The Curse of the Necklace (2024) - A Total Miss
- Viktoria
- 23 hours ago
- 5 min read
Director: Juan Pablo Arias Munoz
Year of release: 2024
Country of origin: United States
Spoiler status: Light spoilers
Genre: Supernatural horror
The Curse of the Necklace is just another low-budget horror movie filled with possession tropes that are, at this point, simply boring. A family with deep-rooted issues comes into contact with a haunted object, and bad things start to happen. This cliche might be overused, but that doesn't mean it can't be good. If done right, a cursed object can bring an abundance of true scares. Unfortunately, The Curse of the Necklace didn't live up to the expectations. It felt like the team behind the movie wanted it to be part of The Conjuring Universe, but they didn't have the budget to get to that level. There was also an issue with the actors' performances, which is surprising since we've seen them do a great job in other movies/shows.
So, knowing all this, is The Curse of the Necklace worth watching? Let's dive into the story and find out.
A Closer Look at the Curse
The trope of cursed objects gave us some of the best horror movies in the history of the genre. The Ring, Annabelle, The Possession. These are only some that used the trope and actually made it work. Unfortunately, The Curse of the Necklace didn't make it onto the list. Starting from the gimmicky prop jewelry they used for the haunted object, to the poor visual effects, this movie left a lot to be desired. The biggest issue with the story is the fact that the curse was never actually explained. Viewers get a vague explanation of how it got to the previous family, but nothing about why it's cursed or how the curse actually works. The object the movie is about has no actual backstory or explanation, so the story is based on an object the audience should fear, but they don't know why exactly. So what did they base the fear on?
The Curse of the Necklace is a supernatural horror movie with elements of psychological horror. The fear factor is based on the dark shadows in the background and the intense silence in ominous scenes, but there are a few jump scares as well, as is customary for a supernatural horror. So the movie actually had a great base for a successful horror movie, but they blew it with cheap special effects and lacking delivery of characters. Henry Thomas is known to be a great actor. He played, among others, Frederick Usher (Fall of the House of Usher), Ed Flynn (Midnight Mass), and Henry Wingrave (The Haunting of Bly Manor). So his meek portrayal of Frank Davis, a mentally abusive cop who has issues with controlling his temper, came as a surprise. Some lines definitely lacked the needed force, which gave the impression that he had an issue with getting into character. Thomas is generally viewed as a good actor with consistently solid performances, so I'd really like to find out what happened on the set of this movie that caused him to underperform.
Unfortunately, the issue of underperformance is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this movie. As we already mentioned above, The Curse of the Necklace used some rather questionable visual effects to try to pull the viewers into its world. For some reason, the necklace could communicate with the people around it by reaching out to them either in their sleep, or while they were in a trance. This alone wouldn't be an issue since it's one of the main cursed item horror tropes. The main problem here is the visual representation of the "other dimension" where the victim's subconscious is taken. It's basically a red room representing the inside of the humongous red gem that's seen on the necklace. It's pretty hard to take these scenes seriously since the cursed jewelry is already gimmicky-looking. If we add the bad visual effects on top of that, the whole idea becomes ridiculous. We get it, the budget was low, and they didn't have the money to make it look better. But honestly, if you don't have the money to make it properly, then don't do it at all. The silly-looking effects took away from the horror factor in a way that couldn't be fixed with any amount of quality scares. So, does this mean that the movie is bad? Yes, and no.
Even though The Curse of the Necklace has a lot of flaws, we definitely have to mention its one strength. It addresses important social issues from the past that, in some parts of the world, unfortunately, have been dragged into the present. It touches on the subject of stigmatization of working mothers in the 60s, as well as poor family management in situations like this. As shown in the movie, it was expected of the eldest child to take a majority of the housework onto their shoulders while raising their sibling, because the father figure refused to sacrifice any aspect of their life. This led to deeper problems within the family, giving way to negative feelings, which, in the haunted object trope, allows the entity to cause chaos that more often than not leads to possession. This leaves me with one question. Was this a deliberate and honest social criticism, or did they include this only as a simple plot device?
Is The Curse of the Necklace (2024) worth watching?
The short answer is no. There are a number of low-budget indie horror movies out there that did a way better job with the money they had, so if you're looking for something that isn't exactly high-end but is still worth your time, keep on looking. Sure, there are some redeeming qualities to this horror, like the atmosphere they built with the dark hallways and silent scenes, as well as the jump scares they sprinkled throughout. But none of that matters when the special effects used to pull the viewer into the other dimension demolish the dread-inducing atmosphere that was carefully put together with the help of the above-mentioned elements. So no, this movie isn't really worth your time. But if by any chance you would still like to give it a go, you can find the trailer below. Feel free to sneak a peek!
Rating: 🕯️
The Curse of the Necklace gets a 1/5. Honestly, it started out good, but then it got progressively worse. I've spent an hour and a half on it, hoping that at one point it would get back on track, but instead, I was left with the bitter taste of disappointment.
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