Since the release of the first “Conjuring” movie in 2013, the conjuring universe has produced over six feature horror stories to date.
The latest member to join the family is Michael Chave’s “The Curse of the Weeping Woman”, also known as “The Curse of La Llorona”. Even though, it’s the sixth installment to the conjuring franchise, the movie serves as a stand-alone film.
Set in the 1970s, the story follows social worker and widow, Anna Garcia raising her two kids in Los Angeles. In her latest case, she uncovers signs of foul play. As she dives deeper into her research for the case, she finds out of La Llorona’s existence. La Llorona, a supernatural being, steals children from families and make them her own.
With the help of local faith healer, Anna discovers that La Llorona has latched herself onto her children and won’t stop until she gets them. Being the brave mom that she is, Anna is willing to do anything for the survival of her children.
Linda Cardellini, who plays Anna Garcia, was definitely the right fit for the character. It was clear that she was connected to her character and its storyline. She managed to deliver what was required for every scene, be it expressing an emotion or a line. Linda also did a good job in showcasing the different sides to the character.
With the rise of strong female characters on screen, we often only get to see the strong sides to female characters. For this movie, however, we got to witness Linda portray both the strong and vulnerable sides on screen.
Other superstars of the show would be Roman Christou who plays the brother, Chris Garcia. It was refreshing to see this promising young actor personate the character. Scriptwriters Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis, did a decent job in coming up with this character.
Unlike his younger sister in the movie, the character wasn’t a damsel in distress. Even with his limited strength, he was responsive in crucial scenes. He was definitely his mother’s side kick as he was willing to do anything to protect his sister and fight off La Llorona.
Of course, the movie isn’t perfect. Just like any cliche horror flicks there is, the movie was filled with jump scares and dumb moves. For instance, there’s a scene where they are told not to break the line of herbs, because if they do, La Llorona could enter the house again and hurt the kids.
However, the sister somehow thought the most important thing to do at the moment was to take her doll that was on the other side. As soon as she did, La Llorona as expected grabbed her. Speaking of La Llorona, despite the hype around her, La Llorona didn’t do much haunting. In fact, she barely came out and when she did, she only scared them instead of really wanting to kill them.
For a horror flick, “The Curse of the Weeping Woman” can be considered a decent motion picture. Even though, it’s not as scary or a game changer as “A Nightmare on Elm Street” or “The Exorcist”, the film wasn’t painful to sit through. Its strengths definitely made up for its shortcomings.
Here’s the trailer for the movie:
“The Curse of the Weeping Woman” is currently showing in cinemas.
