"The Curse of La Llorona" Movie Review: When Jump Scares and Exaggeration Are All Impressions Left

Kanchana Ngan |May 02, 2019

"The Curse of the Weeping Woman" may be better than the originals, yet mixed critics are posed regarding tons of nonsense jump scares.

The Curse of La Llorona
Director: Michael Chavez
Cast: Linda Cardellini, Raymond Cruz, Patricia Velásquez
Rating: 2.5/5

The Curse of the Weeping Woman (also known as The Curse of La Llorona) is the sixth supernatural horror episode of The Conjuring series. It takes inspiration from the Mexican folk tale of La Llorona, which narrates the struggle of a mother against a ghost who is trying to steal her children away. Being set in the 1970s of Los Angeles, the film depicts numerous ancient and scary sceneries, which partially thanks to director Michael Chaves' efforts even though it is his directorial debut.

The Curse of the Weeping Woman receive mixed critics. — *The Curse of the Weeping Woman receives mixed critics. (Source: Tumblr)*

However, the movie generally receives diverse critics for the old-styled plot, excessive effects, and "unsophisticated storytelling." People even dissatisfy with the Weeping Woman's Gothic makeup, which is easily erased and ruined every time she weeps. To create empty jump scares as well as cheap scare tactics, the production team tries hard to involve tons of annoying effects, such as rattling windows or irritating noise.

*The lead female tries to rescue her children from the hands of the Weeping Woman. (Source: Youtube)*

After the first 30 minutes, it's convinced enough that this film is giving it all to outdo its previous episodes. And luckily, it manages because none can be worse than The Nun. The Curse of the Weeping Woman itself can never be able to deserve its title or the attractive premise broadcasted beforehand.

As what was advertised, the film would be a strange tale full of haunting and possessive elements. The big cast led by Linda Cardellini also captured a lot of attention even before its release. However, the result comes out only to claim that it's such a big disappointment to the public, despite incredible shots made by Michael Burgess.

The Curse Of The Weeping Woman Review 2 — *The effects are exaggerated, which immensely annoys movie watchers. (Source: Youtube)*

It seems like The Conjuring series is trying hard to replicate the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but unfortunately, the result comes out not as expected, or it's even counter with the expectation. The series has specific trademarks that everyone can be reminded every time those images are on, such as hapless mother, endangered children requiring immediate rescue, loud screaming or continuous jump scares. It's ideal to have your significance that can't be mistaken without any other movies, yet those trademarks should be approved and welcomed. In the case of this sixth installment of The Conjuring Universe, they tend to repeat over and over again the ones receiving criticism before.

Michael Chavez's directorial features can be seen in the film's outcome. Both he and the titular spook of his movie are partially alike. It cannot be denied that Chavez owns strength in framing the huge picture of haunting images, yet he's not so good at paying attention to details either in plots or scenes. When narrating the Weeping Woman killing two children, there's no surprise that he chose to follow the usual path of drawing the scruff of the neck as a sign of the murdering hands. Or the fact that he didn't do anything about the Weeping Woman's bulky outfit is equal to a change of his losing the game.

Watch The Curse of the Weeping Woman's trailer here: