The Curse of the Necklace (2024)
Beware of giving out jewelry that’s been sitting in an evidence box for years because bad stuff will happen. That’s the moral of The Curse of the Necklace, a new original movie on Tubi that was produced by Henry Thomas. Yeah, that Henry Thomas.
First we see a woman giving birth wearing the titular necklace during what looks like the 1920s or 1930s. Then we see her life falling apart but we don’t know why. After that, the movie fast-forwards to the 1960s, when Laura Davis is trying to get herself off to work and her teenagers, Ellen and Judith, off to school.
Dad Frank is a sheriff’s deputy and has just moved out because his and Ellen’s marriage has fallen apart, although we don’t know why at first. He doesn’t seem to be the brightest sort, as he thinks it’s just fine to nip something from the evidence boxes, which in this case is the necklace, and give it to Laura as a peace offering. The case it’s connected to seems to have gone cold, so what of it?
Laura is less than thrilled, especially when she finds out where Frank got the necklace, but instead of sending it back with Frank so he can put it back where he got it, she chucks it.
The girls, of course, can’t keep their hands off the necklace, and almost immediately, strange stuff starts to happen. Ellen, who bears a remarkable resemblance to Wednesday Addams on school days, sees a little boy named Jonah. Judith doesn’t believe her at first, but then she starts seeing him too. It only gets worse from there, and yes, someone gets possessed.
The Curse of the Necklace will feel familiar to anyone who’s seen the Conjuring movies, or the Exorcist movies, or Rosemary’s Baby, or pretty much any movie that involves spawn-of-Satan children. It’s not bad; it’s just been done before many times. It’s hard to say if Thomas and Company were going for homage or if they just had those movies on the brain.
Also, I know contrivances have to be taken sometimes to get a plot moving, but one would think a sheriff’s deputy would know better than to use evidence files as his own personal gift shop. Unless, of course, he doesn’t mind losing his job and maybe doing time for what is probably a felony. It stretches the credibility just a bit too much for comfort, and blatantly obvious goofs shouldn’t be a source of discomfort in a horror movie. We have too many other things to do. Ideally.
That’s not to say Frank doesn’t suffer consequences. They just don’t come from the sheriff’s office.
On the bright side, the acting is more than decent and the film itself looks wonderful. Unfortunately, Necklace isn’t fun enough or scary enough to make up for its dumb mistakes. It’s a movie to have on in the background, maybe during a party, or while scrolling through social media.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that, and anyway, Tubi’s original content game keeps getting better. Tubi’s really brought it lately, and it’s fun watching the competition cope and seethe as a service that’s completely free cleans up in the streaming market.
The Curse of the Necklace is currently streaming on Tubi. Rated TV-MA.
My rating: B-
Principal Cast: Violet McGraw, Madeline McGraw, Sarah Lind, Henry Thomas, Roma Maffia, Felix Solis, Jacob Moran, Christina Moore, Archer Anderson, Amato D’Apolito, Connor Hammond, Matt Fowler, Daniela Maximilian-Almeda, Ali Afshar, Brynne Kurland, Lauren Swickard, Charlotte Haynes Hazzard, Tony Panterra
Directed by Juan Pablo Arias Munoz.
Written by John Ducey.