The Curse of Rosalie (2022) Too Much Movie in this Movie (Review)

What’s in the title of a movie? If the title is The Harbinger, then plenty. One of the more acclaimed indie titles of 2022 was Andy Mitton‘s Harbinger, a terror inspired by the anonymity of COVID-death figures. A title Mitton’s film shared with Will Klipstine’s native-American-infused fantasy/ religious horror. The latter has undergone a name change that will do the world of good for all involved. Klistine’s Harbinger has become the Curse of Rosalie, just in time for its release in UK cinemas on the 14th of April. Having two movies within the same genre space share a name achieves little more than diminishing the potential impact of both.

In The Curse of Rosalie, Rosalie (Madeleine McGraw) and her parents – Daniel (Director Will Klipstine) & Claire (Kate Luyben) – move from town to town under the guise of Daniel’s job as a life insurance salesman. The latest town the family rock into is a perfect vision of middle America with its welcoming committee and openly racist claims to stay away from the Native American part of town. The truth is much more complex. Rosalie’s soul has been stolen by a demonic entity, causing the little girl to act with a psychotic detach – a world away from the 1960s American sitcom vision of a happy family the trio used to be. The demon did this to trick Daniel into a life of servitude as someone who may have a little more of a hand in the life insurance process than first appears. To save their daughter’s life, they visit the “wrong part of town”, where they meet with Floating Hawk (Irene Bedard). She has a dangerous plan to help reclaim the soul of the cursed Rosalie. Things aren’t that simple, however, as people Daniel previously sold life insurance to start turning up dead, leading the more traditional elements of the community to intimidate the young family out of town.

Then the plot takes a turn for the wobbly. The story introduces the concept of Harbingers: people who mark souls for death and ferry them to the afterlife – at the site of every death is a wooden totem. It also introduces a duplicitous demon who can switch between a human (Charles Hubbell) and a demon (a lavish, expensive costume not too dissimilar from 1985’s Legend) whose plan doesn’t really make any sense when you put it under the slightest scrutiny. There are also ghosts that manifest in a way that furthers the idea that 1960s American sitcoms are coursing through the veins of the curse of Rosalie. These ghosts are just people wearing fancy-dress level historical outfits, drenched in a smoky filtering rendering them supernatural. Aesthetic decisions of 1960s America are rampant, but comedy this is not – Klispstine’s film takes itself very seriously, with its angels, eternal damnation and the deconstruction of middle American values. All that in a movie where a demon throws people around a room with their powers in a battle for their eternal soul. And therein comes the interal conflict – is the Curse of Rosalie a religiously embued mystery fantasy or a satire?

The problem is that it’s not convincing as either. When the plot falls under its own weight of trying to be too much to the extent that some have questioned whether this is a parody, you know you are on shaky ground. Having a script rampant with inconsistencies and plot holes adds to the problems. Then there’s the performances; there isn’t a single stand out. Nor is there any nuance to any perfomance besides hastily stagged and written character twists. None of which help with the confusion; let’s not sugar coat things – the Curse of Rosalie is a messy movie.

That’s not to say that Will Klipstine’s movie is without note. Hiring native American creatives and actors shows that Klipstine is a man of upstanding moral fibre, especially considering how overlooked they are within American culture. Additionally, the concept of a group of people indentured to a lifetime of servitude to a demon who demands they collect souls; that has the fascinating story potential. Yes. Especially when integrating Native American folklore into the worldbuilding. If the Curse of Rosalie did that and stood by mystery and horror rather than crowding out its core qualities with 1980s fantasy, fetch quests, TV-movie aesthetics, The Omen and middle class suburban bullying.

Rob’s Archive – The Curse of Rosalie