This 93%-Rated Show Starring Emma Stone Rivals Twin Peaks in Its Weirdness, Fans Say
Two years ago, Showtime released one of the strangest series not only of the year, but perhaps of the entire 2020s.
Nathan Fielder is a director known for such brilliant documentaries as Nathan for You and The Rehearsal. His co-writer is Benny Safdie, one of the creators of Uncut Gems and Good Time.
It was this duo that made The Curse, a crazy series about a married couple and a reality show starring Fielder himself and Emma Stone.
What Is The Curse About?
In the small town of Española, unusual structures have suddenly appeared – small in size, completely mirrored. Journalists are rushing to interview the creators of eco-friendly houses with a zero carbon footprint, as young couple Asher and Whitney Siegel call their creations.
Mirror houses are not just a product to be sold. They are part of a reality show whose first episode is being filmed by director Dougie.
The business plan is simple: use the show to draw attention to the houses, and then sell them for a large sum of money. But all this is not for the sake of money, of course, but to save Española from decay. Or is it?
The Curse Creates a Sense of Unease by Mixing the Incompatible
Fielder and Safdie combine opposites – comic scenes are accompanied by a soundtrack typical of modern horror films, light and meaningless dialogue, which in another setting would elicit laughter, takes on the weight of suspense and foreboding of trouble.
Perhaps this is why the project received such a low audience rating – 44% against 93% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes – it deceives expectations and stands at the crossroads of comedy and horror.
As you watch, you want to laugh, but then you stop and notice an uncomfortable, creeping feeling of dread and disgust, even though there are no ghosts or darkness in the project.
The Curse Is Often Compared to Twin Peaks
In an effort to document the falseness of the characters' lives, Safdie and Fielder use an unusual trick – almost every angle resembles a hidden camera shot.
When the Siegels are driving, it's as if they're being filmed from a nearby car, and when they're at home, we often watch them through the window, and various unidentifiable objects end up at the edge of the frame. This causes discomfort and even horror.
For this reason, fans often compare The Curse to the works of David Lynch, especially Twin Peaks. As Reddit user Rare_String_3259 wrote:
“One of the most popular definitions of Lynchian is to make the mundane uncanny which The Curse excels at. Lots of things are feeling the influence of [Twin Peaks:] The Return.”
In The Curse, the most ordinary things become the harbingers of something terrible and an ordinary sunny day can look like the end of the world.
But the most Twin Peaks thing about The Curse is the ending. The film crew will "haunt" the characters until the very last moment, trying to document absolutely everything, including the truly shocking finale, which is impossible to prepare for or predict for even the most attentive viewer.