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‘The Curse of the Weeping Woman’ tries to sell Mexican horror folklore
The legend is intriguing, but the film only seems to revolve around its surface.
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La Llorona is portrayed as wearing a white wedding dress with a veil covering her face in the Michael Chaves-directed horror film 'The Curse of the Weeping Woman'. (twitter.com/lalloronamovie/File)
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irected by Michael Chaves, The Curse of the Weeping Woman is a horror flick based on Mexican folktale La Lloronaor The Weeping Woman.
The legend stems from a woman named Maria, who married a man and later had two sons. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Maria then drowned her sons in a river after catching her husband having an affair with another woman. Maria is soon found dead as well but her spirit remains on Earth until she finds her children’s souls, which leads her to roam the Earth to find any children and then drown them.
The La Llorona legend is intriguing, but the film only seems to revolve around its surface. It takes the audience to Los Angeles in the 1970s where a social worker and widowed wife Anna (Linda Cardellini) juggles her job and raising her children; Chris (Roman Christou) and Samantha (Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen).
One day, Anna handles a case involving Patricia (Patricia Velasquez), who locked her sons in a closet. Patricia said it was a way to protect her children from La Llorona (Marisol Ramirez), but Anna doesn’t believe this and separates Patricia from her sons. It does not take long for the police to find the children dead from being drowned in a reservoir with Patricia becoming the main suspect.
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Soon Anna and her children are terrorized by the female ghost La Llorona, who dresses in white wedding gown with a veil covering her face. La Llorona was dangerous as she intended to drown Anna’s children as well, promting Anna to seek help to save her children and herself.
Produced by James Wan, The Curse of the Weeping Woman is said to be a part of The Conjuring universe and Chaves subtly includes the connection through the role of Father Perez (Tony Amendola) — fans of the universe may remember him from the 2014 film Annabelle.
The film fails to offer something new in terms of plot, but it features enough jump-scares to make you scream.
The presence of Rafael (Raymond Cruz), an ex-priest who helps Anna and her children in facing La Llorona, also should be acknowledged for his wit and sarcastic dialogue. (kes)
