TV series 
 

TV Series

Curon –The Curse

Dark and Gritty Thriller

By Syeda Maham Rasheed | August 2020

Asupernatural thriller won’t be complete without a curse and the TV series ‘Curon’ is based on one. In the small town of Curon, it is said that if you repress your feelings, a doppelganger will emerge finding every possible way to kill you and take your place. It might sound silly but it’s bone-chilling to watch. The idea of evil doppelgangers has been exploited effectively by a multitude of filmmakers, most notably by Basil Dearden in ‘The Man Who Haunted Himself’, Padmarajan in ‘Aparan’ and, most recently, Jordan Peele in ‘Us’. However, Netflix’s new Italian series ‘Curon’, also about doppelgangers, is a masterpiece in itself.

The location is a real-life place in Curon Venosta, in Italy’s Alto Adige region, where an old town encircled by mountains was flooded by an artificial dam with only a strange bell tower rising above the water to remember it by. A legend was straightaway born. It’s said that in the winters you can hear the bells ringing, despite these being removed in 1950. The series has taken the legend forward, adding that the peeling of the bells is a harbinger of death for he or she who hears them is destined to die. The death is brought about by their body double, emerging from the black lake. The driving force of the story is the sunken bell tower and the surrounding areas that create a sense of foreboding despite their beauty, making them integral to the story world.

‘Curon’ is a dramatic series about a girl Anna (Valeria Bilello) with a terrifying legacy who was forced by her father Thomas (Luca Lionello) to leave Curon after she sees her lookalike killing her mom with her father’s rifle and hears the continuous ringing of the bell tower. Traumatised by the events of the past, she returns home after seventeen years with her fraternal twins Daria (Margherita Morchio) and Mauro (Federico Russo) hoping to restart her life but it seems that her father is not happy. Following the tragic death of his wife, he sent Anna away and now lives like a hermit, shotgun in hand, in an old family hotel from where the tragedies began.

As the kids try to adjust to a new life in the small town, they learn about some of its local legends including the one about the partially-submerged bell tower that sits in the middle of the lake. In one of their literature classes, their teacher Klara (Anna Ferzetti) talks about the presence of two wolves inside all of us and how they’re constantly fighting with each other and the one that eventually wins is the one that you feed. When one of the boys feeds his bad wolf, his doppelganger arrives in the middle of the night to wreak havoc. These doubles are often referred to as shadows and apparitions but they are very much in flesh-and-blood form. As for the kids, it was all a story until when their mother mysteriously disappears. The twins soon learn the truth about why their mother returned home and realised that at least one tale they’ve been told is frighteningly real.

Directed by Fabio Mollo and Lyda Patitucci and produced by Indiana Productions, this supernatural drama boasts an exceptional setting and a captivating plot. Created by Ezio Abbate, Ivano Fachin, Giovanni Galassi and Tommaso Matano, ‘Curon’ is what psychological thriller dreams are made of. When it comes to set design, production and general cinematography, the show does an excellent job, utilising many tricks of the trade. There is lots of interesting imagery involving wolves, which ties in both thematically and narratively with what happens, while the dark scenes are shot beautifully. They conjure up just enough of a spark to light a character face or two while blanketing the rest of the scene in darkness to keep the uneasiness high. One scene involving a wolf inside a cave is arguably the highlight of the entire series.

With half the town submerged in water, lots of shadowy figures hint that something afoul is going on, involving entities moving in the shadows. ‘Curon’ combines elements of ‘The Shining’ and mystery dramas like ‘Dark’ with a distinct teen-drama vibe that just keeps bringing more questions into the fold.

‘Curon’ is a dark and gritty thriller that does not take time to set its theme. There are no unnecessary plot points or scenes. It’s a crisp tale of a horrible curse combined with twisted family dynamics. The series has a constant and great atmospheric thrill and some memorable moments of tension but with a strong ending that leaves the viewer wanting more. With only seven episodes, each an hour-long, it’s a great opportunity to binge.

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