The Blood Curse is a 2021 horror film that has received mixed reviews on the popular review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes. The film follows a family who becomes cursed after finding a mysterious artifact in their new home. As they struggle to escape the curse, they are faced with terrifying supernatural occurrences and must unravel the dark secrets of their haunted past. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently has a rating of 5.6 out of 10, based on reviews from both critics and audiences. Some reviewers have praised the film for its atmospheric tension and effective scares, while others have criticized it for its predictable plot and lack of originality.

Blood Curse

An urban family inherits an old country house located in a small village. Upon their arrival they try to adapt to the new lifestyle, but they soon learn that the village is overshadowed by superstition and mysterious folklore. As they are plagued by strange events, they learn more about the history of their family, and slowly begin to believe by inheriting the house, they also inherited a curse.

Cast

Directors Directors

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Cinematography Cinematography

Production Design Production Design

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Sound Sound

Costume Design Costume Design

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Releases by Date

Theatrical

24 Feb 2006

• Portugal

02 Mar 2006

Releases by Country

Portugal

24 Feb 2006

• Theatrical

USA

02 Mar 2006

• Theatrical

Some reviewers have praised the film for its atmospheric tension and effective scares, while others have criticized it for its predictable plot and lack of originality. Positive reviews commend the film's strong performances and creepy atmosphere, with many noting that it successfully delivers the thrills and chills expected from a horror movie. The film's effective use of jump scares and eerie sound design is also praised.

Popular reviews

slow, conversational genre cinema from Portugal. well-handcrafted, yet unfamiliar in any genre context, being not even too interested in atmosphere, more into its objects.

Unexpectedly this is very well made technically; great locations, comforting aesthetic. Enjoyed the warm, guitar based score with more abrasive, droning sections, reminding me a lot of the Silent Hill 3 soundtrack. Unfortunately, despite the mood and the craftsmanship, and generally good performances, the film is slow to a fault. While there is family drama, I was surprised hitting the final 15 minutes that there really wasn't much of a conflict, other than some weird incest stuff that isn't really that but would be a whole thing to explain. The finale itself is a strong scene, and I see what the film is going for, but I think it's spread too thin, making the ending feel abrupt and unsatisfying.

#2 - Portugal from March Around the World Challenge 2023 Progress: 2/30 "Blood Curse" aka "Coisa Ruim" (it's name in portuguese) was my native choice for the challenge and is (mostly) into folk horror territory. The plot definitely has potential (folklore, superstitions, curses, etc.) and the location/setting works favorably for the movie, with some beautiful landscape and places to shoot. Personally, I wasn't a big fan of the music/soundtrack element. Barring a few exceptions (where there were glimpses of a more atmospheric feel), this element didn't really feel adequate to the movie's (expected?) tone. As a result, I think the movie was quite "flat" and suffered in the atmosphere department because of it (though it may have been an option…

Nunca tinha visto este filme, cuja componente de terror é demasiado destacada do todo, quando a coisa mais forte dele é a criação de um microcosmos de personagens bem pensadas, e que tanto dizem ao que é isto de ser português, e de um ambiente em que o medo assume todas as formas.

Very interesting film that combines folklore of terror with domestic situations more or less unexpected, to create a sinister film, which is not far behind what can be done abroad, and if survives the crushing critique of pseudo-intellectual will be in the history of Portuguese cinema by its own right. Full Review: goo.gl/bCAmA

(Watched as the Weekly Discord Group Watch) I've been meaning to watch this movie for years now, considering it's titled as the "first feature length horror movie from Portugal" (the first and practically almost the last, so far). Finally had the chance to watch it and this was actually a pleasant surprise to me. Nicely acted, an eerie atmosphere, a slow (sometimes too much) and dramatic buildup, full of Portuguese "folklore" (if you can even call it that) and popular sayings, that eventually leads to a brutal ending. I wish they could have used the time better and explored the characters better, as well as the horrors related to them, but even so, I am quite satisfied, for the first time, with a movie that came out of my country. Also, don't let the generic English title and looking poster fool you. It doesn't represent the movie at all.

Ótimo terror português, com uma interessante exploração da religião e superstição no subtexto. Peca um pouco na escrita das personagens, mas a realização é excelente e utiliza a localidade de forma eficaz para criar uma atmosfera de inquietação e suspense.

At this point it would be weird for main characters in a horror film to NOT get menacing glances from villagers.

Por vezes as histórias e crenças que as pessoas idosas contam têm um fundo de realidade, nomeadamente, sobre o amaldiçoamento do Diabo, as passagens nos quatro caminhos, o toque dos sinos. e claro, exorcismos!
Muitissimo bom, exemplar e um grandioso filme português.

Curse-Rotted Greatwood | Dark Souls 3 Wiki | Boss Guide, Location, Drops, Stats and Tips

Curse-Rotted Greatwood is a Boss in Dark Souls 3. This Dark Souls 3 Curse-Rotted Greatwood Guide features locations, strategies and videos on how to defeat Curse-Rotted Greatwood easily, as well as tips, weaknesses, trivia and lore notes for the Greatwood boss.

The Curse-Rotted Greatwood is a giant tree with human-like limbs. It is covered in sacs that act as the hitbox of the boss. When the player encounters it, they will find a couple of undead in the arena that will fight alongside it during combat. After being brought down to a certain health threshold, instead of going through a transformation, the battle arena changes. This massive tree is filled with curses, and is the object of worship for the Undead Settlement's inhabitants.

Players should find the Mound-Makers covenant before defeating this boss, or they will need extra steps to enter the covenant. It is recommended to bring a weapon with long reach to deal with the Curse-Rotted Greatwood quickly. This boss is optional, but must be defeated for the Transposing Kiln required for Soul Transposition.

Bosses are unique and challenging Enemies that drop Boss Souls capable of being transformed into powerful Weapons, Spells, and Items for the player.

Dark Souls 3 Curse-Rotted Greatwood Location

Where to find the Curse-Rotted Greatwood in Dark Souls 3?

• You can find this boss near the end of the Undead Settlement. Cliff Underside is the nearest bonfire after opening the shortcut door in front of the boss area.

Curse-Rotted Greatwood Drops

What do you get from defeating the Curse-Rotted Greatwood in Dark Souls 3?

• Souls: NG (7,000) | NG+ (35,000) | NG++ (38,500) | NG+3 (39,375) | NG+6 (43,750) | NG+7 (44,625)
• Co-Op Souls: NG (1,750) | NG+ (9,625)
• Transposing Kiln, Soul of the Rotted Greatwood

Curse-Rotted Greatwood Combat Notes & Tips

What should you know about fighting the Curse-Rotted Greatwood in Dark Souls 3?

• Deals Standard Damage.
• The undead in the first phase will respawn a few times if killed, but will eventually stop. Avoid them and let the Greatwood swipe them away. They deal Standard Damage, Thrust Damage or Strike Damage.
• Wooden areas take no damage, aim for the round fleshy growths on his body. He will have some at his stomach, back, ankles and thighs. Destroying egg sack stuns Greatwood for a few seconds.
• Weak to Slash Damage (Hand and Egg Sacks), Thrust Damage (Hand) and Fire Damage.
• Has the most extreme fire weakness in the game, at -110% absorption.
• Pestilent Mist will not break up eggs, therefore 2nd phase will not trigger. Similar effect can be achieved without this spell, provided player can deplete the boss health bar within breaking 3 available egg sacks.
• Immune to Poison/Toxic, Bleed and Frostbite.
• Can be fooled with Alluring Skulls.
• Damage him by taking out his back legs so he sits down. Attack him from behind while he is on sitting. 4-5 attacks will stun him and cause major damage.
• Try to move to the bosses right side when he stands up. When he falls the arm will be on that side, letting you get good damage in.
• You can skip first phase altogether by killing all of the Unkindles before waking the boss up. You will end up fighting normally for a brief time and the second phase will commence straight away. Also, Greatwood will not drop other unkindles on you

Curse-Rotted Greatwood Stats

Dark Souls 3 Curse-Rotted Greatwood Boss Guide & Strategies

DS3 Curse-Rotted Greatwood Video Strategies

Below are video strategies from our Youtube Partners.

DS3 Curse-Rotted Greatwood Attacks

How to fight and beat Curse-Rotted Greatwood

Strategy 1 (Melee)

Immediately after the boss becomes active charge its left hand and left leg and destroy the egg sacks there. Back away and wait for the boss to do a kicking attack, fending off any undead as needed. As soon as you recognize that it is raising his leg to kick, charge to its groin and attack it as much as you can and then block or roll to dodge the imminent blow from its arm. Repeat until you fall into the pit.

Once in the pit, you'll want to stay away from the boss while determining where the remaining sacks are. You are entirely safe if you stay locked on and circling him, out of range. The Greatwood has a few eggs on its lower back and a few more on its right elbow; manually-aimed ranged attacks work best here, bows particularly for the targeting reticule, but you can also attack it in melee following the Cursed Wood's stand-and-fall attack, but you have to be quick; the white arm that emerges from its stomach/groin is also vulnerable. Once you've gotten rid of the groin sacks, and the lower back sacks, you may have to attack its white arm, as the remaining sacs are impractical to reach. This may require you to fight locked-off. Watch out for the arm's attacks, it has a grab that's particularly nasty. Simply dodge whenever you see it doing something, all its attacks have considerable recovery that should let you get in 1-3 blows.

The best time to do massive damage is in its second phase. Goad it into it's falling attack. Dodge and you will have a good opportunity to get some hits in on some of the sacs you couldn't easily hit before.

As soon as you see the boss stand up and lean forward, sprint to you're coming from behind it, to its left hand side. When it falls down the white arm will be vulnerable for about 5 seconds. This is a perfect time to score a combo. When you see it stand up, if you have any, use a Pine Resin and imbue your weapon with either fire or lightning and maximise the amount of damage you can get in the small window. If you've destroyed all of the sacks, this is the safest (if slowest) tactic.

Strategy 2 (Sorcery)

The best strategy for pure magic with this boss is to spare him until you have the spell Pestilent Mist. With it, this boss gets rather easy, just get near him, cast the spell, move out of range, wait, repeat. Since the boss will only break the ground if you are near him, with Pestilent Mist it is possible to avoid stage two completely - the boss will break the ground when he dies, but not before. The only things you have to watch out for are the undead, that spawn until the boss is dead, and his ground rolling attack.

Another very easy method as a Sorcerer is to use White Dragon Breath to destroy its sacks. In phase 1 you run up to the right side of the boss and target lock. Move with the boss to the left side and when one of its sacks is in the line of sight between the white target lock dot and you, cast White Dragon Breath.

Phase two is much easier then, always keep the boss target locked and bring your self into position. The advantage of White Dragon Breath is that it follows the ground and upward, which is why you should keep the boss target locked and only cast when one of its sacks in between you and the lock. You can aim for its middle sack after the white hand swiped 3 times, sometimes even hitting the hand and the sack.

It is also possible (and not very difficult) to hit the egg sacks with unlocked spells; the large aggregation on the Greatwood's back in particular is just barely out of range of many melee weapons, but easy to hit with unlocked soul arrows.

Strategy 3 (Pyromancy)

This boss is weak to pyromancy, giving you a good advantage. As soon as the fight starts, start lobbing fire at the big egg sack on his crotch. You'll be able to quickly destroy this, progressing the fight into phase II. During the phase transition, if you're quick enough, you can destroy the egg sac on his left hand.

While in the pit, prioritize targetting the sacs on his hands, feet and back. Once the boss has low health, you can just target the white hand that has now emerged from his stomach. Be careful not to get hit by his sweeping attacks, and be prepared to evade his body splashes.

Strategy 4 (Baiting a fall)

Follow the same Phase 1 strategy as the guides above, but once you get to phase two you can cheese it. If you run out of range as far as you can the Greatwood will stand up and do a belly flop a lot like the Frog Boss in DS2. While he is down you can hit the arm a couple times and run away before he can do any damage to you. Simply keep on doing this over and over again and the boss should be easy for any build. Keep in mind he does have an attack where he stands up and rolls sideways that you have to avoid; its a bit more rare and does not give you a window of opportunity to do damage, but seems to only come up after he has done half a dozen of the regular belly flops.

Curse-Rotted Greatwood Lore Theories

• According to the Soul of the Rotted Greatwood, it used to be a spirit tree until it was used as a vessel for unwanted curses by the inhabitants of the Undead Settlement. This lead to its transformation into a grotesque beast.
• Considering the tree's presence above the pit of hollows it is possible the Mound Makers and their murders are at least part of the reason for the tree becoming steeped in curses, as hundreds upon thousands of bones are found in the pit of hollows at the shrine of the Mound Makers.
• May be related to The Bed of Chaos, may also be part of an overarching theme that links plants to chaos and fertility.

Curse-Rotted Greatwood Trivia

• In the second phase, a large white arm will emerge from the center of his body that you should avoid as it can pick you up and throw you. Observe it - if it is still, and not about to grab, you can score hits on it.
• Bug: Just happened in my playthrough. Tree fell into second arena in a slow stuttering fashion and failed to grow more egg sacks and limb! Fight became impossible to win. Remaining sacs do not do enough damage to kill him.
• Bug: Boss became a tree and fell a few feet into the ground. Was unable to move for a few seconds. It eventually popped out and started fighting normally. Silly tree, you ain't no tree no more.
• Bug: Boss would not go into his second phase and drop into the pit - however he was still beatable as the egg sacks would not pop and simply continued to take damage. The floor broke after he was defeated and the pit could be accessed normally.

However, negative reviews argue that the film suffers from a derivative storyline and fails to bring anything new to the horror genre. Some critics feel that the scares are predictable, and the plot lacks depth. They also note that the characters are underdeveloped, making it difficult to sympathize with their plight. While the film has received mixed reviews, it has still managed to find an audience who enjoy its spooky atmosphere and traditional horror elements. Ultimately, whether the Blood Curse is worth watching may depend on personal preference and tolerance for familiar horror tropes..

Reviews for "Examining the Audience Response to Blood Curse on Rotten Tomatoes"

1. David - 1/5 stars - I found "Blood Curse" to be a complete waste of time. The plot was convoluted and lacked clarity, making it difficult to follow. The acting felt forced and the dialogue was incredibly cheesy. Additionally, the special effects were incredibly low-budget and did nothing to enhance the already weak storyline. Overall, I was highly disappointed and would not recommend this movie to anyone.

2. Sarah - 2/5 stars - Although "Blood Curse" had potential, it failed to live up to my expectations. The concept was interesting, but the execution fell flat. The pacing was slow and dragged on, resulting in long periods of boredom. The characters were lacking depth and failed to elicit any emotional connection. Furthermore, the ending felt rushed and unsatisfying. It's a shame because with better direction and a stronger script, "Blood Curse" could have been a much better film.

3. Jason - 2/5 stars - I had high hopes for "Blood Curse" as a horror movie enthusiast, but unfortunately, it fell short. The scares were predictable and lacked originality, relying heavily on clichés and jump scares. The plot was confusing and disjointed, making it difficult to understand the motivations of the characters. The performances were average at best, with no standout performances. Overall, "Blood Curse" failed to deliver any genuine thrills or chills, leaving me feeling underwhelmed and unimpressed.

4. Rachel - 1/5 stars - I cannot express how disappointed I was with "Blood Curse". The plot was nonsensical and filled with plot holes. The characters were one-dimensional and uninteresting, making it hard to care about their fates. The dialogue was cringe-worthy and the attempts at humor fell flat. The film relied too heavily on cheap jump scares and gory visuals rather than building tension or creating an eerie atmosphere. I would not recommend wasting your time on this lackluster horror film.

5. Michael - 2/5 stars - "Blood Curse" had a promising premise, but it ultimately failed to deliver. The cinematography was mundane and uninspired, and the overall visual style lacked creativity. The story had potential but became convoluted and confusing as it progressed. The pacing was inconsistent, with moments of intense action followed by long stretches of monotony. It's a shame because with better execution, "Blood Curse" could have been a captivating and terrifying film.

Blood Curse: Unpacking the Factors Behind Its Rotten Tomatoes Score