Zo's Reviews: The Curse of La Llorona

The Curse of La Llorona was directed by Michael Chaves, and stars Linda Cardellini as a CPS worker/single mom, who must defend her children from a supernatural being of despair, one that is after her two children, after the death of two children she was assigned to be the caseworker of. With a faith healer, they battle the entity, to save the souls of her children...Oh, also, it's a Conjuring Universe tie-in. Yeah, the priest from Annabelle? He's in this one.

So those of you who have read my reviews in the past know, I didn't particularly love the last Conjuring Universe film (The Nun). It didn't have enough tension, it had way too many jump scares, and was altogether forgettable. I saw the trailers for this film and I actually got a bit excited...it felt like there was going to be more tense moments, more build up to the scares, and since I am married to a lovely woman of Mexican heritage, I was amped up for this tale that had to do with a lot of the stories she heard as a child...

The bad? Yeah, there's some bad here. For starters, the movie goes at a breakneck pace. The film could've taken it's time, deliver some truly intense sequences that would've scared the heck out of everyone, but instead they tried to go with something quick, easily digestible, and used some really...well...way too many, rather, jump scares. I like some jump scares when they're used effectively, but most times in horror, they opt for using way too many and overdo it. There is NOTHING scary about a loud noise or something screaming at the audience. That was one of the main issues I had had with The Nun; instead of relying on the creepy environment, the movie went for cheap scares...and that's what this movie does way too often.

As for the good? There's actually quite a bit that I did like about this movie. There's another film with a similar story (The Woman In Black) where Daniel Radcliffe plays a single dad/lawyer in old timey England, and has to sort through a bunch of documents at an estate in a small village that's being plagued by an evil entity. When she is seen by the children of this village (the targets of her hatred), they kill themselves and she takes their souls. That film had some INTENSE scenes where Radcliffe was walking around by himself in a house in absolute silence...and it is downright eerie and scary. La Llorona tried that, too. There were moments where I was absolutely on the edge of my seat, leading to a loud jump scare that was all too effective. This is where jump scares actually DO WORK. The child actors did a pretty good job, and had some great scenes with the weeping woman. The story was coherent, it was fine, nothing astronomical. Linda Cardellini was great, as was Raymond Cruz who played the faith healer helping the family, he had some fun lines that made me chuckle a bit. La Llorona is creepy looking when not overdone with CGI, so there's that...and she is portrayed by Marisol Ramirez, who did a great job in all that creepy makeup.

La Llorona was an okay film, it was definitely better than the first Annabelle, and The Nun, but I felt like there should've been more. I felt like there were way too many overdone jump scares, but the real tense sequences were extremely effective and kept me on edge. I honestly hope Hollywood takes note and decides to make more films dealing with cultures outside of what the norm is, because this film really should've explored those depths of Latin culture a lot more. In the end, I did like it, and if you're a fan of the Conjuring Universe of films, check it out, it's in theaters now.

FINAL SCORE: 7/10