The Curse of La Llorona - The Conjuring Universe
Quick Background
This movie takes place in 1973, making it the sixth movie in The Conjuring Universe. It was also, interestingly enough, the sixth movie released. In this movie, we follow the story of a social worker, who is a single mother of two (Chris and Samantha) named Anna, played by Linda Cardellini. You will recognize Linda from her plethora of roles; I mainly recognize her as Velma from Scooby Doo and Hawkeye’s wife from the Avengers movies. You will not see Ed or Lorraine in this one, although Tony Amendola appears once more as Father Perez.
The only character you will recognize from the other movies is Father Perez. He does make a mention of “a couple who could help,” but that is the only reference to the other films. This could be watched as a stand-alone film, as there is not much connecting it to the universe, except for the demonic presence of La Llorona herself. I did do a little Googling and found that the myth of La Llorona does exist; she is the Boogie Man.
About The Movie
The movie opens following an exhausted Anna, in one of her cases: a single mother of two young boys. The school called to tell them that the boys hadn’t been to school that week. When Anna arrives at the apartment with an officer, she realizes that the mother’s mental health has deteriorated and the boys are nowhere to be found. They arrest the mother, who has the boys locked away, supposedly to protect them from “her.”
Soon after the mother is taken into custody and the boys placed in a home, we get our first look at what La Llorona is capable of. Anna’s son, Chris, gets an up-close-and-personal look at La Llorona and becomes marked as her next victim. The bulk of the movie is Anna reaching out, trying to figure out what happened to the boys, what is happening to her kids, and how to stop it all.
She speaks with Father Perez when she sees a medicine man working behind the church, blessing people and trying to protect them from La Llorona. She finds out his name is Rafael and seeks out his help when the unexplained in her home becomes too much to handle.
Obviously, his presence in the home causes the issues to escalate, as per usual for these films. At first, he refuses to help her, but her children strike a cord, and he agrees to stay and help. However, it starts to look like he is in over his head. La Llorona has it out for these children, and she is unwilling to leave without them.
Yay or Nay
I will say that as a stand-alone movie, it is not bad. However, if you go in with the expectation that it will hold up to the other films in this universe, you, like me, will be very disappointed. As much as I wanted to enjoy this movie, I did not. It has the basic jump scares, and the myth of La Llorona is pretty interesting. I would say you can feel free to skip this one; it does not fit in with the story of the universe. If you are watching it because you know the tale, it may not be that bad. However, this is going to be a NAY from me.