The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw-- My take on the movie with spoilers!

Plot Summary: In a town suffering from plague and famine, only Agatha is prospering. According to rumours, it has something to do with her daughter Audrey whom no one has seen. 

There’s a running joke on the internet where women in the olden days were not allowed to speak their mind and if they did and expressed their feelings or have ideas, she was termed a witch.

Women were apparently not allowed to be intelligent. They were thought to be docile creatures whose only aim is to excel in housework and bear children. Leave the talking and running of towns to the men.

Thankfully, that has changed over time and people’s mindset has progressed too.

But back then everyone had their work assigned and were meant to do it. Then there was pestilence, famine, poverty. Everyone was suffering and got frustrated. They longed for normalcy again and for that, they were ready to do anything. Even turn to black magic, a practice that is still in effect till today.

If anything doesn’t work out in someone’s life, they turn to worshipping evil and making sacrifices. But does this really work or is it a cruel practice to hurt animals or humans?

The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw/The Ballad of Audrey Earnshaw

The Curse Of Audrey Earnshaw begins with a lesson on the fictional town’s history. There’s quite some reading that is necessary because it sets the background.

Basically, the town was suffering due to disease and famine and no one had anything except for Agatha Earnshaw who was apparently prospering. Rumour had it that she gave birth to a daughter but no one ever saw her.

The movie then begins with a man approaching Agatha with a box he wants to trade for food or money. Agatha doesn’t even want to look at the box. She turns him away while her daughter Audrey watches.

Later, while Agatha is combing Audrey’s hair and applying oils and stuff so that her daughter’s skin glows, Audrey asks her why she didn’t help the man since they had enough to spare. Agatha’s reasoning: if she helped one, she would have to help them all. And then what would they be left with. Audrey doesn’t seem convinced and wishes she could help people.

The next day, Agatha gets Audrey ready to go on a trip. She puts her in a box and then walks with the horse. Why not use the horse carriage for her convenience too?

She heads to the village and is verbally abused by Colin, a young man who has just buried his son. Agatha offers condolences but that isn’t what anyone wants. They want a piece of her fortune. Agatha is also slapped for not sharing but she doesn’t retaliate. Audrey watches the whole thing from a hole in the box and is curious at her mother’s lack of reaction.

Agatha is sent on her way with an insincere apology. Where is Agatha going? To meet other witches like herself. They dress Audrey in white clothes and perform a ritual around her, drawing blood from her wrist. Audrey’s eyes turn white and she loses consciousness.

When she awakens, she’s inside a circle made of twigs and branches. There’s a wound on her wrist so we know all of that wasn’t a dream. Audrey is ready to go home but on the way, knocks from inside the box to say she has to pee.

But Audrey doesn’t want to pee. She wants to argue with her mother about being a doormat and not defending herself from the villagers. Before Agatha can reply, a man walks towards them. He sees Audrey and is stunned. Agatha gives him bottles of wine and food to buy his silence but he doesn’t want any more things. He just can’t get his eyes off Audrey.

Agatha is so distracted, she doesn’t see Audrey run into the woods. She is actually searching for Colin who is still mourning his son. She finds him and pretends to faint in front of him. Colin is drunk and so probably that is why he makes the odd choice to pick up a random stranger and bring them to his home. He lays her down on his sofa, admires her and then goes upstairs to his wife Bridget who refuses to talk to him and switches off her lamp before he comes in.

Audrey is awake and notices all of this. The next day she thanks Colin for his help and is making breakfast for him. She asks him about his son and Colin tells her about his grief and loss. She sympathizes with him then later goes out to do some black magic stuff. Then she leaves Colin’s home.

Bridget wakes up and the first thing she does is eat dirt. Lots and lots of dirt. Then she throws up. The doctor is called and informs him that she is pregnant. Bridget has her concerns because she has never experienced any such symptoms in her previous pregnancy. Still, she is elated at the prospect of having another child.

Meanwhile, the man who saw Audrey has begun acting strange to the point that his wife confides in the priest that is also the man’s father. The priest speaks to him and he reveals he saw Audrey and she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. He wonders who the father could be.

The cattle begin to die around town and people begin to wonder if something evil is going on. At the church, while the priest is giving his sermon, his son enters and challenges his faith asking how could God let so many innocents suffer. An age-old question no one really has an answer to. The priest tells him that it is a test of faith but his son is in no mood to hear the excuse and shoots himself. Everyone is horrified.

The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw Ending Explained with Spoilers

At home, Audrey begins acting out and her mother realizes her daughter has used black magic somewhere just by looking at her. She freaks out and decides to run away.

Elsewhere, Bridget begins to show signs of delirium and the priest and doctor have to be called. Her skin starts to burn and sizzle before she is sedated.

The priest transforms into his son in front of his wife and she freaks out seeing her dead husband. Colin sees his wife suffering and is torn between helping her or the woman and priest downstairs.

Agatha is caught by the other witches and they are now taking their orders from Audrey who decides that her mother has no backbone and isn’t as powerful as she is. Along with the other witches, she brings Agatha to the house where all the residents want to know who Audrey’s father is. Agatha reveals there is no father.

Agatha is then killed. Bridget gets better and Audrey is now the head witch.

Later when it is time to give birth to the baby, Colin and the nurse get freaked out when they see the baby. Bridget too.

Due to the lack of special effects budget, we never get to see what has shocked them. Was the baby born with two heads?

Has Audrey cursed them all into everyone having two-headed babies? Her first instinct had been to help people. Perhaps her intentions were good and she didn’t understand that her powers were evil.

An okay movie to watch during your free time.

Scare scale: 

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