#68. The Curse (1987)

DVD Synopsis: During a terrible storm over the Hayes family farm, young Zack (Wil Wheaton) watches a glowing meteorite plummet from the sky to crash on his stepfather's land. But before the object can be removed, a disgusting ooze seeps into the groundwater...turning the farm's crops, animals and adults into mutated monsters! Now Zack must become man of the farm to save his sister and escape from the freaks that won't rest until the kids are dead!

I don’t think it’s much of a spoiler to tell you that “the curse” of the title is spread through the water supply.  If the opening sequence, in which John Schneider shouts “it’s in the water” as they’re hauling him off to jail, isn’t enough to convince you, then the threatening score that thumps its way through a montage of cows drinking and sprinklers switching on will certainly do the trick.  

No, subtlety is not one of The Curse’s strong suits; not in its execution, or its characters (Claude Akins plays a textbook bible thumper, one of several stereotypes to be found in this small community).  Still, The Curse is a fun watch.  The gross-out ratio is pretty high, what with all the maggots and the green slime oozing from the eyes of chickens, and it stars a post-Stand By Me, pre-Wesley Crusher Wil Wheaton, who plays the family’s lone voice of reason.