Cinematic Curses by Robin Nyström

 
I've thought a lot about curses lately.
 
You know, spells that you cast upon a person to condemn their fate to a life of darkness and despair. That kind of curse.
 
Of course, we find out about such wicked witchcraft from the tales of old. We hear the story of Beauty and the Beast and the curse that can turn a prince into a monster. We come to learn about Maleficent, the evil fairy in Sleeping Beauty, who curses an infant princess by proclaiming:
 
“Before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday, she shall prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel… and DIE!”
 
As we grow older, these fairytales are supplemented by stories that are even more horrific. Think of classic horror flicks such as The Ring where we learn that exposure to certain video tape footage can inflict death within seven days. We remember the teenagers in A Nightmare on Elm Street that are cursed with an evil spirit who kills his victims in their sleep. And you might even recall the movie Thinner in which a man is cursed with such rapid weight-loss that emaciation brings him to death’s door.
 
Like I said—evil curses have been on my mind.
 
For the past two years, I’ve spent a fair share of my spare time writing and directing a fantasy web series called Tracy Buckles. It’s an episodic show about a young heroine named Tracy who is struck by a despicable curse that prevents other people from hearing her voice. The curse is cast by a Level 9 Superior Black Mage named Janie, who also happens to be one of Tracy's old high school friends.
 
During production, we set out to create a scene that would give the viewer a sense of the terrifying power conjured by the Black Mage. In order to achieve this, we looked back at the history of cinematic curse scenes to gather inspiration. During that search, I identified one filmmaker who stands head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to this particular sub genre. A filmmaker whose oeuvre has been defined by cursed protagonists, both male and female.
 
I’m talking about the man, the legend—the one and only—director Sam Raimi.
 
His big breakthrough came with the 1981 horror classic The Evil Dead. Despite the budgetary restrictions imposed on the project, Raimi wielded his filmmaking craft with awe-inspiring creativity. What I find so inspirational about his early work is that many of the special effects rely on techniques that have been used in movies since the 1920s. Raimi is an expert at utilizing lighting and smoke and make-up and other fundamental tools that any filmmaker, big or small, will have access to.
 
As we devised our curse scene in Tracy Buckles, my team studied the superb filmmaking techniques of Sam Raimi. We used make-up and contact lenses to give the Black Mage a creepy appearance. We backlit her body with a red light source representing the dark, demonic powers that overtake her. We layered her voice with an ominous, lower-pitched rumble, as if infernal forces speak through her vocal cords. Then we added plenty of smoke and wind in order to fill the environment with mysterious textures. And throughout it all, the work of Mr. Raimi was our main source of inspiration.
 
In the end, the production team of Tracy Buckles owes a great debt to Sam Raimi and other storytellers who poured their creativity into the creation of cinematic curse scenes.
 
May they continue to scare the living daylights out of many more generations to come.

About Robin Nyström
Robin Nyström is a Swedish-born writer/director residing in Los Angeles, CA.
 
His latest web series TRACY BUCKLES depicts a young woman who becomes the victim of a despicable curse. She joins forces with a nameless drifter and a bumbling wizard in order to break free from the evil sorcery.
 
Watch all episodes of TRACY BUCKLES on the official website:
http://www.tracybuckles.com
or on Vimeo:
https://vimeo.com/album/5807934

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