THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA is the latest entry into the Conjuring Universe of films, based off the highly well-known legend of La Llorona or the Weeping Woman. La Llorona experienced the sting of infidelity and so she repaid her husband by drowning their two children in the river. This film stars Linda Cardellini as Anna Garcia, a social worker who rescues two children from a seemingly abusive mother named Patricia who claims the spirit is after her and her children. After her children mysteriously drown, Patricia spitefully blames Anna and assures her that La Llorona will be coming for her next. Anna and her two children, Sam (Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen) and Chris (Roman Christou) soon begin to be stalked by a mysterious woman resembling the legendary La Llorona.
Anna herself is not knowledgeable of the legend and so she turns to various people for help, including a priest and a mysterious man well-versed in spiritual matters. It is odd that Anna is completely unfamiliar with the legend given just how prevalent the legend is and how closely tied Anna is shown to be with the community she works in. This is an obvious method of describing the legend to any uninformed audience members, but the film STARTS with a retelling of the legend which serves that purpose just fine. This is rather sloppy characterization for Anna and repetitive storytelling by the filmmakers.
That being said, the characters in this film are more sympathetic than the protagonists of the prior films within THE CONJURING series. These are just innocent people who become the target of a malevolent spirit as opposed to the Warrens who were actively looking for trouble. The Garcias and their turmoil also have the advantage of being entirely fictitious as opposed to being based on real-life events as in the case of the two CONJURING films.
The infamous doll Annabelle makes a cameo appearance which was actually rather quaint and allowed for a delightful appearance by Tony Amendola who reprises his role as Father Perez. His role is brief but highly effective. However, Father Perez does not really contribute anything to the plot of this production. Anna goes to him in her time of need but he is unable to help due to church bureaucracy. The final notable cast member would be Raymond Cruz who portrays a curandero (a latino shaman) by the name of Rafael whom Anna turns to for aid in facing the spirit at Perez’s suggestion. This man feels almost as if he should be in another film all by himself. He does not fit in very well with anything else that’s going on, but Cruz gives a worthwhile performance nonetheless.
The production has a pretty slick look which is comprised of effective cinematography and editing. The only issue would be that the appearance of La Llorona herself leaves a little to be desired. She has more or less the same appearance as The Nun from the eponymous film in the same cinematic universe which THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA is loosely tied to. Their scare tactics are much of the same as well, usually involving an elongated face screaming madly at the camera or other characters. La Llorona is portrayed by the actress Marisol Ramirez, who does a decent enough job when she is not being hidden by make-up or special effects.
The big question of all of this would be: Is La Llorona scary? The answer this question is: a little. There are some chilling subtle moments which are a welcome change of pace from loud screaming and jumpscares. But these moments are few and far between and usually repeated multiple times throughout the film, which results in a loss of quality. Still, this is easily the scariest film and highest quality film in The Conjuring Universe and THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA earns a 4/5 for this reason, in addition to an engaging cast and stylistic visual presentation.
