Curse of Aurore | |
---|---|
Directed by | Mehran C. Torgoley |
Written by |
|
Produced by |
|
Starring |
|
Edited by | Mehran C. Torgoley |
Music by | Llana Barron |
Production company | Cult Cinema Productions |
Distributed by | |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 90 minutes |
Country | USA |
Language | English & French |
Curse of Aurore is a 2020 American horror film written by Llana Barron & Mehran C. Torgoley, and directed by Mehran C. Torgoley. It is presented as found footage on a USB flash drive found in a dark web mystery box that was sent to popular YouTuber, Casey Nolan of Mindseed TV. [1]
Curse of Aurore initially premiered in Québec, Canada with a limited theatrical release in the Cinémas Guzzo theaters on July 24, 2020. [2] The film was later released to major streaming platforms in the United States by Freestyle Digital Media on January 12, 2021. [3]
A YouTube video by Casey Nolan, from the channel Mindseed TV, plays and shows him opening a mystery box he received from the Dark Web. He digs through an odd collection of macabre artifacts that seem to be from a crime scene and discovers a USB thumb drive around the neck of a baby doll. He decides to view its contents live on his channel and warns his viewers that the footage may be disturbing. The footage shows two men, Aaron and Kevin, arriving at the Québec airport. They’re greeted by their filmmaking partner Lena, who reveals her leg in a brace after an accident, but insists she can still work on their next film project.
On the long drive to Lena's family cottage, they discuss their previous film project and hope it sells soon. Lena tells the story of Aurore Gagnon, a local girl who was abused and murdered by her parents in the 1920s. The trio stops at a roadside restaurant and Lena introduces them to poutine. They discuss their lives and Lena’s recent breakup, and fail to notice the odd looks from locals around them. At the cottage, unbeknownst to the group, an apparition appears behind them while Lena gives a tour. Over dinner, they become fascinated by Aurore’s tragedy and decide that it could be a good story to research further. That night, while the group is hanging out in the living room, the upstairs hatch door slams mysteriously shut. Later, Lena sees people entering a neighbor’s house, chanting as they join some sort of ritual gathering.
The filmmakers explore Aurore’s hometown of Fortierville, including the local church and graveyard. The priest refuses to let them film at the church. At Aurore’s gravesite, they randomly run into Chantal, an old friend of Lena’s, who explains that her uncle actually lives in Aurore’s childhood home and offers to arrange a tour. As they spend more time in the remote town, the filmmakers have strange experiences that blur the line between reality and the supernatural. One night while driving, Lena insists she sees Aurore’s ghost in the road, causing them to crash. With the car stuck in a snowy ditch, they walk to a farmhouse and meet the eccentric local couple Benoit and Blanche. Blanche is a spiritualist, and while doing a tarot card reading for Lena, ominously pulls three death cards - an unlikely, if impossible occurrence. Benoit helps tow their car back onto the road. On the drive back, Kevin reveals he stole Blanche’s occult book, ‘Languages of the Dead’, enraging the others. Arguments over creative differences and romantic tension rise. Despite the creepy events and conflicts, the three commit to sticking it out to finish researching their film.
The next day, Chantal visits their cottage and offers to take them to tour Aurore's childhood home. Lena eagerly accepts, seeing it as a major breakthrough in their research. That night, the trio decides to check out a supposedly haunted streetlight flicker. Lena and Kevin smoke a joint and lay on the frozen street waiting for the flicker. Kevin passes out just as a car comes screaming towards them. He does not wake up, so Lena and Aaron have to drag him to safety.
At Aurore’s house, Chantal’s uncle Mr. Gagnon (who only speaks French), gives them a tour and explains that they keep Aurore’s room locked with a rosary and crucifix around the doorknob to contain evil forces. As the tour is ending, Kevin breaks the crucifix off her door, infuriating Mr. Gagnon who throws them out. That night, while reviewing footage, Lena and Kevin spot paranormal activity and decide to just document their lives in the moment, rather than write a script. They hold a seance in the basement using the stolen book and crucifix. Aaron reluctantly films but nothing happens until smoke from burnt pizza triggers the smoke alarm. Suddenly, the house shakes violently. Cabinets fling open and a wine glass flies across the room. Blanche arrives to survey the damage but flees in fear when Kevin reveals new scratches and collapses writhing in pain. Bloody scratches rise from his stomach right before their eyes.
They find chanting townspeople outside and Kevin goes missing. Following Kevin’s screams, they arrive at a large barn where they discover a ritualistic ceremony. They see Aurore’s uncle bound on a makeshift altar and Kevin's decapitated body hanging in a barn. Surrounded by chanting villagers, Lena and Aaron beg for their lives before being knocked out as the video ends. Casey Nolan ends his YouTube video by stating that he’s turning the evidence over to the authorities and encourages his viewers to reach out if they have any further information on the tragedy they all just witnessed.
In July 2020, Curse of Aurore was initially acquired in Québec, Canada by Vincenzo Guzzo and & distributed at his personal theater chain, Cinémas Guzzo. He placed the film in 9 Mega-Plex locations, as well as, 4 independent theaters owned by Ciné Entreprise. Since Québec is a heavily french-speaking region of Canada, the film was played on multiple screens within the same theater location (one with French subtitles and one without). It was also marketed and screened with the alternative English title Pærish: The Curse of Aurore Gagnon & coinciding French title La Malédiction D'Aurore Gagnon.
On opening weekend, the film reached #1 overall in the box office for all Cinémas Guzzo Theaters and #4 overall for the entire province of Québec. [5] [6] The film maintained the #1 overall spot at Cinémas Guzzo in its 2nd & 3rd weeks, while maintaining Top 10 placement in Québec. Curse of Aurore's limited theatrical release lasted for 10 consecutive weeks before moving on to the Cinémas Guzzo Streaming platform.
Freestyle Digital Media acquired Curse of Aurore in January 2021 and distributed worldwide on major streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Tubi, and The Roku Channel. It is also available for rent on iTunes, Google Play, Vudu, YouTube Movies, Microsoft Store, PlayStation Store, and Xbox Store.
Mary Beth McAndrews of Dread Central said the film features "one of the best ensemble casts I've seen in the subgenre", and included the film on her Top Ten "Terrifying Found Footage Movies Available to Watch on Prime Video". [7] Christine Burnham from PopHorror wrote, "I have to say I really loved this film. There were some genuine moments of creepy terror in it. The location of rural Canada was perfect, and I loved the weirdly religious overtones that were reeking out of the entire town". She also stated that "the acting is terrific" and that Curse of Aurore is "a film found footage fans should not miss". [8] LAZombieGirl from The Blood-Shed thought that "Curse of Aurore manages to be different in a genre full of the same old tired tropes. Meta, funny and yet scary as hell, this film has gotten my attention and is listed as one of the most anticipated films of 2021. With an engaging, entertaining cast that truly clicks with each other and some cool SFX, this is a solid and chilling horror film". [9]
Curse of Aurore also received international recognition. Torgeir Blok from CINEMA, Norway's oldest film magazine, commended the film by stating that it "...achieves a certain authenticity and feeling that the dialogue is improvised...This chemistry [between characters] really paid off, and also earned Barron the Ravenheart Award for Best Actress". [10]
Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2022 | Unnamed Footage Festival | Jury Award for Best Cast | Curse of Aurore | Won | [11] |
Ravenheart International Film Festival | Best Actress | Llana Barron | Won | [12] | |
Yellow Fever Indie Film Festival | Best Horror Film | Curse of Aurore | Nominated | [13] | |
Los Angeles Crime and Horror Film Festival | Best Picture | Curse of Aurore | Nominated | [14] | |
Shockfest Film Festival | Best Feature | Curse of Aurore | Nominated | [15] | |
Curse of Aurore was also an "Official Selection" at the following Film Festivals in 2022:
Rémy Girard is a Canadian actor and former television host from Montreal, Quebec.
Matt Bettinelli-Olpin is an American director, writer, actor, and musician. He is a founding member of the punk band Link 80 and co-creator of the filmmaking collectives Chad, Matt & Rob and Radio Silence. He is best known for his work in horror films, including V/H/S, Southbound, Ready or Not, Scream, Scream VI and Abigail.
Fantasia International Film Festival is a genre film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. It focuses on niche, low budget movies in various genres, from horror to sci-fi. Regularly held in July/August, by 2016 its annual audience had already surpassed 100,000 viewers and outgrown even the Montreal World Film Festival.
Marie-Aurore-Lucienne Gagnon, simply known as Aurore Gagnon, was a Canadian girl who was a victim of child abuse. She died of exhaustion and blood poisoning from some 52 wounds inflicted by her stepmother, Marie-Anne Houde, and her father, Télesphore Gagnon. The story of l'enfant martyre received great attention in the media and Aurore became an icon of Quebec sociological and popular culture.
The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American supernatural horror film written, directed and edited by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez. It is a fictional story of three student filmmakers—Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard—who hike into the Black Hills near Burkittsville, Maryland, in 1994 to film a documentary about a local myth known as the Blair Witch. The three disappear, but their equipment and footage are discovered a year later. The purportedly "found footage" is the movie the viewer sees.
Home Movie is a 2008 found footage psychological horror film and is the directorial debut of actor Christopher Denham.
The Death of a Lumberjack is a 1973 Canadian drama film directed and co-written by Gilles Carle. The film was entered into the 1973 Cannes Film Festival.
Found footage is a cinematic technique in which all or a substantial part of the work is presented as if it were film or video recordings recorded by characters in the story, and later "found" and presented to the audience. The events on screen are typically seen through the camera of one or more of the characters involved, often accompanied by their real-time, off-camera commentary. For added realism, the cinematography may be done by the actors themselves as they perform, and shaky camera work and naturalistic acting are routinely employed. The footage may be presented as if it were "raw" and complete or as if it had been edited into a narrative by those who "found" it.
Paranormal Activity 2 is a 2010 American found footage supernatural horror film directed by Tod Williams and written by Michael R. Perry, Christopher Landon and Tom Pabst. The film is a prequel to the 2007 film Paranormal Activity, beginning two months before and following up with the events depicted in the original film. It was released in theaters at midnight on October 22, 2010 in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Poland and Ireland. An unrated version of the film was also released.
Little Aurore's Tragedy is a Canadian 1952 Quebec biographical drama movie that was directed by Jean-Yves Bigras, produced by L'Alliance Cinematographique Canadienne and distributed by Renaissance Films Distribution and Warner Bros.
Curse of Chucky is a 2013 American slasher film and the sixth installment of the Child's Play franchise. The film was written and directed by Don Mancini, who created the franchise and wrote the first six films. It stars Fiona Dourif, Danielle Bisutti, Brennan Elliott, Maitland McConnell, Chantal Quesnelle, Summer Howell, A Martinez, and Brad Dourif. The film grossed $3.8 million in DVD sales.
You're Sleeping Nicole is a 2014 Canadian drama film directed by Stéphane Lafleur. It was selected to be screened as part of the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. The film had a limited release on 22 August 2014, followed by a general Quebec theatrical release on 29 August 2014. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.
Kyle Thomas is a Canadian screenwriter, director, producer, and actor. His first feature film, The Valley Below, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014. It garnered two Canadian Screen Award nominations in the categories of Best Supporting Actor for Kris Demeanor and Best Original Song for Dan Mangan's "Wants". The film received largely positive reviews from the Canadian media, including The Globe and Mail and the National Post, who called the film a "superb first feature".
Be My Cat: A Film for Anne is a 2015 Romanian found footage psychological horror feature film directed, produced, written by, and starring Adrian Țofei, about an aspiring filmmaker who goes to extremes to convince actress Anne Hathaway to star in his film. It is the first entry in Adrian Țofei's planned indie trilogy which includes We Put the World to Sleep and Pure. It is also Adrian Țofei's first film and Romania's first found footage horror movie.
The Prix Iris for Best Makeup is an annual film award, presented by Québec Cinéma as part of its Prix Iris awards program, to honour the year's best makeup work in films made within the Cinema of Quebec.
Incantation is a 2022 Taiwanese found footage supernatural folk horror film directed by Kevin Ko, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Chang Che-wei. The film was released in Taiwan on March 18, 2022, and it became the highest-grossing Taiwanese horror film. It received an international distribution from Netflix on July 8th, 2022.
Viking is a 2022 Canadian comedy film, directed by Stéphane Lafleur. The film centres on a group of people who are working as a "B team" to reenact the events of the first crewed mission to Mars, in the hopes of trying to solve the interpersonal problems among the astronauts that have impacted the real mission.
Mehran C. Torgoley is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and editor. He is best known for his work on the found footage horror film Curse of Aurore (2020) and the absurd mockumentary comedy film Izzy Lyon: The Unspun Truth (2022).
The Listing is a 2019 horror/thriller film directed by Mario Cerrito. The movie was released by SGL Entertainment, MVD Entertainment Group and Indie Rights in Canada, United Kingdom and United States.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)