The Curse of La Llorona is the sixth installment in The Conjuring Universe and the first of two Conjuring spinoffs released this year. Though the movie has plenty of tense moments and suspenseful scares, it’s one of the less memorable movies in the Conjuring series.
Disclaimer: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided us with a free copy of this Blu-ray/DVD that we reviewed in this blog post. The opinions we share are our own.
The Curse of La Llorona (pronounced lie-ah-row-nah) is the sixth installment in The Conjuring Universe and the first of two Conjuring spinoff movies released this year (the other being Annabelle Comes Home). Though the movie has plenty of tense moments and suspenseful scares, it’s one of the less memorable movies in the Conjuring series.
Here’s the official description – “A terrifying, timeless legend comes to life in The Curse of La Llorona. She is The Weeping Woman, and those who hear her death call in the night are doomed. She creeps in the shadows and preys on the children, desperate to replace her own. In 1970s Los Angeles, ignoring the eerie warning of a troubled mother suspected of child endangerment, a social worker and her own young kids are soon drawn into a frightening supernatural realm. Their only hope of surviving 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.”
Directed by Michael Chaves, The Curse of La Llorona runs 93 minutes and stars Linda Cardellini, Raymond Cruz, Roman Christou, Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen, Marisol Ramirez, Patricia Velasquez, Sean Patrick Thomas, Irene Keng, and Tony Amendola.
Though this is La Llorona’s first appearance in The Conjuring Universe, it is not her first time on screen. The pilot episode of Supernatural featured the Winchester brothers facing off against the La Llorona-esque “Woman in White,” while an episode in Grimm’s second season saw La Llorona as the villain of the week. Movies like 2013’s Mama feature storylines that heavily allude to the legendary “Weeping Woman.”
The legend of La Llorona comes from Latin American folklore and dates back as early as the 1800s (though the special features imply the tale may be even older than that). Most traditional versions of the story paint La Llorona as a beautiful young woman who, after discovering her husband cheating on her, drowned her children to punish her husband. Overcome with guilt and grief about what she had done, La Llorona then drowned herself. Her ghost continues to walk the earth, seeking children to replace her own. The tale is used to caution children to behave, or else, La Llorona might come to get them!
La Llorona is often associated with water due to the deaths of her children, and The Curse of La Llorona makes heavy use of that motif as well as the Weeping Woman’s traditional backstory. The film opens in the late 1600s with a woman and her two sons playing near a forest, but the idyllic scene quickly takes a turn when the woman drowns her children. It’s the first of many scenes that will feature La Llorona (Ramirez) using water as her primary weapon.
Moving forward to 1973, the movie follows the lives of social worker Anna (Cardellini) and her two elementary school age children, Chris and Samantha (Christou and Kinchen, respectively). When Anna is called to the house of one of her families, she finds the mother (Velasquez) acting scared and suspicious and the children trapped in a closet. The mother claims the children were locked up for their safety and must not be let out. Later that night, when tragedy strikes, the mother tells Anna that La Llorona will be coming for Chris and Samantha next.
Overall, The Curse of La Llorona is worth seeing. It’s a good horror movie with plenty of tense moments, but the story and even the scares are a bit predictable. The audience will know when to tense up and what to expect, as the movie offers very little that they haven’t seen somewhere else. The movie tends to rely too heavily on scenes shot in low-to-no lighting, handheld camera shots, and jump scares rather than a continual tone of dread and unease. La Llorona also screams in a majority of her appearances. While the noise is meant to make the audience jump, it feels unnecessary at times.
Visually, the movie does a nice job of incorporating water almost each time La Llorona is on screen or makes a threat against Anna’s family. This includes scenes in the rain, holy water, tears of the Weeping Woman, a bathtub, and two memorable scenes involving the family’s pool. The continued motif ties in well with the antagonist’s backstory and makes for some of the movie’s more memorable scenes.
One of The Curse of La Llorona‘s biggest struggles is establishing its connection to the overall Conjuring Universe. The primary story takes place in 1973, chronologically placing it after every story in The Conjuring Universe thus far except for The Conjuring 2 (set in 1977). However, the movie never mentions Ed and Lorraine Warren or any other movies in the series. There is one exception –
Tony Amendola’s Father Perez, first introduced in Annabelle, returns to help another family in need. A brief clip from Annabelle is used as a quick flashback to remind viewers of Amendola’s character and role. However, despite his inclusion in the marketing materials for the film, Father Perez is given very little screen time. The role he fulfilled for the Annabelle story is taken by Raymond Cruz’s mysterious character, Rafael. Unfortunately, Father Perez has very little to contribute to the overall story. His inclusion feels like an easy way to establish the movie’s place in the same universe as the others, but his appearance feels more like a cameo than an important character to the current plot.
The Curse of La Llorona just doesn’t feel like a Conjuring movie or any of the spinoffs. The story skips a lot of character introduction and development that is found in many other movies in the series. With the exception of Annabelle and The Nun, children are always featured as primary characters and important pieces to the story. While that is the case in The Curse of La Llorona, the movie doesn’t spend much time introducing those children or giving the audience a strong reason to care about them. Chris and Samantha are quickly shown getting ready for school and then tossed into the movie’s main action. The focus is instead placed centrally on Anna. (It is worth noting that several scenes featuring the children and also Rafael were deleted and included as special features.)
And speaking of character introduction and development, both Annabelle and the Nun were antagonists introduced in either The Conjuring or The Conjuring 2. Audiences knew a little bit about what to expect when going to see Annabelle, Annabelle: Creation, Annabelle Comes Home, and The Nun; however, The Curse of La Llorona is La Llorona’s first appearance in the series. She isn’t mentioned or even referenced by the other films. Outside of the trailers, audiences are really given a cold introduction to the character. While she serves as a formidable villain, it’s hard to step back and place her in the overarching story and chronology established by the other films. The Curse of La Llorona could easily exist outside of The Conjuring Universe.
This is again evident in the film’s ending. Each spinoff film in the series has featured some twist or final tie-in that firmly established the story’s place in The Conjuring Universe. For example, Annabelle, a prequel to the first Conjuring movie, ends with the Annabelle doll sitting on a shelf in an antique store and a woman shopping to find a gift for her daughter Donna. Viewers knew what would follow that scene, as The Conjuring opens with Donna and her friends seeking the Warrens’ help about her possessed doll. The Curse of La Llorona, though, doesn’t have a final tie-in scene to bring it all back to the overarching story, and the movie ultimately feels a little bit unfinished because of that.
As a standalone film, The Curse of La Llorona is a decent horror movie – nothing unique or original, but a good popcorn scary film. However, it is part of The Conjuring Universe, and it’s difficult to not compare the movie to others in the series. While it isn’t the worst entry (that honor goes to Annabelle), the movie is a bit forgettable when compared to other entries in the series. With La Llorona director Michael Chaves directing The Conjuring 3, it will be interesting to see where The Conjuring Universe goes next.
Is There a Scene After the Credits?
Not a scene – but there is a sound effect from the movie heard as the credits end.
Special Features
Given the cultural origins of La Llorona, the slipcase for the Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital Code combo notes that a version of the movie with Spanish audio is included. The combo also includes the following special features:
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- The Myth of La Llorona (2:29) – Take a look at the real legend of La Llorona and its origins.
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- Behind the Curse (9:43) – Director Michael Chaves and cast members take viewers through the movie, its connections with Father Perez, and its use of props and special effects.
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- The Making of a Movie Monster (5:53) – This feature shows the makeup process used to transform Marisol Ramirez into La Llorona each day.
- Storyboards (17:32 in total) – Storyboards take viewers through some of the movie’s scariest scenes (and some deleted and alternate ones) to compare how well the storyboard matches the final filmed product.
- “The Car w/Storyboards”
- “Intrusion w/Storyboards”
- “Echo Park Storyboard”
- “The Fountain Storyboards”
- “Hospital”
- “Hold the Line Storyboards”
- “River Finale”
- Deleted Scenes (11:10 in total)
- “Chris shoot, Cooper, Lock-up Gun”
- “Extended Welfare Check”
- “Patricia Enters House”
- “Warren’s Hand Off”
- “Church Ending”
This is a fairly standard set of special features that is consistent with other releases in the series. While the storyboards are rather unique, the look at makeup and special effects is to be expected. It would have been nice for commentary or context to be given to the deleted scenes though. Why were they deleted? Several of them, had they been kept in the movie’s final cut, would have provided character development and closure for characters like Rafael. The scene “Warren’s Hand Off” would also have helped the movie by providing a stronger connection to the overall Conjuring Universe.
Takeaway
The Curse of La Llorona is the sixth installment in The Conjuring Universe and the first of two Conjuring spinoffs released in theaters this year. Though the movie has many tense and suspenseful moments, it doesn’t seem to offer anything truly unique that viewers haven’t seen before and ultimately struggles to find its place in The Conjuring Universe. With La Llorona director Michael Chaves directing the upcoming third Conjuring movie, it will be interesting to see where the series goes next.
