■ Movie review
Wes Cravens predictable plot brings
nothing new to horror movie genre
BY RYAN NYBURG
PULSE EDITOR
Wes Craven's "Cursed" continues
the seemingly endless string of
bland horror films released since the
end of December, adding nothing
new to the pile of unmitigated crap
that moviegoers and sad-sackfilm
critics have been exposed to over
the past two months.
While Craven's name has become
associated with several creative hor
ror films, it has been associated with
some atrociously boring works as
well. Ever since his break-out film,
"Last House on the Left," in the early
1970s, Craven has run hot and cold
over the entire horror cinema land
scape. Occasionally he'll turn in a
boldly original and genre-defining
piece of work, such as "A Nightmare
on Elm Street" or "Scream," butthen
he'll follow it with a long string of what
can only be called hack work, such as
"Vampire in Brooklyn" or "Scream 2."
"Cursed" falls with a sickening thud
in the latter category, with every
mediocre second of it feeling like a
painfully tired cliche. Starring the
woefully miscast Christina Ricci, the
film deals with an outbreak of were
wolves in Los Angeles. Since it plays
the horror movie game by rote, watch
ing the film becomes a matter of
counting down to the obligatory plot
points and character revelations. One,
two, three, guy behind the door; one,
two, three, she's really a werewolf.
The main plot thrust is that Ricci
and her brother Jimmy (Jesse Eisen
berg) get in a car crash on Mulholland
Drive. A driver in another car is
dragged off by a wolf and the siblings
are both bitten while trying to save
her. They then have to come to terms
with their budding lycanthropia.
The film takes absolutely no
chances with the werewolf genre,
playing everything straight Here's a
gypsy fortune teller, here's a weird
mark on the hand, here's an absurd
amount of full moons occurring in a
single month. When Jimmy starts
looking up books on werewolves and
begins quoting unnamed "experts"
about howthe process works, it feels
as if the filmmakers just shrugged and
decided they couldn't come up with
anything more original.
Scripted by "Scream" screenwriter
Kevin Williamson, the film pays hom
age to the Lon Chaney Jr. classic,
"The Wolf Man," but nevertries to
breakfree of thatfilm's overarching
mythology. Apparently the intervening
64 years of progress, with such films
as "The Howling," "An American
Werewolf in London" and "Wolfen"
creating whole new ways to look at
werewolves, have not made
enough of a dent in Williamson's
imagination for him to come up with
something creative. By the time a
werewolf seems to be defeated but
then pops up and is shot in the
head, it becomes obvious that
nearly everyone involved has
completely run out of ideas.
Williamson has always been a one
trick pony in any case. The meta-hor
ror of "Scream" seems like a fluke in
retrospect, after nearly a decade of
diminishing returns. The complete
lack of imagination expressed in
"Cursed" shows that both Craven and
Williamson might be better off not
making any more films together. Or
any more films at all, for that matter.
ryannyburg@dailyemerald.com
Future Music
Oregon
Jeffrey Stolet, director
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Featuring a single one-hour piece
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of live computer music, has been h
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guest artist Carl Stone,
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d by the Village Voice
Saturday, March 5 8 p.m.
Room 198, UO School of Music
TICKETS: $5 General Admission, $3 Students & Senior Citizens:
available at the door. Room 198 is wheelchair accessible
Performing under
PRESSURE
The Jazz Cafe is a venue for an array of musicians to
showcase their talents in a mostly unrehearsed format
BY AMY LICHTY
PULSE REPORTER
The talents of jazz musicians such
as John Coltrane and Miles Davis have
been celebrated for years. At the Uni
versity, many more jazz musicians are
waiting forthe same recognition, but
they'll have to first showcase theirtal
ents—both prepared and improvised
— at the Jazz Cafe on Friday.
"The Jazz Cafe has been in exis
tence for many years, and it's been a
showcase for our student combos,"
Jazz Cafe faculty adviser Mike
Denny said.
The School of Music hosts the Jazz
Cafe twice per term, with about half of
the approximately eight combos per
forming at each show. Ranging in size
from fourto eight musicians, the
groups perform traditional jazz reper
toire as well as original compositions.
"We just wanted to create an envi
ronment that would be greatfor every
one to do this in, to perform and enjoy it
in a place that's a little more than just
hanging out," jazz studies Director
Steve Owen said. "We thought it'd be a
great idea for us to just go ahead and
have an informal place to have our
combos play on campus, so we just
kind of take over a room and allow our
combos to have concerts. One of the
things that's nice about it is that we
have people involved in it who are very
advanced players as well as some who
are just starting out."
Improvisation is an important ele
ment of jazz, and although the groups
will be performing pieces composed by
famous jazz musicians, including Char
lie Parker, Benny Golson, Jerome Kern,
Bronislaw Kaper and Davis, much of
the music is created unrehearsed and
on the spot.
"Improvisation is a blast. It really
makes people be aware of the build
ing blocks of music and be able to
manipulate them kind of sponta
neously," Owen said. "It's really fun
to see people do it and the reason
forthe Jazz Cafe was to find a place
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to allow people to do this at all lev
els. It may be fun, but it's also en
couraging. Sometimes, when you're
in a concert hall, (improvising) can
be kind of daunting, and we wanted
it more informal than that."
Instrumentation includes some
combination of the rhythm section
— piano, bass, drums and guitar —
and the horn section — saxophones,
trumpets and trombones. Occasion
ally, the combos will feature a
vocalist or violinist.
As an actual class for which under
graduate and graduate students enroll,
the combos—usually led by a gradu
ate teaching fellow or a faculty adviser
—stick to the jazz they've been
studying all year long.
"We have some undergrads work
ing with graduate students as perform
ers in the ensemble, and it's a lot looser
than a recital," Denny said. "And it's
worked out really well—we put table
cloths and candles out and serve light
refreshments. We try to create a cafe
atmosphere so it's not as formal as a
typical recital."
Although the environment is that of a
comfortable cafe, there are those
times when musicians have trouble
handling the pressure, especially when
it comes to improvising.
"I call itthe 'Crash and Burn Phe
nomenon/" Owen said. "Sometimes
it's just fun to see how these perform
ers are going to do and if they're going
to make it through. There’s an element
of dangerto the whole thing. I've seen
some really outstanding musicians get
up there and then sometimes it just
doesn't click. But othertimes, you can
get people who can really play almost
beyond themselves and overall, every
one does really well."
The music starts at 8 p.m. in room
178 of the School of Music. Tickets
can be purchased at the doorfor
$5 general admission and $3for
students and seniors.
amylichty@dailyemerald.com
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