Home Entertainment: ’The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw’ Digital Review

For seventeen years, the land that is home to a local community has been barren with the exception of just one plot, owned by the reclusive Agatha Earnshaw (Catherine Walker). Hated by the other villagers for her prosperity, Agatha has been hiding her daughter, Audrey (Jessica Reynolds), from them for fear they will take their anger out on them. Born during a solar eclipse, Audrey isn’t your usual child, and as she starts to come into maturity, her powers take on a life of their own. After seeing the way that the locals treat her mother, Audrey decides to teach them that they are not women to mess with; as a strange series of events take grip over the community, hysteria and horror set-in. 

The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw is an atmospheric tale of black magic and small town madness. A film that fits firmly into the witchcraft sub-genre of horror; it’s great to see a film embrace the dark nature of curses and hexes for once. Writer and director Thomas Robert Lee goes full Robert Eggers, conjuring up nightmarish imagery and vivid enactments of violent wrath. The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw is not a film for the squeamish of both blood and thematic tone. It’s not a happy or joyful film, but rather a wildly vicious one that reflects the world in which it unfolds perfectly.  

The biggest issue with The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw though, is its setting. The film opens with text that explains some of the history of the location of our story. All the information points to, and confirms, that the events of the movie take place during the 1970s, and yet the visual aesthetics are oddly more in line with the 1870s. With the exception of one item seen from afar during the final half of the film, there is nothing remotely modern featured. One could argue that the rural location explains this apparent regression to an older time, or that the visuals represent how small minded folks can easily get stuck on one idea or time. However, the anachronistic environment just leaves the viewer bewildered and bothered about when it’s actually set. I personally had to double-check that I hadn’t misread the dates listed in the opening, but even then, I still began to wonder whether there had been a horrible typo that was warping my perception of the story. When the aforementioned very modern item eventually appeared, I realised that I hadn’t gone mad, but it does beggar the question why set the film in the 1970’s if everything you see and hear screams a much older time period. 

If you can push this distraction from your brain and just assume that the film is taking place in a much earlier time, the viewing experience will be much more palatable, The costumes and production values are exceptional; there’s an effective chilly Gothic western aura to everything in the piece. There’s a lot of atmosphere created and some convincing FX work at play. The cast attack their roles with ferocity and restraint as appropriate, and Lee’s choice of showing both villagers and Earnshaw women allows the audience to draw their own conclusion on who to side with. As with anything, there are two sides to a story, and by being granted access to each clan you get a fully-rounded idea of who everyone is, their motives, and if these should be encouraged or shunned.

Were The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw to be set in an earlier time period more fitting to the costuming and behaviours found within the film, then it would feel much more cohesive and would be garnering high praise. As it stands, this choice works as something that starts off as a mild irritation before morphing into pure confusion as to why the story has been locked into this era. With seemingly no real reason to pick the 1970s, or at least none that is obviously articulated, there’s a constant distraction from the horror that is happening on screen. The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw falters with this confusing choice and struggles to get going hereafter. 

The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw is on Digital VOD now.