I hope you bring your running shoes and something Holy when you go see, ‘The Curse of La Llorona’ or you might just end up cursed yourself. You might also use those shoes to simply leave in the first thirty minutes, as one couple did during the screening of the new instillation into The Conjuring Universe hitting theaters on April 19th, 2019.
The movie, set in the 70’s, started off quick and got to the meat of the back story like most of the movies in this Universe, ‘The Conjuring’, ‘Annabelle’, their sequels, and ‘The Nun’ but then proceeded to follow a familiar format. Many had heard or read about the legend that is La Llorona prior to seeing previews for the movie, so producer James Wan and company needed to create something visually new and fresh but fell short.
If you feel like she resembles The Nun, you’re not alone. I was greatly disappointed in the look and lack of fear that La Llorona gave me. I wanted to be scared but just couldn’t get over the fact that I felt like I had already seen this movie before. If you’re not familiar with story, let me give you a quick run down. Maria (La Llorona) known for her beauty, meets a wealthy man, gets married, births two boys and drowns them to spite the husband for cheating. She then realizes she made a grave mistake and then kills herself. Her spirit now mourns the death of her children by weeping and killing the children of those who become cursed by her because she wants the children for herself. Sounds good, right? Well it could’ve been great as her spirit is so dark and evil that it has no boundaries, but they gave her boundaries. I won’t spoil it.
The acting saved the movie. You could really feel the fear of Linda Cardellini and the kids, Roman Christou and Jaynee-Lynne Kinshen. There was even some humorous moments that I didn’t expect from Raymond Cruz that fit in nicely and was a nice break from constant screaming. The jump scenes were well done as you would expect from James Wan. The rest of the film feels like a redundant cat and mouse game. It was like watching someone continue to ask out someone else who is clearly not interested.
If you are looking to be truly terrified, this movie is not for you. On the other hand, If you loved all the previous films in this horror Universe, you’ll love this film. Despite its short comings, the movie was shot well and has a great eerie score that only got better as the credits rolled. I assume most will see this movie because it will tie into the next Conjuring movie in some way. However, you’ve been warned. Go see it anyway and let us know if you feel the same as I do.
Senior Critic. Observing the human race since 1988.
