The Curse of La Llorona haunts home video

Warner Bros. Pictures

I previously reviewed The Curse of La Llorona upon its theatrical release back in April of this year. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has now released the film to the home video market so if you missed it on the big screen, now you can consider bringing it home to watch at your leisure.

I won’t rehash my review but I will give you the basic plot if you don’t already know: La Llorona is the spirit known as ‘The Crying Woman’ in Latin American culture (and she goes by different names in different countries but her story is basically the same). The legend says the woman, many years ago, found out her husband had cheated on her so she took away what he loved most and drowned their children in a moment of rage. When she realized what she had done after it was too late, she drowned herself as well. Now her spirit roams the Earth looking to take living children as her own … she’s basically used as a boogeyman to keep naughty children in line. ‘If you’re bad, La Llorona will come and get you!’ In the movie, the spirit is more vengeful, seeming to go after children whose parents are being bad or inattentive (sort of like Charlie Manx in NOS4A2). She first attempts to claim the children of a mother who is always being investigated by child welfare services, then she goes after the kids of the woman who unwittingly allowed the spirit to actually take and kill those children. She is immersed in a culture she knows nothing about in an effort to save her own children.

The Curse of La Llorona is half a good movie. The first half is pretty strong and has some good jump scares in it, but it all begins to fall apart with the introduction of the shamen who is brought in to help, and that rests firmly on the actor’s shoulders with his lackluster performance. That performance also seems to affect Linda Cardellini’s performance which until that point had been fine. Her main fault is she’s not a good screamer, and she is required to scream a lot in this movie. But it starts out strong enough to almost forgive the second half.

What I found really curious about the movie and the advertising campaign was how it was promoted as ‘From the creators of the Conjuring Universe’ but it wasn’t billed as a part of that franchise. Except there is a scene in the movie which features the priest from the original Annabelle, and the movie is set in the same 1970s time period. The extras on the Blu-ray version of the movie gives us some answers. As for the Blu-ray, Warner Bros. has chosen not to release the film in 4K at this time (at least not for physical media but a 4K version is available through digital outlets). The image itself shows off some nice detail but also suffers from shooting on video in low light conditions. The colors are appropriately muted to convey a film shot in the 70s. The Dolby Atmos audio track makes great use of the surrounds, giving nice directional effects, and providing ample volume for the jump scares but keeping the dialog very crisp and clear in the center, as it should be. Nothing to complain about here.

The bonus material is where things get a bit more interesting.

• The Myth of La Llorona (2:29) — The director and some of the Latinx cast members discuss their knowledge of La Llorona folklore and how it impacted them as children.
• Behind the Curse (9:43) — A short but informative piece about the process of bringing the legend to the big screen with comments from cast and crew and behind-the-scenes footage. It is here where we learn the movie was always intended to be a secret tie-in to the Conjuring Universe, not something that was an afterthought, with footage of producer James Wan on set during filming. Why it was never advertised as such is still a mystery.
• The Making of a Movie Monster (5:53) — Another brief featurette looking at the process of creating the costume and makeup for La Llorona with comments from the artists and actress who played the character (who had auditioned for a different role in the movie).
• Deleted Scenes (11:10) — A collection of mostly forgettable scenes but there are two of interest: a second scene with the priest from Annabelle that may have been an original ending, and a scene in which ‘a couple on the East Coast’ (the Warrens) are directly referenced, really solidifying the film’s connection to the Conjuring Universe but oddly cut (and if you look close at the scene in the movie, you can see exactly where the edit was made).
• Storyboards (17:32) — Several finished scenes are shown juxtaposed with the hand-drawn storyboards as a shot-by-shot comparison.

The Curse of La Llorona seems to be aimed squarely at an audience that is familiar with this legend (and the packaging makes sure consumers are aware it includes a Spanish language track), and Conjuring Universe fans who will want to add the film to their collection. General horror fans may be a little more cautious about a purchase, but it’s still worth a rental.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment generously provided Hotchka with a Blu-ray version of the film for reviewing purposes.