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An isolated Irish enclave, rural USA, the 1950s: A disease has ravaged
the area, not at all helped by the fact that the land has remained mostly
barren, leading to an almost complete crop failure, affecting the
livelyhood of the locals. Only the Earnshaw farm has driven in a rich
harvest, so much so that it hasn't only become the target of envy of the
neighbourhood, the locals have started to act increasingly hostile towards
Agatha Earnshaw (Catherine Walker), so much so that she has decided to
hide her daughter Audrey (Jessica Reynolds) away. Even when traveling she
keeps Audrey in a box in the back of her horse wagon. Now the locals
become increasingly suspicious as to why the Earnshaw farm has been spared
from this year's drought - and it's because Agatha and Audrey are a part
of a witches coven ... not that anyone would no of course. But Agatha
relies purely on white witchcraft, she would never do it to harm others -
to the increasing annoyance of Audrey, who doesn't like to be hiding away
from the locals at all times, and who doesn't like how the locals treat
her mother, just because of her crops. And when she, from inside her box,
witnesses Agatha being slapped by local Colm (Jared Abrahamson), she has
just about had enough, and that evening shows up on his doorstep,
pretending to be a girl lost, and he, having no idea that she's Agatha's
daughter, offers her abode for the night - and that way she gets something
personal of his to properly curse him. Soon enough, weird stuff happens
with Colm's wife (Hannah Emily Anderson) before it's found out she's
pregnant. Next, Audrey goes after Bernard (Don McKellar), who has seen her
and her mother and knows their little secret - and despite being bribed
into secrecy, he couldn't keep his mouth shut, and thus his whole family
die from the food Audrey's mother has given them in return for the hush
up. And ultimately, Audrey also goes after the local priest (Sean
McGinley) and his family. Thing is, none of what Audrey is doing is doing
much for her and her mother's safety, as the reservations of the locals
only grow due to her actions - until they reach a dangerous boiling point
... The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw is a pretty cool urban
gothic, one that avoids spectacle and gives its plot time to develop,
while successfully creating an atmosphere of unease to keep the audience
on the edges of their seats throughout. And some quite impressive
cinematography really goes the extra mile doing so, while the direction
wisely avoids all post-modern irony and tells its story as a sort of
existential folk tale, also helped of course by the very grounded
performances, all of which make this a rather fascinating piece of creepy
cinema.
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