The Legend of La Llorona
"The Legend of La Llorona" can't scare up enough good moments to make it as interesting as its subject matter.
The Legend of La Llorona is a terrifying piece of Mexican folklore. The tale of The Weeping Woman searching for children she drowned, or some variation of this, is a perfect setup for film and has been attempted more than a time or two.
Director Patricia Harris Seeley's "The Legend of La Llorona" is the late take on this folklore tale and was one of the most challenging reviews I might have to write in 2022. On the one hand, it's not a great film that's hitting select theaters and then moving to VOD less than a week later. On the other, if we slide it sideways just a bit and look at it in terms of entry into the Schlock Vault, this is a fantastic piece of art. Unfortunately, we'll be focusing on the former, so I apologize in advance because the review might get a little scary, unlike the film.
"The Legend of La Llorona" focused on Carly (Autumn Reeser), Andrew (Antonio Cupo), and their son Danny (Nicholas Madrazo). They are heading to Mexico for a month of relaxing as the parents deal with the recent loss of their just-born baby. From the start, the tension between to two is painfully apparent.
Taxi driver Jorge (Danny Trejo) is their guide to their villa and, as it will turn out, be their guide throughout the film. When they arrive, they meet Veronica (Angélica Lara), visibly shaken that they brought their son and ominously asks Carly if she's from Mexico. Carly responds that she doesn't think so, but she's adopted. Foreshadowing some action in the future? You betcha!
From there, it's Carly yelling for Danny as the boy disappears continuously and then is always found. The ghost isn't too efficient at her job, it appears. Andrew disappears for a large chunk of the movie after encountering La Llorona (Zamia Fandiño). Jorge pops up out of nowhere precisely when he's needed, even after seemingly being consumed by the weeping spirit.
Except for Lara and Trejo, the dialogue and performances are stiff, and the special effects are shockingly basic. You can tell the film was produced on a low budget and I wish they would have opted not to go with as many effects shots and kept everything just out of eyeshot. I think it would have built the suspense a little better.
Trejo is a national treasure. His performance in this film is covered in schlocky goodness and I'm going to judge on that. At times you're not sure what he's looking at, but he at least is trying to act his ass off. Plus, just seeing Trejo on-screen, wielding a shotgun, driving a cab with an interior adorned with crucifixes is terrific. It doesn't get much better.
They tweaked the legend a little bit and that was a nice touch, but it never really got going. Once you figure out that she can get more powerful and cause harm to humans, you don't care. The film lags in too many areas and this causes the viewer to simply not care because, from the get-go, they keep finding Danny, so we assume they will find him again.
By far, my favorite element of the film is that Jorge is blasting away at La Llorona with a shotgun and affecting the spirit. Maybe they are magic bullets that I missed and that would be cool, but they appeared normal. The day for night shots is a technique that screams from the screen, "Hey, we're working on a budget here!" and will make you wince.
"The Legend of La Llorona" takes a terrifying piece of folklore and gives us a boring film that, in the end, can't scare up enough good moments to make it as interesting as its subject matter.