(Cert 15, 97mins): Christina Ricci, Jesse Eisenberg, Joshua Jackson, Kristina Anapau, Milo Ventimiglia, Portia de Rossi, Mya, Shannon Elizabeth, Michael Rosenbaum. Directed by Wes Craven.

Director Wes Craven has twice reinvented the teen horror genre - in 1984 with the seminal A Nightmare On Elm Street and again in 1996 with Scream, penned by Kevin Williamson.

Craven reunites with screenwriter Williamson for Cursed, a modern spin on the classic werewolf myth.

Unfortunately, the film's notorious production history - lengthy re-shoots and rewrites and lastminute additions to the cast - ensures Cursed lives up, or should that be down to, its title.

Ellie (Ricci) and her younger brother Jimmy (Eisenberg) are struggling to come to terms with the death of their parents. She is a career-driven TV talk show producer whose work always takes precedence over her relationship with her boyfriend Jake (Jackson); her brother is a scrawny nerd with a crush on pretty schoolgirl Brooke (Anapau).

On a moonlight night on Mulholland Drive, Ellie and Jimmy are involved in a traffic accident and attacked by a wolf-like creature.

The youngsters survive but they soon notice bizarre side effects, including increased physical strength, attraction to blood and intensified sexual allure.

Initially, the siblings are delighted by their newfound powers, especially Jimmy, who turns the tables on the school bullies - humiliating wrestling jock Bo (Ventimiglia) and his goons.

However, Ellie and Jimmy's vulpine tendencies begin to take over and with a full moon due, they race against time to discover the identity of the master werewolf.

Considering the traumas of making Cursed, it's little wonder the finished film is such a dog's dinner. The narrative doesn't make much sense and there is a series of lacklustre set pieces, building to a laughably over-blown finale.

Computer special effects are unimpressive and in close-up, the snarling beasts are no more frightening than mangy, bargainbasement Hallowe'en costumes.