

The pic relies so heavily on these “Boo!” moments that, midway through, the viewer protected by shamanistic magic stopped even experiencing a reflexive twitch when they occurred.
#The curse of la llorona rating series
Trade-off or no, the ghost - a yellow-eyed creep weeping icky black tears and wearing a wedding dress - does start haunting Sam and Chris, moving through their nighttime environs in a series of cheap jump-scares. But they’re dead before dawn, and Alvarez, who has been ranting about supernatural threats to their lives, holds Anna accountable.Ĭonveniently, Anna has two children around the same age (Sam and Chris, played by Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen and Roman Christou), and La Llorona, or the Crying Woman, who was “consumed by guilt” when she killed her boys, is “condemned to roam the earth searching for children to take their place.” Maybe Alvarez can bring back her sons if she points the ghost toward Anna’s kids. Anna puts the boys in a city facility for the evening, promising them they’re safe.
#The curse of la llorona rating full
Here, a recent widow named Anna ( Linda Cardellini) works for Child Protective Services, and must rescue two young boys from their mother, Patricia Alvarez (Patricia Velasquez), who has locked them in a closet in a boarded-up apartment full of candles. Curse of La Llorona is a ho-hum horror flick that seems highly unlikely to join producer James Wan’s earlier projects into thriller-franchise Valhalla though Wan is confident enough of Chaves’ skills to pass the Conjuring series off to him for its third installment, writing team Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis (whose first film, Five Feet Apart, hit theaters this week) might be better off looking for another YA idea to mine.Īfter a quick scene establishing its version of the old tale - in 17th century Mexico, we see a jealous wife drowning her two children to punish a cheating husband - the film leaps to 1973 Los Angeles, a period setting that only really makes sense if (sigh) the hopeful filmmakers intend this pic to be the backstory for Curse sequels. The curandero must’ve been extremely good at his job, because at least one viewer was thoroughly protected from fear. and director Michael Chaves offered a bit of showmanship William Castle might’ve appreciated: For a film derived from a Latin American folk tale, they brought the owner of a Los Angeles botanica onstage, performing rituals he said would ward off evil spirits and prevent the “crying woman” of the film’s title from following viewers home.

Introducing their new film The Curse of La Llorona on Friday night at SXSW, Warner Bros.
