The Curse of La Llorona (2019) Review

"We're not safe anywhere."
-Carlos Alvarez


Anna Tate-Garcia (Linda Cardellini) is a social worker and single mother.  Two of the boys in one of her cases are murdered after she took them away from their mother, Patricia (Patricia Velásquez).  Patricia warns Anna that La Llorona (Marisol Ramirez), an evil spirit, is coming for Anna's children and intends to drown them.  


What Works:

I love Linda Cardellini and I was pleasantly surprised to discover she is the lead in this movie.  She tries her best with what she is given and her character is pretty interesting when it comes to the social work stuff.  One of her coworkers is sent to check in on Anna's kids at one point and it's interesting to see the shoe on the other foot for her character.

It's bizarre to see Raymond Cruz in this as the exorcist character.  I can only think of him as Tuco from Breaking Bad and this character is nothing like Tuco.  Cruz is by far the best part of the movie and he has some very funny line deliveries.  Plus he's the only competent character around, which makes me like him even more.  He's just not in a ton of the movie.

I always applaud movies that are willing to kill of children.  It's rare to find a movie with that level of guts.  The Curse of La Llorona has those guts and actually kills of multiple children.  I love it!

Finally, the cinematography is very good.  There are several very fluid shots moving around the house and we even get a few on the outside that reminded me of The Evil Dead.  It lets you know that something evil is outside and trying to get it.  It's technically impressive and serves the story.


What Sucks:

The biggest problem with this movie is that it's boring.  We've seen all of this before.  There is literally nothing new here.  It's one of the most generic movies I've ever seen.  I feel like I'm going to forget it all tomorrow.

Besides Cruz's character, all of the characters are incompetent and stupid.  One of Anna's children, Samantha (Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen), opens the front door to retrieve her dolly even though she was literally just told not to open the door as it could let La Llorona in.  Also, Anna and her children all figure out very quickly there is something weird going on, but they refuse to discuss it with each other and just simmer in their fear.  Use your words!  It's incredibly frustrating.


Verdict:

While The Curse of La Llorona has some talented lead actors, some dark moments, and great cinematography, the boring story and stupid characters make this impossible to recommend.  It's better than the original Annabelle, but worse than every other installment in the Conjuring universe.

 4/10: Bad 

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