Set in London on February 2021, “NFT: Cursed Images” (2026) follows a group of friends who receive said air dropped titular items then spend the rest of the night trying to stay alive. Will they figure out how to stop the curse and survive? An economical seventy-four minutes feels like an eternity with an undercooked story and mostly unlikable characters that make you root for the images. Writer and director Jonas Odenheimer’s sophomore feature started to cook at the end with the mythology then ditches the idea in exchange for closure over a relationship that only one person on and off-screen cares about.
The characters in “NFT: Cursed Images” mostly suck. Kit (Patrick Shearer) is having the most boring gathering of friends with almost zero chemistry. He wanted a boy’s night plus Sarah (Amelie Edwards) possibly because he likes Sarah. If Dan (Durassie Kiangangu) was not inclined to whining about how millennials got screwed out of a good life, and Gen Z has it made, he would definitely be the most likable character. His friends make fun of him for being comparatively poor, which leads to them waxing poetic about crypto, bitcoin and NFTs, aka Non-Fungible Tokens. It is as appealing as it sounds. Nes (Nobuse Jnr) dates Julia (Jasmine Clark) then randomly becomes more of a jerk than usual for reasons. Kit and Nes may dabble in recreational drugs. Does Odenheimer show it onscreen? No. Clad in the tiniest dresses ever just to have the most inane dialogue instead of clubbing, Julia brings Cass (Mariah Nonnemacher) to the gathering, which makes things awkward because James (David Wyman) dumped Cass when he went away. Why did he go away? Where did he go? Work? Reasons? Someone is unemployed? It is all very vague, which makes it impossible to invest in caring about the characters and rooting for them. The opening couple, Sue (Najarra Townsend) and Mark (Charlie Rich), seemed vaguely normal although Sue should have dumped Mark before the cameras started rolling. Trust me. He had the survival instinct of a gnat on its last day alive.
There are too many characters without enough characteristics. I’m not criticizing acting when the characters are so shit. Are they good actors? If I saw any of these actors at a party and recognized them, I’d probably avoid them for fear that they would bore me to death. Does that mean they did a good job? Sure, but it is like getting a great seat on the Titanic. What are you going to do with it except wish that you were not in the wrong place at the wrong time? It is also possible that the accents worked in their favor of getting a sliver of margin of good favor. If the writing was better, they could cook.
The story’s trajectory is annoying. Apparently, London is the worst place to get an Uber because everyone must walk hella far to get to it. The script goes to great lengths to get every character alone so their cursed image can get them. It is late at night or early in the morning depending on your perspective, and these people are just ambling around with doors open and splitting up despite the weirdness going on. Cass so has the ick over James that she chooses to be alone, which would be hilarious if James was not just the concept of an ex. No one feels visceral except Dan, who is the only character responding appropriately to the predicament. If Dan was the protagonist, not James, “NFT: Cursed Images” could have been a decent movie. It is as if Odenheimer saw “The Ring” (2002) and thought more is more. Everyone needs to stop copying that classic. Looking at you, “Undertone” (2025)!
Unfortunately, “NFT: Cursed Images” waits too long to start establishing the mythological origins behind the images then does a slap dash job of laying it out. Odenheimer could have told a ton of mini-stories and invented the lore, but his creativity did not have consistent staying power. The Conjuring Universe did better juggling numerous supernatural entities in “Annabelle Comes Home” (2019) than Odenheimer did in his own story. It was such a missed opportunity because the visual execution of the cursed images on a budget was actually well done, and if they were showcased better, the performers and practical effects would make the movie worth watching. Their contortionist movement, glitch effects and ability to materialize make them evocative and chilling. Is the movie scary? It could have been but Odenheimer punks out whenever anything gets remotely interesting and cuts away to duller fare. Unfortunately, Odenheimer is less interested in terror than getting back to his undercooked cast of characters that no one is interested in.
Then the denouement of “NFT: Cursed Images” is supposed to be a twist, but it leaves more questions than answers. It is the equivalent of a Friday late afternoon meeting at work. You just want to get out of there so everyone is just going to keep their mouth shut instead of asking questions because then the mess would last longer. Odenheimer needs a writing partner and should stick to the visuals. The cinematographer Michael Edo Keane made the lighting better than he had to. It was reminiscent of cinematographer Adam Arkapaw’s work in “Magazine Dreams” (2023).
Does “NFT: Cursed Images” have a deeper meaning? I’ll project that if they had quarantined at home, they would not have died, but there is no reference to the pandemic in the story other than the opening which establishes when the action unfolds. If there is a moral, it is about the lack of solidarity and respect in the friend group and how it leads to everyone’s death, especially the breakdown of solidarity among friends, romantic relationships failing as men are unable to protect the women or listen to women, treating lack of success as a life not as valuable, and possibly a racial exploitation theme. Do I actually think that Odenheimer intended to convey that lesson? If he is that thoughtful, then why did not he make three-dimensional characters and a story that made sense? Even I do not buy the tale that I’m weaving though it is possible.
The timing of “NFT: Cursed Images” is brilliant. It is making the rounds that Logan Paul spent $635,000 on a NFT, which is now only worth $155. Maybe Odenheimer wants his audience to hate these characters, make them stupid and fail while they pride themselves on their stupidity. The only problem with adhering to reality is it is a slog for everyone going along for the ride. There is no catharsis if death does not correlate with hubris. These are just some random scary manifestations with minimal backstory for a couple of them. Each character gets one, and there are barely two stories!
If you really want to see “NFT: Cursed Images,” I can’t blame you because I too was curious about how a NFT image would turn three dimensional. It is the best part of the movie, but the lemon is not worth the squeeze. Someone should remake this movie and rehire Kiangangu and Jnr to reprise their roles with huge revisions. These two actors’ camaraderie did not seem forced.
