The horror that impacted me as a child grew not in what she looked like, but in how she could be watching me, or any child, at any time, just waiting for us to disobey our family at any moment, she could take us to be with her, to die and exist forever in some unknown space between the living and the dead, all while being helpless in fighting her.
In the stories Latinos are told, La Llorona has never been described as a monster (that’s reserved El Cucuy and El Chupacabra), yet in the film, thanks to some pretty disturbing makeup, she most definitely resembles one.Īlso Read: 'Conjuring 3' Lands Director Michael Chaves However, when the film is viewed in contrast to the actual mythology the legend has maintained for generations upon generations of Latino families, it feels superficial, at best. Cinematographer Michael Burgess underscores Chaves’ vision by evoking a truly creepy atmosphere, creating a whole different universe whenever La Llorona appears.
While first-time feature film director Michael Chaves has a great eye for detail, the choice to turn, dare I say, a sacred Latino folklore into a jump-scare monster movie was not the wisest decision. With the help of priest Father Perez (Tony Amendola, reprising his role from “Annabelle”) and curandero Rafael (Raymond Cruz, “Better Call Saul”), Anna tries to find a way to save her family from La Llorona’s grasp. Soon, Anna herself is facing a terror she has never known, with La Llorona having attached herself to her own family.
Patricia, in grief, yells that La Llorona took her sons, and it was all Anna’s fault. Within hours, the two boys are dead, found drowned in a river, near the shelter where they were staying. Watch Video: James Wan's 'The Curse of La Llorona': The Legend Is Real in First Terrifying Trailer Anna removes Patricia’s sons from their mother and places them in a temporary shelter until they can determine if they are safe to go home, despite Patricia’s protests and screams that “she” will get them. What Anna finds is a terrified Patricia, who has placed candles and charms all over her apartment, and locked her children in a closet covered in drawings of an eye (or as Latinos may know it, “el ojo”) to hide them from La Llorona. One of her cases, Patricia (Patricia Velásquez), has missed check-ins and appointments, so Anna has to make a surprise home visit.
It’s that fear that I, like many other Latinx people, recall whenever we hear the name “La Llorona.” And it’s that fear that the film “The Curse of La Llorona” completely neglects, opting instead for predictable jump scares, a white savior narrative, and an oversimplified script from writers who have no connection to Latin culture, which may be its ultimate demise.Īnna Tate-Garcia (Linda Cardellini) has a lot on her plate: She’s a Child Protective Services caseworker, a mother of two children, and a widow of an LAPD cop. The last time we snuck out, it was our grandmother who found us watching Looney Tunes in the middle of the night, and as she yelled at us in Spanish, told us that if we continued to misbehave, La Llorona would come to snatch us both, and take us to be with her forever, because she looked for little kids who didn’t listen to their parents.įor many nights after, my sister and I laid still, staring at every shadow, jumping at every tiny sound, and wondering if La Llorona would get us if we dared get out of our beds. We weren’t the most stealthy kids, so obviously we were caught a few times.
When I was about eight years old, my little sister and I developed a habit of sneaking out of our bedroom in the middle of the night to go watch TV in the living room.