Cathy's Curse

Released by: Severin Films
Released on: April 11th, 2017.
Director: Eddy Matalon
Cast: Alan Scarfe, Beverly Murray, Randi Allen, Dorothy Davis, Roy Witham
Year: 1977
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The Movie:

Directed and co-written by Eddy Matalon, 1977's Cathy's Curse opens with a scene where a man and his daughter die in a car wreck. The man's wife took his son, George, and left him for reasons never really explained.

Cut to the 'present day' and George (Alan Scarfe, a popular TV actor who not only appeared in The Littlest Hobo but who also appeared in Iron Eagle II!) is now a grown man. His wife, Vivian (Beverly Murray) has recently been let out of the hospital after suffering a nervous breakdown. George figures a change of pace will do them good and so he, Vivian and their daughter Cathy (Randi Allen) move into the old family home that he spent the first four years of his life in. There to help are a handyman named Paul (Roy Witham) and a maid named Mary (Dorothy Davis), kindly old folks to seem quite enamored with young Cathy.

Cathy is instantly comfortable in the new digs, and quickly becomes unusually into a ratty old doll that she finds in the attic. By the time she's met the kids next door and decided to play 'car accident' however, it seems that something is up. Cathy's behavior becomes increasingly strange and as it starts to seem that's somehow become possessed by the spirit of the sister George never really knew, things get weird. Even Paul's dog, a Doberman named Sneaker, knows that something is very wrong with Cathy. It's almost as if… she's cursed! The cops come by but it doesn't matter. Agatha (Mary Morter, who had a small part in The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane - check out screen cap #2 at that link - that's her alright!), a medium who lives nearby, tries to warn the family but NO! Not even this bespectacled middle aged lady can put a stop to the evil.

This one doesn't always make a whole lot of sense but if quirky, low budget seventies horror is your thing, it won't matter so much. There are moments where Matalon and company do manage to conjure up some interesting imagery and atmosphere. A scene where Paul sits frozen at the kitchen table, powerless to move as snakes crawl over his arms, rats run over his feet and a big tarantula climbs up his shoulder is a good example. It's creepy, it's weird, and we're never given a proper explanation as to why it's happening. It just seems that whenever Cathy gets annoyed about something, she's able to make things happen. She drives her mother, already clearly unstable, further off the deep end and in a scene that seems lifted from The Omen, she somehow forces Mary out the window of the house to her death. Or does she? Her dad, well played (if occasionally overdone) by affable Scarfe, gets along with the little girl just fine. The only problem is that he's working sixteen hours a day and he's never home to witness all of this insanity. Beverly Murray is also good here, though really most of what she's asked to do is act meek and scared. She does it well, but the movie doesn't ask much more of her than that. Roy Witham steals a few scenes from everyone else, playing Paul as a kindly old man until he hits the bottle - by that point? He's a raging terror who winds up yelling at everyone and puking all over the front lawn! Mary Morter is pretty cool as the medium too, especially in her introductory scene where she makes a frightening connection in the family's living room.

Really though, the film belongs to Randi Allen. She's a cute kid, pretty even, but she's also eerie - wandering around the house with an unhealthy attachment to a raggedy ass doll, cursing out kindly old ladies, roughing up the neighborhood kids, launching a plague of creepy critters or making things mysteriously and suddenly explode! Allen does all of this with a really effective stern look upon her face, her soft child-like features taking on a very serious tone anytime she does it - and it works surprisingly well!

It's worth noting that this Blu-ray release includes the film's original Director's Cut (90:44) as well as the alternate U.S. Release Cut (81:49). The Director's Cut does make a bit more sense as it includes the scene that introduces Mary and Paul, the introduction of Margaret and her kids and the scene where Cathy repeats 'Jack and Jill' over and over again until her mother snaps. In place of some of this material, the U.S. cut uses weird text screens to kinda-sorta try to explain what the holy Hell is going on in the movie. The Director's Cut is clearly the better version of the picture but it's great that both versions are preserved here.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Cathy's Curse has been released on DVD a few times, through various 'public domain' labels and on bargain priced multipacks through the likes of Brentwood and Mill Creek Entertainment. To say those past releases looked like crap is being charitable - they were always sourced from a tape, and a rough looking one at that. Thankfully Severin Films has seen fit to give this one a proper home video release by way of an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer framed at 1.85.1 widescreen and while there is a bit of print damage here there, this offers a HUGE improvement over what we've seen in the past. Detail is generally very strong here and color reproduction quite nice. Black levels are good and the image has a very film-like quality to it, no problems with DNR or edge enhancement. If you're familiar with past DVD presentations, seeing it here is like seeing a completely different movie. Both cuts of the movie seem to share the same source material, visual quality doesn't really seem to differ.

English language audio is provided in DTS-HD Mono with optional English subtitles. The audio is limited in range but it sounds good. Dialogue is clean and clear and there are no problems with any hiss or distortion. Balance is also fine and the quirky synth-heavy soundtrack has good presence and depth to it.

Extras begin with an audio commentary available over the U.S. Cut by BirthMoviesDeath Critic Brian Collins and Filmmaker Simon Barrett. There's talk from the commentators about how they each discovered the movie and their initial thoughts on it, as well as some discussion about the differences between the two cuts of the film. They also offer up some critical analysis as to what works and what doesn't and some observations and trivia regarding the cast, the crew and the locations.

Featurettes start off with Tricks And Treats, a twenty minute interview with Director Eddy Matalon who starts off by talking about how and why he wound up moving to Canada from his native France. From there he talks about making Cathy's Curse in Quebec to take advantage of Canada's tax shelter program, bringing the movie in on a low budget, some of the challenges that they had with the effects work and what it was like working with the cast and crew, Randi Allen in particular. Up next is the thirteen minute Cathy & Mum featurette, which interviews with Actress Randi Allen and Costume Designer Joyce Allen. This is pretty interesting stuff as it allows Allen to look back on the work she did as a kid through the eyes of an adult. She notes that she'd done some commercial work before but nothing as intense as a film shoot, and that some of the demands on her were quite trying. Joyce Allen talks about how she came on board to work in costume design while her daughter was playing the titular lead, and then she shows off some items from a scrapbook that she made documenting the experience.

Rounding out the extras are a four minute introduction to The Cinematic Void screening of the film that took place at the American Cinematheque that once again features Brian Collins, the film's original theatrical trailer (reconstructed from restored footage from the feature and poor quality VHS inserts), menus and chapter selection.

The Final Word:

Cathy's Curse is pretty zany stuff - and now it exists as a special edition Blu-ray lovingly restored with some great extras and two cuts of the film! Truly this is an age of miracles in which we live. High fives to everyone at Severin Films for dusting this screwy horror oddity off and giving it the treatment we never knew it deserved.

Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!