Name____________________________________                             Date_______________________
          
THE CURSED VIDEOTAPE
Reading Comprehension Worksheet           

Directions:  Read the passage below carefully. When you have finished reading it completely, answer the questions that follow.

The idea of a cursed videotape has been in existence for a very long time at my home in New Orleans, LA. It is a different version from both movies, The Ring, and it's Japanese predecessor, Ringu.

I heard the legend of a videotape that will kill you within forty-eight hours after watching it at a bonfire when I was younger. The story behind the legend is that these college girls are having a slumber party and go to rent a video at a local dealer. The girls cannot agree on a film, so one of them asks for help. The clerk states that she has just the thing and disappears into the back room.

Meanwhile, one girl sees a box-less tape laying on the counter and reaches toward it. Just then, the clerk comes out from the back and tells her not to touch it and hands her an older film. The girl asks about the first tape, and the woman tells her that it is just a home movie. The girls agree to rent the tape that the woman suggests. While they are checking out, the girl who asked for help swipes the "home movie" tape.

Back at their house, the girl tells the others about the tape she swiped and they laugh, telling her that she is dumb for stealing some woman's home movies. Still, they ask her to play the tape. She puts the tape in and then the power goes out -- but the television stays on.

The video starts playing and shows a black woman being burned for practicing witchcraft and hoodoo. She utters a curse that all who witness her death will face the same fate in two-days time. The VCR begins to make skipping sounds and then cuts off. As promised, the girls died forty-eight hours after watching the tape. They all met their demise in unrealistic places such as the pool or ice rink.

Questions:

1)   What is the tone of this selection?

2)   What is the setting of this passage?

3)   What seems to be the author's intent for writing this selection?

4)   What is the Main Idea of this passage?

5>   If you were in this story, what would you do?

6>   Tell 3 things that happened in the story.

7>   Write another ending to the story that is different from the author's ending.

8>  Do you think the main character acted in the best way?  Why or Why Not?