Today’s movie begins in 1673 where we are introduced to a young Mexican family. The father is mesmerized by the most beautiful woman in the area and marries her, and they subsequently had two boys. But what happens when you marry the most beautiful woman in the area? There is always next years model of beautiful on the horizon. She is so distraught when he cheats; she wants to hurt him in the worst possible way. That is to kill her two boys, by drowning them in the river. We last see her weeping on the riverbed holding her dead children. Let me mention now, this movie is part of the Conjuring Universe of movies. That’s a good sign.
Fast forward to Los Angeles 1973 where we meet Ana Garcia, a widowed social worker, and children Chris and Samantha. Ana’s husband was a cop killed on the job, but she is still in contact with his partner, Cooper.
Social worker Ana, goes on a welfare check of a family she has been counseling for a few years. Carlos and Tomas have not been in school for a week, and the Mom is not the most stable. The Mom lets Ana in the apartment where the windows are boarded closed, candles are burning everywhere and there are enough religious crosses and figurines to open a gift shop. Ana finds the boys unharmed, but locked in a closet. They beg her to leave them in the closet and close the door, “She will hurt us” Ana, believing they are speaking of their mother, assures them they are safe to leave.
The boys are taken to a children’s shelter, their mother to a hospital for mental observation. Hours later, in the middle of the night, Ana receives a phone call , the boys have been found dead in a water retention basin close to the hospital. She is needed at the scene immediately. What!! How did they get out of the shelter?
Ana goes to the retention basin where the bodies were found. As it is the middle of the night, Chris and Samantha are in the back seat in their PJ’s. She orders the kids to stay in the car, while she goes to speak to the investigators. Of course kids don’t listen and Chris goes down to investigate. While snooping around, he hears a weeping woman (oh no). She reaches out and grabs him,. Though she is dressed in a long white lace dress, her face is scared and distorted, her eyes black, her gnarled fingers grabbing his wrist, burning her finger prints into his skin. He runs to the car, where she tries to break in, but Mom arrives and they are safe for now.
Does he tell Mom what just happened? Of course not. Within a day the “weeping woman” is in their house trying to drown Samantha in the pool, and shows herself to Ana. The next morning, Ana and the kids literally run into a church where they meet Father Perez, who you will remember from the Annabelle movie. He tells them the story of La Llorna the “weeping woman”. She has attached herself to Ana and her family and thereis nothing he can do. But he does no someone “who is local” who could. We are then introduced to Rafael Olvera, an ex-priest now a demon hunter/cleanser.
Like many of the Conjuring movies, you don’t need to have seen previous movies to understand what’s going on here. I also appreciate, yes Ana is a widow of a policeman killed on duty, but we aren’t bogged down in that backstory. Also, this is not a blood-fest of a movie, which is refreshing. Sure some kids die, some are almost killed, a creepy dead woman is burning her fingerprints into their skin, but it’s not gruesome.
Linda Cardellini (from Green Book) does a good job as the protector Mom. I liked that they played her as a grounded mother who knows when something is wrong, and seeks help sooner than later. But the movie is almost stolen by Raymond Cruz as Rafael. I hope to see his character in a future Conjuring.
The Curse of La Lorna is rated B minus. Some may find the lack of gruesome horror scenes disappointing, but I didn’t. It’s still a scary movie for sure (Samantha’s bath tub scene for example). I recommend seeing this on the big screen, the dark lighting and creepy “weeping woman”
plays better on a large format.
Comments