The Curse of La Llorona (2019)

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'La Llorona' is a side quest of sorts in the film. While not officially connected to the 'Conjuring' series, the film connects to the franchise through Father Perez (Tony Amendola), who first appeared in 'Annabelle'. If I were to compare it to something more for the masses, it's to the 'Conjuring' universe what 'The Eternals' is to the MCU - connected very loosely. When you get right down to it, this title is entirely skippable, given everything I've mentioned, and the fact that the film just isn't that solid.

Just a couple of months before 'Annabelle Comes Home' was released, this dropped, just one week before 'Avengers: Endgame' managed to drown it with pure MCU power. It seems clear that, much like 'Halloween III', this is the movie, whether you want to include it in the franchise or not, that gets overlooked the most, and I can understand why. This is an interestingly average horror flick. There's a lot of clichés going on here, but it's not without the odd moment or two that satisfy the senses on a fun, horrific level. The trouble is, those moments are few and far between, and a lot of the rest of it is almost annoying in a way.

The whole thing opens with an origin story, keeping it brief and to the point, as the viewer gets to know the legend a little better. Long story short, in Mexican folklore, La Llorona (the Weeping Woman) is a vengeful spirit who roams bodies of water while mourning her children, whom she drowned, out of jealousy that her husband was unfaithful. Now, legend has it that whoever hears her crying suffers great misfortune and possibly even death. Movie-wise, it's more about her finding more kids to drown, which is also part of the legend, and the primary focus here.

In 1973, LA, a caseworker named Anna Tate-Garcia (Linda Cardellini) arrives at the house of client Patricia Alvarez (Patricia Velasquez) for a welfare check, only to find her two children, Tomas (Aiden Lewandowski) and Carlos (Oliver Alexander), locked inside a closet. Patricia attacks Anna for opening the door, and the kids even ask Anna to keep the door shut so "she can't hurt them." Of course, this prompts the accompanying cops to arrest Patricia under heavy suspicion of abuse, and the kids are taken to a shelter. Little does anyone know that Patricia isn't who they were hiding from.

Meanwhile, Anna's kids, Chris (Roman Christou) and Samantha (Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen), each have paranormal encounters with a mysterious crying woman in a white dress, who ultimately turns out to be the malevolent spirit of La Llorona, now chasing after Anna's kids. Their only hope, and I found this funny, is an ex-priest named Rafael (Raymond Cruz), who knows the legend inside out. If Cruz's name sounds familiar, it's because he played the unforgettably suspenseful and nerve-racking character of Tuco in 'Breaking Bad.'

Unfortunately, I can't get Tuco out of my head when looking at Cruz, and it's tough to accept him as a "good guy," especially when he still carries that "f*ck-around-and-find-out" aura with him that made his 'Breaking Bad' character so scary. For as amazing as he was in 'Breaking Bad,' however, watching him here almost gives me a sense of confusion when trying to take him as, again, a good guy type. I also mentioned "annoying" earlier, and that's a bit more of a personal matter. While there's a bit of bad parenting that stands out, for me, Chris' scream is like nails on a chalkboard, and it happens often enough that you want La Llorona to get him.

While I may come across as nitpicky in some regards, one cannot deny how clichéd the movie is, with all of its scares more or less expected, and almost no mystery or subtlety to the figure of La Llorona herself. It just doesn't have the same heart as the 'Conjuring' movies or the later 'Annabelle' movies, and in a way, it's unfortunate for the series that director Michael Chaves has taken over, and the films under his name have been pretty average at best. Still, this doesn't mark the "beginning of the end" for the franchise. In this guy's humble opinion, a few more still manage to stand out in a good way.

1/5

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