After two films that weren’t quite traditional spooky movies, I decided to watch something I was certain would fall into that category. And who doesn’t love a good vengeful ghost story, right? That brings us to Day 3’s film, The Curse of La Llorona.
A CPS case worker in 1973 Los Angeles finds herself and her two children in grave peril when she inadvertently draws the attention of “La Llorona,” the Weeping Woman of Mexican folklore. Can she defeat the spirit before her children pay the final price?
The Curse of Lal Llorona started really strong, immediately showing the audience the events that led to the creation of La Llorona, before leaping forward to the 20th century. We meet our protagonist, Anna (Lind Cardellini), a dedicated Child and Protective Services case worker raising her two children alone after the death of her husband. Anna, trying to be compassionate, unfortunately sets events in motion that lead to the deaths of two of her case’s sons and puts her own family in the sights of La Lorona. Can she undo the curse before it’s too late?
The movie relies heavily on all the haunted house/ghost tropes and cliches you’d expect. Despite this, some still remain effective and a few good jump scares happen early on. Unfortunately, after about 30 minutes, the movie becomes a cookie cutter ghost film, indistinguishable from any other made in the last 20 years.
Of course, with La Llorona as our villain, a spirit who drowns children, there’s no shortage of water throughout the film, be it bathtubs, the Los Angeles River, swimming pools, even puddles. I couldn’t help but think of Lisa Simpson’s critique of the TV show “Kightboat”: “There is always an inlet, canal or fjord!” I couldn’t help but ponder that maybe the way to break La Llorona’s curse is to move to the desert and just take showers from now on.
Given the movies now put their credits at the end of the film, I was halfway through this one before I discovered it was part of the larger “Wan-O-Verse,” movies directed or produced by James Wan, including The Conjuring films, Annabelle, and The Nun, that share a connected setting. Had I known that, I might have gone in with my expectations a little lower.
Rating: Despite a strong beginning, the movie quickly peters out. Not terrible, but not good enough to earn The Curse of La Llorona 2 skulls out of 5.
