''The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw'' (released as ''Blood Harvest'' in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

) is a 2020 Canadian

supernatural horror film Supernatural horror film is a film genre that combines aspects of horror film and supernatural film. Supernatural occurrences in such films often include ghosts and demons, and many supernatural horror films have elements of religion. Common them ...

written and directed by Thomas Robert Lee. It stars Catherine Walker, Jessica Reynolds,

Jared Abrahamson Jared Abrahamson is a Canadian actor. He is known for his performance in the 2016 film '' Hello Destroyer'', for which he was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Actor and won the award for Best Actor in a Canadian Film at the Vancouve ...

and

Sean McGinley Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Irish English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' (), Seán (anglicized as ''Shaun/ Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan (Ulster variant; angli ...

. The film tells the story of a mother and daughter living in a village, who come under suspicion of

witchcraft Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have us ...

from the other villagers after a

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...

decimates their crops and livestock. The film premiered at the

Fantasia International Film Festival Fantasia International Film Festival (also known as Fantasia-fest, FanTasia, and Fant-Asia) is a film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. Regularly held in July of each year, it is valued by both hardcore ...

on 22 August 2020. It was released in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

by Epic Pictures on 2 October 2020, in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

by A71 Entertainment on 9 October 2020, and in the United Kingdom on 16 November 2020. It received overall positive reviews from critics, with praise directed at the film's atmosphere and the cast's performances, though it was criticized for its story.

Cast

* Catherine Walker as Agatha Earnshaw * Jessica Reynolds as Audrey Earnshaw *

as Colm Dwyer *

Hannah Emily Anderson Hannah Emily Anderson is a Canadian actress. She is known for her roles in the films ''Jigsaw'' and ''What Keeps You Alive'', and the TV series ''The Purge''. Early life Anderson was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She graduated from the George ...

as Bridget Dwyer *

as Seamus Dwyer *

Don McKellar Don McKellar (born August 17, 1963) is a Canadian actor, writer, playwright, and filmmaker. He was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave. He is known for directing and writing the ...

as Bernard Buckley *

Geraldine O'Rawe Geraldine O'Rawe (born 4 March 1971) is an Irish actress.Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, but after part of the funding fell through, the producers decided to film instead at the CL Ranch, west of

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

on 22 August 2020. The film was released by Epic Pictures in the

on 2 October 2020, and by A71 Entertainment in

on 9 October 2020. It was released digitally in the

under the title of ''Blood Harvest'' on 16 November 2020.

Reception

The film received overall positive reviews from critics. On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's critics' consensus reads: "''The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw'' compensates for a certain amount of frustrating narrative drift with solid performances and a strong command of mood." Leslie Felperin of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' gave the film a score of 3 out of 5 stars, saying that it "simmers with unease and lingers in the mind – but bites off more than it can chew, leaving a little too much undigested narrative", but added that the cast's performances give the film "a charming luridness that could generate a small

cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

." Alex Saveliev of ''

Film Threat ''Film Threat'' is an online film review publication, and earlier, a national magazine that focused primarily on independent film, although it also reviewed videos and DVDs of mainstream films, as well as Hollywood movies in theaters. It first ...

'' wrote: "With ''The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw'', Lee has created a cinematic microcosm – atmospheric, containing powerful scenes, driven by some committed performances – that forgets to make a coherent point. The titular curse seems to be that of narrative ambiguity." John DeFore of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' wrote that the film "hits some notes well but never really generates an overall sense of dread", adding that "Lee's sometimes awkward script devotes more attention than it probably should to the suffering of individual families", though he praised the cast's performances. He concluded: "Nick Thomas' attractive compositions and strong design work overall help give the film a credible sense of place, but ultimately this haunting lacks soul."

References

External links

* *
The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw
' at

Library and Archives Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; french: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is the federal institution, tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is th ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curse of Audrey Earnshaw, The 2020 films 2020 horror films Canadian supernatural horror films English-language Canadian films Films set in 1973 2020s English-language films 2020s supernatural horror films 2020s Canadian films