Mirar the curse of La Llorona is a bone-chilling horror film that takes its inspiration from the Mexican folktale of La Llorona, a weeping woman who haunts and terrorizes those who encounter her. Directed by Michael Chaves, the film was released in 2019 as part of The Conjuring Universe. The main plot of the film revolves around Anna Tate-Garcia, a social worker and widow living in 1973 Los Angeles with her two children, Chris and Samantha. While on a case involving the abuse of two young boys, Anna unknowingly disturbs the spirit of La Llorona, who begins to target her family. Desperate to protect her children, Anna turns to a former priest turned shaman, Rafael Olvera, for help. The film builds upon the fearsome legend of La Llorona, a woman who drowned her own children in a fit of rage and grief upon discovering her husband's infidelity.

Considering the Cinema Horror Movie Review: The Curse of La Llorona (2019)

Before I discuss “The Curse of La Llorona” (2019), I would like to begin this review with a preface about grief-stricken mothers and drowned children. Uplifting, I know. (Oh, and incidentally, for those who don’t speak Spanish, it’s pronounced “La Yo-Roh-Na.”)

Most monsters don’t start out monstrous. They are made monstrous by some terrible experience that happens to them or someone they love. The saddest love songs are always “somebody done somebody wrong” songs. Horror movies are built the same way: Somebody done somebody wrong… Just as vegetation grows out of nutrient-rich volcanic soil, the most potent Horror seems to grow from the fertile aftermath of deep sorrow or deep rage, usually both.

Spoilers for the original “Friday the 13th” (1980) ahead:

All Horror fans know that the slasher killer in the first “Friday the 13th” movie is revealed to be Jason’s mother, Pamela Voorhees. Presumably, she was not always a monster. She only became a monster after her little boy, Jason, drowned in Camp Crystal Lake, due to the negligence of distracted counselors who were too busy “gettin’ busy” to watch her son.

The grieving mother’s unfathomable depths of sorrow and rage transform her into a bereaved monster who is compelled to brutally slaughter nine innocent people. (The body count for that first “Friday the 13th” totals 11 if you include Mrs. Voorhees and the snake, so I believe nine is correct.)

Ironically, Mrs. Voorhees’ monstrous actions perpetuate more evil and thereby steal away the youths of other loving parents. Through this tragic cycle, evil doesn’t just continue, it multiplies — perpetuates — grows!

Fast forward to present day, 39 years later, we have director Michael Chaves’ “The Curse of La Llorona,” a supernatural ghost movie that’s situated squarely within “The Conjuring” universe.

At this point, I’ll lightly touch on back story-oriented plot points from “The Curse of La Llorona” that are revealed in its curtain-raiser opening and about halfway through the film, but nothing I would consider to be major spoilers.

So, perhaps, at this point in my review, I should warn that very mild spoilers lie ahead for “The Curse of La Llorona”:

Our monster in this film was also created by a “prior evil” in which “somebody done somebody wrong.” La Llorona lived in Mexico in the 17th century, and she was very much in love. But when her true love broke her heart by committing adultery, she was so angry (deep rage) and hurt that she wanted to hurt him back. Therefore, she drowned their children that they had together, which she immediately regretted (deep sorrow), and if I recall correctly, forthwith took her own life.

So far, so good. The narrative is checking all the boxes on the monster-making formula: You’ve got a non-monstrous person who was victimized by somebody else’s prior evil, which transformed her into a monster through deep rage and deep sorrow. But this is where Pamela Voorhees and La Llorona diverge:

Mrs. Voorhees proceeded to “displace” (to use a psychology term) her vengeance and kill all camp counselors, not just those who were arguably culpable for her son’s demise. And while that’s not just and it’s not fair to kill completely innocent strangers years after the tragic event, she simply went nuts and had a vendetta for all camp counselors. Fine. We can buy that.

But in “The Curse of La Llorona,” we learn that in her cursed, evil spirit form, she continues to be a child killer — and here’s my problem — so she can “search the Earth, looking for children to take the place of her own children.” What?

I’m not sure I understand it correctly, but I think La Llorona believes that if she kills other children, she could potentially, somehow “swap out” her own dead kids. But after centuries of haunting and killing, she has taken many children and has thus far never redeemed the lives of her own offspring. I may be straining over a gnat, as they say, but it removes all the teeth from this monster.

To me, her motivation is flawed, anyway. If she had killed her step-children (her husband’s children with a previous partner), then that would have made more sense. But it doesn’t add up that, in the midst of her heartbreak, she would pull down a whole mountain of even greater heartache upon herself by murdering her own children.

Pamela Voorhees is one of the greatest “sympathetic antagonists” that I know — and perhaps the best Slasher killer ever — solely due to the fact that we can sort of understand why she goes on a rampage. I’m a parent. I get it.

But by contrast, La Llorona’s attacks on children — particularly her own — don’t make sense. It would have made much more sense if she became a violent man-hater and serial male-killer, something like the serial killer Aileen Wuornos. She was hurt by a man, so now she kills men. Mrs. Voorhees was hurt by camp counselors, so now she kills camp counselors.

At any rate, though this film is director Michael Chaves’ feature film debut, he is also directing “The Conjuring 3,” which is currently in pre-production and slated for release in September of 2020.

“The Curse of La Llorona” was released wide in theaters on April 19, 2019. It has enough creepiness and scares to warrant a theater viewing, though I’m rating it a 6.5 out of 10 and calling it a rental. It’s a perfect Redbox rental or a worthy stream on Netflix.

To its credit, this movie has some decent “children in peril” sequences, such as the creepy bathtub scene shown in the trailer (and here). The film does a good job of capitalizing on the vulnerability, ignorance and naiveté of children. It also has some good moments with a pull-down attic ladder, as well as a curtain (also teased in the trailer).

La Llorona is a very physical ghost. She can push kids down stairs and throw mom around, which is a decent “battle” sequence. This movie even has a very brief Christmastime moment, if you want to save this for December.

In addition to its handful of decent scares, I also appreciated “The Curse of La Llorona” because it has some siege narrative elements, an entertaining warrior priest-turn-shaman played by Raymond Cruz, and it has Horror happening to those who deserve it least. Oh, and this movie even has a very different looking Patricia Velasquez, whom I adored as the lethal, body-painted Anck Su Namun in “The Mummy” (1999). She has a few scenes, but I bet a lot of people won’t even recognize her.

I always feel the need to admit that Supernatural Horror, ghost, haunted house movies, aren’t really my sub-genre. Sure, they often scare me. But I don’t particularly enjoy them or seek them out. I think my problem with Supernatural Horror films is that initially there are no parameters. Fighting the monster in its supernatural realm seems impossible.

But then there is usually some type of guide. Somebody who knows some specialized information that is somehow very accurate for how to battle the opposing supernatural evil. Then this guide is able to explain the parameters of this particular war and also provides supernatural weapons. That just seems like a lot of extra steps. Just set your Horror story in our everyday reality — the one whose bounds we already understand — and let’s just skip all the superfluous exposition.

Finally, and I’ll address these two points further sometime in the future: The unnatural scares me far more than the supernatural. For instance, it is unnatural for a mother to drown her child. In the opening of “The Curse of La Llorona,” we see a mother (in mortality) drown her child, and that’s scarier to me than anything else she does as an evil, supernatural being.

And my second and final note is, I think it bothers me that faith often does very little in a Horror movie, that is, until the plot needs faith to work.

Rating and Recommendation: The Curse of La Llorona (2019)
Jay of the Dead = 6.5 ( Rental )

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The Curse of La Llorona

Anna Garcia is a social worker living in Los Angeles in 1973. As she digs deeper into one of her cases, she begins to realize that there are horrifying supernatural forces inside the complex case. The effects of these supernatural forces bear traces similar to those that happened to Anna's own family. These supernatural traces are those of La Llorona, a sprit with a terrible destiny sealed by her own hand, terrified by her terrifying appearance and trapped between death and life. Anna will have to hold tight to her beliefs and wage a spiritual struggle to save her family.

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The Curse of La Llorona

Ignoring the eerie warning of a troubled mother suspected of child endangerment, a social worker and her own small kids are soon drawn into a frightening supernatural realm. Their only hope to survive La Llorona's deadly wrath may be a disillusioned priest and the mysticism he practices to keep evil at bay, on the fringes where fear and faith collide.

The film builds upon the fearsome legend of La Llorona, a woman who drowned her own children in a fit of rage and grief upon discovering her husband's infidelity. Condemned to wander the Earth in search of her own lost children, La Llorona is often depicted as a wailing, ghostly figure wearing a white dress. She targets children, hoping to replace her own lost offspring, and will stop at nothing to claim them.

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Wail as she might, the silly, not scary "The Curse of La Llorona" never reaches the operatic heights that the best of the franchise can offer.

The legend of La Llorona could inspire a whole universe of films on its own, but not with a kick-off like this.

With The Curse of La Llorona, the Conjuring universe has damned itself to an eternal cycle of rinse and repeat.

It's rather boring, and even if some individual moments do strike a suitably unnerving tone this is still a rather forgettable affair difficult to get excited about.

You'll have better luck running into the actual Llorona in a desolate alley than finding cultural significance in the darkness of a movie theater invoking this cash grab of a spirit.

What's missing from La Llorona is the element of world-building, the mapping of the myth onto the wider world in some more explicit and ample form than a mere sudden apparition.

If Michael Chavez's debut film had delved a little deeper into her tale and into the culture that produced it, "The Curse of La Llorona" might have become something more than a serviceable but familiar-feeling horror film.

The loosely tied latest entry into The Conjuring universe suffers from an anemic script with too little scares and an underappreciation for who would likely be its core audience.

While first-time feature film director Michael Chaves has a great eye for detail, the choice to turn, dare I say, a sacred Latino folklore into a jump-scare monster movie was not the wisest decision.

There is no sense of dread or impending doom; instead it's just one jolt after another. It's like having someone jump out at you every five minutes, and about as much fun.

"La Llorona" is another lame trip down a long, darkened hallway where the anticipation of the scare is always more frightening than the scare itself.

The scares are plentiful and sometimes ticklishly funny in "The Curse of La Llorona," an enjoyably old-fashioned ghost story.

While trying to ensure that Curse Of La Llorona looks and feels like its predecessors, Chaves misses an opportunity to say much of anything through the shrieking figure at the center of his reworked folk tale.

As '70s single mom Anna, Linda Cardellini gives the starring role her all, but she's mired within a repetitive plot, more invested in clichéd spooky sound effects (creaking doors! Mysteriously smashed objects!) than in Anna or her imperiled kids.

Prepare to feel cursed. This lame spinoff of the 'Conjuring' series is a lazy cash-in that plays too timid for terror and is too lazily constructed to haunt anyone's dreams.

One of the strengths of Mirar the curse of La Llorona is its ability to create an atmosphere of suspense and dread. The movie employs a range of chilling techniques, such as jump scares, eerie sound design, and unsettling visuals, to keep viewers on the edge of their seats. The film also leverages the power of mythology and folklore to tap into deep-seated fears surrounding parenthood, loss, and the supernatural. The performances in the film are commendable, with Linda Cardellini delivering a strong portrayal of Anna Tate-Garcia as a mother desperate to protect her children. Raymond Cruz also impresses as the enigmatic and knowledgeable Rafael Olvera. The supporting cast, including child actors Roman Christou and Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen, also deliver solid performances that add depth and authenticity to the story. Mirar the curse of La Llorona does, however, face some criticism for its reliance on typical horror tropes and clichés. Some viewers argue that the film fails to bring anything new or innovative to the genre. Others argue that the character development and overall plot could have been strengthened to create a more engrossing narrative. Overall, Mirar the curse of La Llorona is a compelling horror film that effectively brings the ancient folktale of La Llorona to life. With its chilling atmosphere, strong performances, and exploration of universal fears, the movie succeeds in keeping audiences entertained and on the edge of their seats. Whether or not one is familiar with the legend of La Llorona, this film is sure to leave a lasting impression..

Reviews for "The Curse of La Llorona: How the Legend Became a Modern Horror Classic"

1. Sarah - 2 stars - I was really disappointed with "The Curse of La Llorona." The trailers made it look so terrifying, but the actual movie fell flat. The scares were predictable, and the plot was cliché. I didn't feel any connection with the characters, and the acting was average at best. Overall, it was a forgettable and unoriginal horror film.

2. Mark - 1 star - "Mirar the Curse of La Llorona" was a complete waste of time. The storyline was weak, and the scares were repetitive and not at all frightening. The movie relied too much on cheap, jump-scare tactics, and the plot was predictable from the start. I was hoping for something different and unique, but unfortunately, it failed to deliver. I would not recommend wasting your time on this film.

3. Jessica - 2.5 stars - I had high expectations for "The Curse of La Llorona," but it didn't live up to them. The film had its moments of suspense, but overall, it was lacking in originality. The plot felt too familiar, and the scares were nothing we haven't seen before in other horror movies. The acting was decent, but the characters were underdeveloped. It had potential, but in the end, it was just another forgettable horror flick.

4. Mike - 1 star - "Mirar the Curse of La Llorona" was a disappointment from start to finish. The story was uninteresting, and the scares were generic. The pacing was off, and the movie failed to establish a creepy atmosphere. The CGI effects were subpar and took away from the overall experience. I would not recommend this film to anyone looking for a genuinely scary movie.

From Myth to Screen: The Curse of La Llorona Meets Cinema