The Curse of La Llorona Movie Review
Caseworker Anna (Linda Cardellini) and her children are haunted by the spirit of La Llorona, a woman who drown her kids and herself 300 years prior. When I reviewed The Nun recently, I talked about how it was a part of the Conjuring Universe, and also mentioned the Annabelle films as being a part of this group of movies--as somebody who likes to know as little as possible about a movie prior to watching it, I had no idea when I wrote that review that The Curse of La Llorona was also a part of that Universe, and still had no idea until actually watching this 2019 film. Honestly, if you are not paying attention, you may miss this part of it, as the only real connection is Father Perez (Tony Amendola) of Annabelle popping in to talk about his experience with a possessed doll--we also see Annabelle herself for a very brief moment. Anyway, this movie is based on an old Latin American folklore that is quite creepy--Universal Studios Orlando designed a house after this story for the 2013 installment of Halloween Horror Nights, and to this day it's one of the best houses they ever created, so when this film was announced, I was very excited--I wasn't able to maintain that excitement while watching this, however. As with The Nun, this movie relies way too much on jump scares instead of creating genuine horror...La Llorona herself does look pretty scary though.
Y'all better hide yo kids...
Fans of Breaking Bad will recognize Tuco Salamanca (Raymond Cruz) as Rafael Olvera, a former priest who is no longer a part of the church but who knows everything there is to know about La Llorona. Olvera not only provides the knowledge needed to defeat the villain, but he also provides comedy in a film that should have none--the comedic approach is especially way out of place at the conclusion of the final battle, removing any tension that may have been built. Another issue with this movie is how it takes every tried and true formula from movies past and inserts them without adding anything new--from the priest who is no longer with the church to the holy water to the aforementioned jump scares, you almost see the blueprint laid out in front of you, and expect practically everything you are about to see--this is all the more disappointing when you consider how impressive most of the other films in this series are and how they do not follow such an approach. Cardellini does turn in a good performance, so we at least have a likable lead, and there are a few scenes that will have you glued, so not all is lost with this film. The most unfortunate thing about The Curse of La Llorona is that it does so little with an old tale that is scary and has so much potential--it's really not a bad movie, just one that falls well short of what is could have been.
On A Scale Of One To Ten: 6
The Curse of La Llorona Movie Trailer
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