The Curse of La Llorona (Mini Review Series)

Initial release date: April 19, 2019

Studios: Warner Brothers/ New Line Cinema/ Atomic Monster

Tagline: She Wants Your Children

Plot: In 1970s LA, the legendary ghost La Llorona is stalking the night - and the children. Ignoring the eerie warning of a troubled mother, a social worker and her own kids are drawn into a frightening supernatural realm. Their only hope of surviving La Llorona’s deadly watch is a disillusioned priest who practices mysticism to keep evil at bay.

Cast

Linda Cardellini (Avengers: Endgame) - Anna

Roman Christou - Chris

Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen - Samantha

Raymond Cruz (Netflix’s Blue Miracle) - Rafael

Marisol Ramirez - La Llorona

Patricia Velasquez - Patricia Alvarez

Sean Patrick Thomas (Barbershop: The Next Cut) - Detective Cooper

Tony Amendola - Father Perez

Irene King - Donna

Oliver Alexander - Carlos

Aiden Lewansowski - Tomas

Paul Rodriguez (Netflix’s Selena: The Series) - Officer Claro

John Marshall Jones - Mr. Hankins

Ricardo Mamood Vega - Perez

Writer(s): Mikki Daughtry (Five Feet Apart)

Tobias Iaconis (Five Feet Apart)

Director: Michael Chaves (The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It)

Rated R for violence and terror (93 min)

‘Curse of La Llorona’ is another spin-off in the terrifying ‘Conjuring’ Universe. This spin-off is mainly a stand alone feature and it’s only connection to the franchise is the Father Perez character from the first ‘Annabelle’ movie.

This ‘Conjuring’ spin-off definitely reminds me of ‘Annabelle.’ A promising start with a few good scares. Then, it just completely falls flat. It seems like “La Llorona’ just heavily relies on cheap jump scares and many many horror movie cliches.

Quite a few of the scares can be rather bland and the few decent scares the movie did have were already shown in the trailer. At least this movie’s director, Michael Chaves, redeemed himself with ‘The Devil Made Me Dot It’ (a way, way better movie).

So, overall, ‘The Curse of La Llorona’ is the second weakest entry of the entire franchise, behind ‘Annabelle.’ The scares are bland, predictable and boring and this movie’s premise had so much potential that it was wasted.

Here are a few interesting tidbits about ‘The Curse of La Llorona’:

• Tony Amendola, who portrayed Father Perez in 2014s ‘Annabelle,’ reprises this same role in this movie.

• This is the second film in the Conjuring Universe to not feature, or reference, Ed and Lorraine Warren. It’s also the first spin-off to feature an antagonist who didn’t appear in the main series.

• The title of the movie roughly translates to ‘The Curse of the Weeping Woman.’

• After the first trailer’s release, it was revealed that Tony Amendola was returning as Father Perez, last seen in ‘Annabelle.’ The character gives direction to the family being tormented by the titular spirit and related the haunting to his experiences with the demonic entity attached to the doll.

• In March 2019, it was revealed that the movie is part of the Conjuring Universe, making it the sixth installment of the franchise.

• The spin-off grossed $54.7 million domestic and $68.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $123.1 million, against a production budget of $9 million, becoming the lowest-grossing film in the series.