Hey Scream Queens,

Happy Freaky Friday! I took the day off work, and am excited to get the extra time to read and watch things today. In the meantime, I hope you’re ready for some chills, as this post is all about my experience watching The Curse of La Llorona.

I borrowed this movie from my local library, which is incredible because this movie came out this year. I’m still in awe of how efficient and up-to-date my local library is. I’m constantly finding newer movies, series, and books, and my wallet is in pure bliss mode.

I requested this movie back at the beginning of July, but it was so popular at my library I got put on this super long waiting list. Bummer, I know, but once it was available, I picked it up immediately and watched it with my roomie.

All right, lets get into this movie review!

Movie Blurb:

Ignoring the eerie warning of a troubled mother suspected of child endangerment, a social worker and her own small kids are soon drawn into a frightening supernatural realm. Their only hope to survive 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.                

My Review:

The Curse of La Llorona begins with mother Anna and her two kids Chris and Samantha. She works as a social worker, and soon receives a notification that one of her cases has gotten worse. A mother’s children haven’t been going to school. The mother in question has a known history for drinking issues, so Anna goes along with a police officer to her place to check things out.

However, once they get there, they find the mother’s children in a locked closet. Anna doesn’t know what to think. The mother is carted off, while the children are put in protective custody. But soon it becomes clear that the children are in grave danger. And it isn’t just them. No children are safe, not when the spirit of La Llorona is free to take them for her own.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie, but I can’t say that it really stuck with me or shook me like I wanted it to. It started out well enough, and I enjoyed the buildup with the main character Anna. Her story was very relatable, and her kids were flawed from the heartache they’ve already been exposed to, which is believable.

That being said, there were a couple flaws in the movie itself that affected it negatively.

Kid Negligence

At several parts in the movie, I felt that the kids were pretty much neglected. This kind of upset me, because all of these things wouldn’t be happening if the kids were being looked after more closely. I get that Anna is a single mom and the 70’s were a different time (I myself am a latchkey kid), but I personally felt more could’ve been done to protect her children.

The Scares

Okay, I’ll be the first to admit La Llorona was scary at first. I mean, she wants your kids, her trigger is sobbing from a distance (to draw you to her of course), and pretty much nowhere is safe from her. She’s a powerhouse, sure, but her methods tend to follow a pattern, and that’s where things fall a bit flat for me. There’s only so many times this spirit can scream at you and shout “Be my kid!” before you roll your eyes like ‘really?’

What exactly is La Llorona?

This was maybe the biggest turn off for me. It’s never quite clear exactly what La Llorona is. I mean, if she can affect you in the physical plane (which she can), then how is she simply a spirit? She is portrayed as a spirit in this film, but what she can do to others classifies her as more of a demon or even a creature.

Wrap-up

Overall, The Curse of La Llorona is a creepy film that has plenty of good jump scares. Ultimately though, La Llorona’s screams of anguish and rage fall on deaf ears (personally of course). This movie gets a 5 out of 10.

If you’re looking for a quick scary movie and are not expecting the wheel to be reinvented, this may be for you!

Happy watching, and if you hear a sobbing woman in the distance, just crank up some music to drown her out.

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