THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA

THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA is a horror movie about a female social worker whose own children become haunted by a demonic spirit after their mother tried to help two children killed by the demon. THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA is a very scary, well-made horror movie, but it has a mixed worldview with both good and bad things. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.

Anna is a social worker who is investigating a mother and her children. The apartment the children are living in is dark, with only candles lit and black paint on the walls. When Anna opens the door to the closet, she sees the two children on the floor. The mother, Patricia begs Anna not to take away her children, saying she was protecting her children from an evil demon named La Llorona, but Anna still takes them away for the night to stay in a safe house. The children tell her they are never safe because La Llorona is following them.

In the middle of the night Anna is called in because the children are found in the river, dead. Being a single mother, Anna has to take her two young children to the scene of the crime and tells them to stay in the car. When Anna goes off to see what is happening, her son, Chris leaves the car to look around the corner. A lady dressed in a white dress and veil comes to lure Chris in to her midst by crying and calling out to him, this is the demon La Llorona. Now, La Llorona is trying to get hold of Chirs and Samantha, Anna’s daughter. Once Anna returns, however, La Llorona goes away and the family goes home.

Things have been tough ever since Anna’s husband, who was a cop, was killed in action. Sometimes the children are even left at home, and Anna comes home and sees that they have bruises on their arms. When asked what is it about, they say they’ve seen La Llorona. Strange things start to occur in the house. So, Anna goes to a Catholic priest to ask what this could be. The priest says there is someone who can do an exorcism or bless their house, but it would take a long time to get that priest because of the red tape in the Catholic Church. He suggests Anna try an unconventional way, the Shaman named Rafael who has given up the church, but not on God.

At this point, things are getting so bad, with La Llorona appearing and hurting the children, that Anna goes to Rafael. Will they be able to fight the demon away?

THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA is a very scary, well-made horror movie. La Llorona is a Mexican Folktale well known in Latin American culture. The director does a great job with the suspense and jump scares. The movie even has some laughs to it, which is a nice moment of relief from the scary scenes. The music and lighting play a very big element, as they do with many horror movies, and in this case they are done very well.

THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA has a mixed moral worldview. The movie shows the light versus dark, evil versus good, and the benefits of prayer. However, the Shaman uses some New Age practices, though he also uses a Christian cross and prayer, which the movie clearly shows has strong supernatural power. Of course, in many exorcism movies, they put a huge emphasis on the icons the priest uses to perform the exorcism. In reality, though, it is solely the power of Jesus Christ that can destroy the Devil and his demons.