And it turns out to be no coincidence that La Llorona next turns her sights on widowed Anna’s own two little ones, Chris (Roman Christou) and Samantha (Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen).Įventually convinced that they are being stalked by something otherworldly, Anna turns for help to Father Perez (Tony Amendola) a priest she first encounters while observing the preparations for the Alvarez children’s funeral from a distance. Unsurprisingly, Patricia blames their deaths on Anna. Despite being lodged for the night in the ostensible safety of a Catholic Charities facility, however, the lads meet a grim fate in short order. So, when social worker Anna Tate-Garcia (Linda Cardellini) makes an official visit to Patricia’s apartment and finds the kids locked in a closet, she ignores Patricia’s insistence that they are there for protection as well as her desperate pleas not to endanger them by letting them out. Her first contemporary targets, as the movie’s setting shifts to 1973 California, are Tomas (Aiden Lewandowski) and Carlos (Oliver Alexander), the two sons of Patricia Alvarez (Patricia Velasquez), a woman whose past abuse or neglect of her boys has brought her to the attention of child services. (She serves, so Tobias Iaconis and Mikki Daughtry’s script later explains, as a distaff boogey man with which to threaten wayward muchachos and muchachas.) Director Michael Chaves’ often-effective addition to the universe of the “Conjuring” franchise elicits its fair share of starts.īut, while the usual red-flag items are mostly absent, an attempt to blur the lines between Catholicism and superstition puts his film beyond the reach of all but the best-catechized teens.Īs the opening sequence shows us, the titular wraith (Marisol Ramirez), a legendary figure in Mexican folklore, is a weeping woman who killed her own children back in the 17th century and who now preys on those of others. The scares are faint unless you’re a fan of carnival haunted houses, and the biggest curse here is the time and money poorly spent.NEW YORK (CNS) - “The Curse of La Llorona” (Warner Bros.) constitutes an intense but problematic horror story.
The Curse of La Llorona is a dull film based on folklore, and it could have provided a much richer and better outcome than the presented story. As with the visual effects, the cinematography, combined with the lighting, are positive elements, particularly in the scenes at Anna’s Victorian home. The makeup effects were, like the script, dated and a repeat of things we have seen before – like some warped child of The Exorcist’s Regan or the girl from The Ring. The visual effects are finely done, lending the film its only truly creepy element, but the sound effects are loud and often shocking in a way that has nothing to do with horror. Young Roman Christou, in his acting debut, demonstrates fine ability, and if he chooses to continue his career, we are likely to see much more of him.
Cardellini wavers a bit in her role, while most everyone else seems to be taking themselves a bit too seriously. The cast works with what they have, but the script makes it difficult to tell whether their performances or the direction they received is lacking. This helps give it a feeling of having a decades-old script. The second half improves somewhat, but the dialogue appears forced and is unintentionally amusing in certain places. For the first half, the horror relies exclusively on shock-scares rather than delving into any real creeping terror. The script, set in 1973, seems like it was written then as well. Most of what this film offers, has been done before, and better. It is only with the latter’s help that Anna has any chance of saving her children, or even herself. She seeks the assistance of Father Perez (Tony Amendola), who ultimately refers her to the defrocked priest Rafael Olvera (Raymond Cruz). When she receives a call to investigate two brothers who have been truant, she inadvertently becomes entangled with a supernatural force bent on stealing her children. In 1973, Anna Tate-Garcia (Linda Cardellini) is a widow and raising two children alone while working for Child Protective Services. Unfortunately, the script is thin, dated, and unoriginal. Fresh off Five Feet Apart, writers Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis take a left turn down a darker street and bring us a modern encounter with The Weeping Woman from Mexican folklore in The Curse of La Llorona, directed by Michael Chaves (Chase Champion).
0 kommentar(er)
