The Curse of La Llorona

In regards to modern horror franchises, the more recognized of the supernatural variety tends to be the Conjuring series. Ever since the debut of the film Conjuring back in 2013 from director James Wan, they've launched a spin-offs and sequels with relatively low budgets to make better profits. I was never very interested in these films since most of these supernatural features are subpar in the genre with a lack of effort has been made to create a memorable experience. I've decided to give this recent project a chance to see if there's something I might be missing and if it can do a better job for the genre than the Pet Semetary remake. This brings us to The Curse of La Llorona, which was directed by Michael Chaves and written by Mikki Daughtry & Tobias Iaconis (all three are newcomers in their respective fields). The marketing didn't entice any excitement and just felt bland with going with the jump scare tactics. I went into the auditorium ready to give it a chance while seeing if I could get some unintended laughs and left it more annoyed than amused.

What's it about? The story follows a mother trying to protect her children from the titular malevolent spirit attempting to take them away. In regards to the premise, there's actual potential to making this folktale horror flick work better if it was placed in a more appropriate environment. There were plenty of opportunities where they could have used the backstory of La Llorona and use the characters in a way to make things interesting...

When looking at the end result, however, this is one of the most phoned in stock films from this year so far that ignores the effort that could have made this unique. Unfortunately the writing surrounding the actions of the kids is infuriating to watch as they feel more like plot pieces than actual youngsters. In fact, the material that goes into this spirit is very rushed with only the opening scene and a conversation with a priest giving exposition. The script is predictable and very repetitive with pinches of hilariously bad decisions made to get to the end faster. By the end of it, it all becomes dull and forgettable instead of living up to the care that should have been put into it.

How scary is it? In regards to the scare department, with the exception of one scene, everything else fails to be innovative with its supernatural premise. What doesn't help the fright factor is how the marketing trailers have giving away most of the "gotcha" stock scares. The formula to this method is the story saying, "Wait has it been 5-10 minutes since our last jump scare? Let's add another one in to get the blood pumping." Then it shows the ghost creature giving the classic screaming loudly hoping the audience gets spooked and repeat. The only creative scene revolves around the children being terrorized in a car by La Llorona as it has the most effort put into it (compared to those other scenes). I did get some unintentional laughs though in the part where the little girl is taking a bath and the evil ghost "helps her".

How are these victims? There are 2 bright spots in this cast that are the MVPs in this group: Anna (Linda Cardellini) and Rafael (Raymond Cruz). The former is giving a competent performance in this mess and isn't burdened with the script problems the younger actors have. The latter is definitely the most interesting out of the bunch with the actors appearance showing some possible hope for the movie's success (though the screenplay messes with that). A dishonorable mention goes to Patricia Alvarez (Patricia Velasquez) for being utilized as one of the worst forced plot characters I've ever seen (her role forced her to make one of the dumbest choices in the third act with sloppy writing that exists to drag out the runtime).

Overall Consensus: The Curse of La Llorona not only wastes the opportunities with its premise, but also squanders its quality through horrible writing, dull directing, uninspired horror, and being forgettable. ⭑1/2💻 Runtime: 1 hour 33 minutes R

Reasons to watch it: You like any of the aforementioned actors. You want to see a boring horror flick. You are familiar with the folktale behind La Llorona and want to see how it's adapted. You are a fan of the Conjuring Universe. You don't mind predictable jump frights.

Reasons to avoid it: You dislike any of the aforementioned actors. You don't want to see a boring horror flick. You are familiar with the folktale behind La Llorona and don't want to see how it's adapted.