Cathy. They move back into George’s childhood home and quicker than you can say “Canadian tax shelter”, Cathy discovers a creepy ass doll that belonged to George’s sister and begins to act very odd, becoming irritable and hurling insults at everyone around her (“Fat dried up old whore!”). Then the bodies start piling up… Can Cathy be possessed by the malevolent spirit of her dead aunt? I mean, I’m asking… Can she? Because I have no idea what is happening in this movie…

If you have never experienced the unhinged, cut-rate madness of Cathy’s Curse and claim to be a fan of low budget, bizarro horror cinema, then what the hell have you been doing with your life!? This is regional horror filmmaking at its most entertaining. It has the poor acting, cheap production, bad special effects and ramshackle filmmaking techniques that one would expect of this kind of bargain bin fare. And yet… AND YET! Cathy’s Curse has a kind of relentless charm and off-kilter vibe that consistently holds your attention. It is imminently quotable and rarely boring, no mean feat for this kind of regional film. I’m used to endless scenes of cars driving and parking, people walking into rooms and walking out of rooms in long, poorly framed takes, endless scenes of people sitting at dinner tables talking about nonsense unrelated to the plot. But Cathy’s Curse is refreshingly mostly free of this kind of nonsense and primarily only includes the kind of nonsense that I dig like a kid screaming ridiculous insults that are both not vulgar at all yet somehow even more mean-spirited because of it and a psychic with some of the most flat, strange line readings possible. And when Cathy gets paired with the cranky old handyman Paul, it gets even better. The scene of him hallucinating snakes, rats and spiders crawling on him is hilarious. His and Cathy’s reaction shots and the ridiculousness of how long that scene goes on makes it just priceless. The film does raise important questions like “Why is George’s dead sister so angry?” and “What kind of powers exactly does Cathy actually have?”. The most important question to ask though is, “Why am I not watching Cathy’s Curse again right now?”.

Severin is out there doing the lord’s work, bringing classics like Cathy’s Curse to UHD. So somebody’s cranky old granddad once said, “you can’t polish a turd” and yes, that’s true. But by god, you can try! Severin has given us the shiniest, most sparkling turd possible here. We’re talking about a movie shot with no budget on what appears to be strips of dried out seaweed jammed through a camera in some semblance of forward motion. But man, the transfer itself is so clean and crisp that you can see every missed cue, every liquidy pale red spurt of fake blood and every contorted face of an overacting cast member in the most lovely image quality this film has ever seen. Those who are used to witnessing this glorious trainwreck on one of those budget compilations will be amazed at how you can actually see what’s happening on screen, even if you can’t make sense of it. To be serious for a moment, this new release was scanned in 4K from the newly discovered original negatives and is actually a notable improvement over the previous Severin blu-ray. Plus we have included both the edited-to-hell incomprehensible US cut of the film as well as the director’s cut which adds 10 minutes but makes very little more sense. The audio is similarly compromised, being recorded on a very low budget but still being restored as clear as possible. You can hear all those deliciously stupid lines (“Go on, you filthy female cow! Make us laugh!”) with utmost clarity. Plus it includes the French mono track as well for our Québécois friends. For extras, we have several carryovers from the previous release including a fun commentary track from Horror Movie A Day writer Brian Collins and filmmaker Simon Barrett (screenwriter of several Adam Wingard films like You’re Next, The Guest and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire), an interview with director Eddy Matalon and an interview with costume designer Joyce Allen and actress Randi Allen. New to this release is an interview with actor Alan Scarfe, who played Cathy’s dad George as well as a physical booklet featuring a pretty hilarious “essay” from Simon Barrett and a more sincere essay from Brian Collins.

The ultimate question you must ask yourself with this release: “Is it worth the upgrade?”. My answer? HELL YES! Any excuse to own another copy of Cathy’s Curse is a good excuse, especially if it genuinely does improve on the previous release. Heck, I’d be happy with Severin just re-releasing Cathy’s Curse in various formats in perpetuity. Where’s my 3D version? My IMAX version? My VR version? Severin!? Are you listening!?!?