I’m not sure how it happened, but somehow I had not realized that “The Curse of La Llorona” was considered a part of the Conjuring universe? Clearly someone wasn’t paying attention. And it’s funny because I’m generally a fan of the tethered horror franchise specifically the two proper “Conjuring” films. The side movies have been inconsistent but still entertaining.
“The Curse of La Llorona” was the sixth installment in the ever-expanding Warner Bros. horror-verse (there has been a seventh film since). It also marks the feature film directorial debut for Michael Chaves who is also directing next year’s “The Conjuring 3”. The film is based on the actual Mexican folktale of The Weeping Woman. According to the legend a mother drowned her two children and then herself in a jealous rage after her husband left her for a younger woman. As a result she is cursed and her spirit roams the earth looking for children to replace hers.
Following a brief introduction to the legend, the movie sits down in 1973 Los Angeles. The often underrated Linda Cardellini plays Anna, a widowed mother of two and a child services case worker. She’s asked to do a welfare check after the children of a client (Patricia Velasquez) are reported missing. Once there, Anna finds the two kids locked in a closet and their distraught mother who claims she is protecting them from La Llorona.
I won’t spoil how it happens but La Llorona switches her sights to Anna’s children (played by Roman Christou and Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen). The rest of the film features Anna getting a grasp of the terror they’re facing and protecting her kids from the violent apparition decked out in billowing white lace and with a ghoulish ashy face that could have been copied and pasted straight from “The Nun”.
“La Llorona” is frustrating mainly because it starts out pretty strong. It puts its pieces in place through a nifty setup with real horror potential. But then it does what the weaker of the Conjuring spin-offs do – leans way too heavily on obvious horror movie conventions. You know, jump scares, squeaky doors, wide-eyed people slow-walking through a dark house at night (just turn the lights on people).
There is a brief but neat appearance by a someone who links this film to another from the franchise. But we also get a character who feels off from the first moment we meet him. Raymond Cruz plays this excommunicated priest turned shaman who Anna seeks out for help. The character has the personality of a plank of wood and his dry, monotone dialogue doesn’t help. He adds to the overall generic feel of the film’s second half. And again, what a shame. “La Llorona” gets off on the right foot and Cardellini does what she can. But it’s yet another Conjuring installment built on a promising idea but with execution that feels all too familiar.
VERDICT – 2.5 STARS
keithandthemovies.com 
I would never see a movie who’s title I cannot pronounce. La Bamba would be easier I think, even La Cucuracha mayhaps, but La Llorona does not roll of the tongue very easily, especially with added vino delecto.
(Also horror- so not me 🙂 )
I still can’t pronounce it without pausing! 😂
In your comments you introduced a slew of words that I cannot pronounce. It’s La YARONA you nitwit.
Good morning Tom, if you check the title of Keith’s post at the top there ^ it says . “The Curse of La Llorona”, so feel free to direct your ‘nitwit’ at Keith. Nothing I can do about your inability to pronounce Spanish or Latin, but as I was addressing Keith, who has, I am not too worried.
MY inability? What language do you think La Llorona is? It’s that ignorance that makes my FUCKING blood boil.
Sigh. Seriously Tom, cool your veins, you don’t know me. But in the interests of world peace, I apologise for my ineffectual attempt at humour in the first and second place, I am rarely serious and would never deliberately upset anyone, mea culpa. If you can find it in your heart to forgive me it would be a nicer end to this thread, if not, well have a good day and may the force be with you.
It’s not your fault that you didn’t know this was a CONJURING spin-off. They didn’t announce it until a month before its release.
Oh okay. That’s why. That’s a weird way to promote it.
That’s a shame considering the premise of the film as well as the casting as Linda Cardellini remains an underrated presence in film.
So, so true. I love seeing Cardellini pop up in anything. She’s good here. The material is far more inconsistent.
I just couldn’t get into this. Agree with your review, though I never understood why The Conjuring was considered so great, that whole universe has never interested me = /
I really do love the two Conjuring movies. For me they have a cool, nostalgic old school horror vibe that I really do like. The spin-offs have been a lot more inconsistent.
I dunno i just didn’t feel the atmosphere that others also have spoke of. Like The VVitch, atmosphere is suffocating. I don’t feel it with those movies. I wish I did tho cos i lot of people seem to rate them
I did think The Nun was absurd and silly tho, to the point where I laughed at the parts that I’m guessing were supposed to scare. Plus she looked like the vocalist for a black metal band haha!
HA! I thought that’s a case where they got the atmosphere right (The Nun). But aside from that it pretty generic.
After reading this, I think I recall the Conjuring mention when it first came out, but I never saw this. It just looked so….basic.
It’s very run-of-the-mill. It actually starts really promising. But then….
This and The Nun are the only two I haven’t watched from the Conjuring Universe. I’ve heard The Nun is all right, but have not seen any good reviews for this one, and I would rather just read a synopsis of it to keep up on the “universe” as a whole. Annabelle Comes Home was fine, but I’m really looking forward to the Conjuring 3.
The Nun is very…okay. Lots of good promise but it never really goes anywhere. Same with this one. It starts really strong but hits a wall halfway through in turns very conventional.
Not very into horror movies, although some of the Conjuring movies sound kind of interesting.
I really do like the franchise even though some of these spinoffs fall short.
I liked Linda Cardellini as Velma