This article brought to you by Lake Gregory Recreation and Top Producers Realty
By Nathan Hurlbut
“The Curse of La Llorona” has been marketed as yet another installment in “The Conjuring” cinematic universe, and for good reason. “The Conjuring”, a genuinely frightening movie from 2013, kick-started one of the more successful horror franchises of the past decade. Assisted by the kind of convincing performances from Lili Taylor and Patrick Wilson that are essential for a horror movie’s success, the filmmakers even managed an equally effective sequel with 2016’s “The Conjuring 2”.
Even the spin-off “Annabelle” series managed another worthy entry in the series with “Annabelle: Creation” (2017). It was an accomplishment that was all the more surprising considering how the first “Annabelle” (2014) suggested that this particular avenue might be a dead end.
In comparison, “The Curse of La Llorona” initially suggests the injection of something fresh within this ongoing series. The movie is based on the Mexican folk legend of La Llorona, or ‘Weeping Woman’, who drowned her own children in a fit of jealous rage over her husband’s infidelity. Her restless spirit now cries out in her desperate longing for her children to return to her, bringing misfortune to whoever crosses her path.
Just the fact that the presence of evil here takes the form of a woman is a refreshing step away from the usual vulnerable woman/’final girl’ versus a homicidal man dynamic. The notion that La Llorona is searching to abduct innocent children to the spirit world as a replacement for her own is an inspired notion that holds plenty of potential.
Unfortunately, the resulting movie proves to be more of a missed opportunity. Rather than capitalize on this original premise and its mythic undertones, the movie lazily relies on generic scares and a formulaic structure in its attempt to create a genuine sense of dread.
The movie’s greatest challenge is overcoming its own screenplay’s level of predictability. There are few story surprises to be found here, especially for veterans of the horror genre, who will recognize where many of the film’s scenarios are headed before they actually arrive there.
It’s typical of how much the movie liberally borrows from other horror films. Whether its something as simple as a fast camera zoom stolen from Sam Raimi’s visually inventive “The Evil Dead” (1981), or lifting entire plot lines from films like “The Exorcist” (1973), it soon becomes apparent that much here has already been done before.
That’s not to say the movie doesn’t frequently create a genuine sense of unease that puts you on the edge of your seat. It often successfully invokes a sustained degree of suspense that attempt to recreate the sense of dread the earlier “Conjuring” movies possessed.
Unfortunately, the resolution of these scenes tends to leave an anticlimactic taste in your mouth. The movie far too often relies on repetitive jump scares that become so frequent, you may find them more exhaustively annoying than genuinely frightening.
Plus, the movie features enough dramatically slow head turns from its actors- the kind you only find in horror movies- that it makes you wonder if the entire cast had to undergo special physical training for their roles.
The film’s performances do help make up for some of these flaws. Linda Cardellini gives her character of Anna a genuinely terrified demeanor once she finally becomes convinced of the ‘Weeping Woman’s existence. Her panicked state of mind is effectively contagious even as her character’s behavior sometimes defies a certain logic.
Meanwhile, it’s a welcome shot in the arm when religious figure Rafael Olvera (Raymond Cruz) arrives on cue as the exorcist with “unorthodox methods” to save the day. Cruz’s wry performance temporarily revives the film’s dreary atmosphere before, alas, even he succumbs to the screenplay’s derivative nature.
By the time you reach the movie’s tidily wrapped-up conclusion, you may find a distinct feeling of déjà vu taking over. While most horror movies hope to achieve a sense of relief once its presence of evil has been defeated, “The Curse of La Llorona” is more likely to induce an indifferent shrug.