''The Curve'' is a 1998
thriller film
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...
starring
Matthew Lillard
Matthew Lyn Lillard (born January 24, 1970) is an American actor. His early film work includes Chip Sutphin in ''Serial Mom'' (1994), Emmanuel "Cereal Killer" Goldstein in '' Hackers'' (1995), Stu Macher in '' Scream'' (1996), Stevo in ''SLC Pu ...
,
Keri Russell
Keri Lynn Russell (born March 23, 1976) is an American actress. She portrayed the titular character on the drama series '' Felicity'' (1998–2002), which won her a Golden Globe Award, and Elizabeth Jennings on the FX spy thriller series ''The ...
and
Michael Vartan
Michael S. Vartan (born November 27, 1968) is a French-American actor, known for his role as Michael Vaughn on the ABC television action drama ''Alias'', his role on the TNT medical drama '' Hawthorne'', and his role on the '' E!'' drama '' The A ...
,
which premiered at the 1998
Sundance Film Festival under its original title, ''Dead Man's Curve''.
It draws on the
urban legend
An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...
that a student will receive only A+ letter grades should their
roommate commit
suicide (
pass by catastrophe).
Plot
After hearing of a school policy granting anyone whose
roommate commits suicide an automatic 4.0
GPA
Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements for varying levels of achievements in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters (usually A through F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), as a percentage, or as a numbe ...
, Harvard Med School aspirants Chris (
Michael Vartan
Michael S. Vartan (born November 27, 1968) is a French-American actor, known for his role as Michael Vaughn on the ABC television action drama ''Alias'', his role on the TNT medical drama '' Hawthorne'', and his role on the '' E!'' drama '' The A ...
) and Tim (
Matthew Lillard
Matthew Lyn Lillard (born January 24, 1970) is an American actor. His early film work includes Chip Sutphin in ''Serial Mom'' (1994), Emmanuel "Cereal Killer" Goldstein in '' Hackers'' (1995), Stu Macher in '' Scream'' (1996), Stevo in ''SLC Pu ...
) plot to kill their roommate Rand (
Randall Batinkoff
Randall Matthew Batinkoff (born October 16, 1968) is an American actor, known for his roles in the films '' For Keeps'', '' School Ties'', and ''Higher Learning''.
Early life and education
Batinkoff was born in Monticello, New York, the son of Ba ...
) and make it look like a suicide. They're successful, but when the fallout breeds unforeseen consequences and two local detectives close in, guilt and mistrust fester, jeopardizing Chris's relationship with his girlfriend Emma (
Keri Russell
Keri Lynn Russell (born March 23, 1976) is an American actress. She portrayed the titular character on the drama series '' Felicity'' (1998–2002), which won her a Golden Globe Award, and Elizabeth Jennings on the FX spy thriller series ''The ...
) and the roommates' futures.
Cast
*
Matthew Lillard
Matthew Lyn Lillard (born January 24, 1970) is an American actor. His early film work includes Chip Sutphin in ''Serial Mom'' (1994), Emmanuel "Cereal Killer" Goldstein in '' Hackers'' (1995), Stu Macher in '' Scream'' (1996), Stevo in ''SLC Pu ...
– Tim
*
Michael Vartan
Michael S. Vartan (born November 27, 1968) is a French-American actor, known for his role as Michael Vaughn on the ABC television action drama ''Alias'', his role on the TNT medical drama '' Hawthorne'', and his role on the '' E!'' drama '' The A ...
– Chris
*
Keri Russell
Keri Lynn Russell (born March 23, 1976) is an American actress. She portrayed the titular character on the drama series '' Felicity'' (1998–2002), which won her a Golden Globe Award, and Elizabeth Jennings on the FX spy thriller series ''The ...
– Emma
*
Randall Batinkoff
Randall Matthew Batinkoff (born October 16, 1968) is an American actor, known for his roles in the films '' For Keeps'', '' School Ties'', and ''Higher Learning''.
Early life and education
Batinkoff was born in Monticello, New York, the son of Ba ...
– Rand
*
Dana Delany
Dana Welles Delany (born March 13, 1956) is an American actress. After appearing in small roles early in her career, Delany received her breakthrough role as Colleen McMurphy on the ABC television drama '' China Beach'' (1988–1991), for whic ...
– Dr. Ashley
*Tamara Craig Thomas – Natalie
*
Bo Dietl
Richard A. "Bo" Dietl (born December 4, 1950) is an American retired police detective, a media personality and actor. Dietl is the founder and CEO of Beau Dietl & Associates and Beau Dietl Consulting Services.
Early life and police career
Bo ...
– Detective Amato
*
Anthony Griffith – Detective Shipper
*
Kevin Ruf – Ernie
*
Kris McGaha – Renee
Production
''The Curve'' was filmed at
Elk Neck State Park and
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...
in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
,
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
, and screened at the 1998
Sundance Film Festival as an Official Selection. The film was renamed ''The Curve'' after its Sundance premiere to avoid confusion with the film ''
Dead Man on Campus
''Dead Man on Campus'' is a 1998 black comedy film starring Tom Everett Scott and Mark-Paul Gosselaar. It centers on the urban legend that a student gets straight As if their roommate commits suicide (''see'' pass by catastrophe). Two failing ...
'', a
comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
with a similar
pass by catastrophe premise about two college roommates who try to get another roommate to commit suicide which was released the same year. In the UK and Australia, however, the film was released as ''Dead Man's Curve''.
Reception
''The Curve'' was met with a mostly negative reception. It holds a score of 0% on the
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 ...
, based on 8 reviews. In a review for ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'', Dennis Harvey commented that "“Curve” bends too low for upscale auds, it’s also problematic for mainstream ones as a near-horror thriller sans onscreen violence (or genuinely surprising plot twists). It will take aggressive marketing to reap quick payoff on a film likely to get just lukewarm critical and word-of-mouth response."
In a more favorable review, William Thomas of ''
Empire
An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
'' rated the film 4/5 stars and stated that it has "boasting originality, an easy-going hipness and a disregard for convention, this represents all that's good about the American indie scene."
Soundtrack
Prior to the start of filming, writer/director
Dan Rosen and score composer
Shark
Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachi ...
made a
mixtape of songs they were considering for use in the film, which Rosen gave to the principal actors in ''The Curve'' to establish the film's tone. When editor Glenn Garland put together the first edit of the film, he used music from this mix tape as "temp music," and many of the songs ended up in the final film.
A song-based soundtrack album featuring songs from ''The Curve'' was released in Japan through Toho Records.
The North American Original Soundtrack album through Chromatic Records featured 14 tracks composed by
Shark
Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachi ...
, an aria from the 1892 opera ''
La Wally'' and the songs "Die" by
Starbelly, "
Bela Lugosi's Dead" by
Bauhaus
The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 20 ...
and "Wake Up Sad (remix)" by
Wild Colonials
Wild Colonials are an American alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1992 by Angela McCluskey (vocals), Shark (guitar/vocals/percussion), Paul Cantelon (violin/piano), Scott Roewe (multi-instrumentalist) and Ian Bernard (dru ...
.
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Curve, The
1990s thriller films
1998 films
American neo-noir films
Films based on urban legends
American black comedy films
Films shot in Baltimore
Trimark Pictures films
1998 directorial debut films
Films set in universities and colleges
1990s English-language films
1990s American films