The Curse of La Llorona: She Weeps

It's a real legend.

The Curse of La Llorona arrived August 6. It’s on Blu-Ray Combo Pack and DVD. The Digital format appeared early on July 16.

UNIVERSE

From New Line Cinema and James Wan, The Conjuring Universe continues to expand. There are now two Conjurings, three Annabelles and The Nun.

The Curse of La Llorona shows the Conjuring formula may not always draw a crowd. It’s the lowest box office draw of the Universe at $122 million worldwide. And only fared out with a 30% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes. It did fare slightly better than The Nun on the critic front, which ended up with 26%.   

The Curse of La Llorona is the feature directorial debut of Michael Chaves. It was written by Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis. 

The film stars Linda Cardellini, Raymond Cruz and Patricia Velasquez. Supporting cast is Marisol Ramirez, Sean Patrick Thomas, Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen and newcomer Roman Christou.

TAKE

Would I buy this film? A rainy day selection.

If you are a horror fan or like The Conjuring movies, it’s probably worth the look.

If you are hoping for a major Conjuring connection though, you might be disappointed. There is an appearance of Father Perez (Tony Amendola.) He only pops up in a couple of scenes. But, Conjuring viewers may recall his encounter with a mysterious doll named Annabelle.

One thing the Conjuring universe seems to manage is a good creepy atmosphere and a few decent suspenseful scenes. I think, anyway. This continues here for the R-rated movie.    

It’s a 1973 setting. Linda Cardellini is solid. She is Anna Tate-Garcia, a social worker, recently widowed, struggling to raise her two children. Played by Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen and Roman Christou. I couldn’t help but shake my head at some of their actions and also root for them. Anna’s intervention on the child welfare of the sons of Patricia Alvarez (Patricia Velasquez.) This will soon unleash La Lorona. - ‘The Weeping Woman’ - on Anna’s family and home.

With the encounter from Rafael Olvera (Raymond Cruz), a curandero - a traditional healer - Anna and her kids have some help in the battle with the supernatural.

It was interesting the La Llorona curse is a real legend/myth as the special features reveal. La Llorona is played by a real lady Marisol Ramirez - obviously, with some special effects help.

Thinking back on the 93 minutes - the La Llorona scares do get repetitive. She tends to do a lot of screams. But still makes her creepy.

James Wan was so impressed with Michael Chaves, the director. Chaves will be taking over directing duties for The Conjuring 3. Which is officially scheduled for 2020. (Wan directed the first two Conjurings and will remain a producer. And more recently, directed Aquaman.) 

The Conjuring Universe seems to be mixing up their formula for The Conjuring 3, too. A shift from the creepy-things-going-on-in-houses. (Annabelle Comes Home is the third Annabelle and a summer theatre release.)

Reports say the story is based on a real court case with the defendant using possessions as the defence.      

SPECIAL FEATURES OVERVIEW

The Myth of La Llorona (2 minutes, 29 seconds.)

- Some of the actors discuss being familiar with the tale of La Llorona. But mostly just rehash the story that was already told in the movie.

Behind the Curse (9 minutes, 43 seconds.)

- The talk of legend, the Conjuring connection and the director talks working with James Wan.

The Making of a Movie Monster (5 minutes, 53 seconds.)

- Marisol Ramirez talks about the process of becoming La Llorona. It’s about three hours for the makeup to be put on.

Deleted Scenes (11 minutes, 10 seconds.)

- Most are extensions of existing scenes. But there are a couple of alternate versions, which I always find more interesting.

Storyboards (17 minutes, 32 seconds.)

- Rewatch sequences from the movie and what compare to how they are storyboard. 

Warner Brothers Home Entertainment 

IT: Horror Record 2017

You’ll float too.

IT brought the scares in 2017. IT also became the biggest (R-rated) horror movie of all time.

IT is out on Digital, Blu-ray, DVD and 4K Ultra HD (with High Dynamic Range).

Box Office Mojo statistics show the other top R-rated horror movies include  - The Exorcist (1973), Get Out (2017), The Blair Witch Project (1999) and The Conjuring (2013).

The box office for IT brought in about $327 million domestic, for a whopping worldwide gross slightly over 700 million.

Most people already know, IT is lifted from the pages of a book. The Stephen King bestselling novel was first published in 1986. Readers have a nice slim size of roughly 1,168 pages to go through. (Length noted from the reissue edition to coincide with the movie.)

The story made such an impression on readers. Rolling Stone asked them to vote in a poll to pick King's scariest and most page-turning books.

And IT took second place out of 10.

(Those same Rolling Stone readers, put The Stand first.)  

PAST

The New Line Cinema’s thriller is directed by Andy Muschietti. There's not much doubt of the movie's blockbuster status. Of course, it’s not even the first time the Losers’ Club and a killer clown named Pennywise, appeared onscreen.

A lot of Internet chatter seemed nostalgic for the 1990 mini-series, which aired on television. The two-night event brought in an estimated 30 million viewers, with many giving praise to actor Tim Curry, for his role as Pennywise.

I have not seen the television version, so I can’t compare to this movie. I have read the book. (It's been a long time now.)  The standout sequence that I can remember is Georgie meeting Pennywise, at the very beginning.

The action for the new movie is shifted to the late 1980s, while the book has events in the 1950s.

The main story is still there. Children begin to disappear in the town of Derry, Maine.  Bill (Jaeden Lieberher) becomes obsessed with finding out the truth, especially after what happened to his brother Georgie (Jackson Robert Scott.) Bill leads his friends into trouble, Ritchie (Finn Wolfhard), Eddie (Jack Dylan Grazer), and Stan (Wyatt Oleff). They soon cross paths with amateur historian Ben, (Jeremy Ray Taylor), Beverly (Sophia Lillis) and Mike (Chosen Jacobs,) as they all have encounters with Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård), and try to uncover the mystery.

At the same time, they try to deal with the anger of neighbourhood bully, Henry Bowers (Nicholas Hamilton), and his friends.

VERDICT

Would I buy this film? Yes.

I am a Stephen King fan. I read some of his books through school but one Christmas I received Under the Dome, and my bookshelf has slowly filled up since then.

Critics will say plenty of Stephen King adaptations are bad. (Dreamcatcher didn’t work for me.) IT easily goes on the good list.

The obvious questions now:

Was IT scary? Overall, no - at least, not for me. There were a couple of decent scares though.

Was IT creepy? Definitely.    

Was IT tense? Yes.  

Is IT the best Stephen King adaptation? Probably not. Although, I would watch the movie again.

I think what makes the film work, for me anyway, are the Losers. While Bill is the driving force of the adventure, many of the Losers get highlighted with little moments. Sure, they fight. They are crude, and the language is plenty foul. Yet, when things get tough and gruesome, they come across like real friends.

If clowns aren’t your thing, the scare factor might be different.    

SPECIAL FEATURES OVERVIEW

Filmwise, I would buy. If special features are taken into serious consideration, it might be best to play the waiting game. There is the next chapter coming, so more goodies could pop up later.

The special features do feel pretty short for such a hit movie.

Pennywise Lives! (16 minutes, 25 seconds)

- Revealing Bill Skarsgård behind the role of Pennywise. They discuss Bill’s audition and then his first meeting with the cast and crew. Found it an interesting and funny conversation, especially a few of the reaction stories.

The Losers' Club (15 minutes, 42 seconds)

- This feels more of a behind-the-scenes reel. It really depends on your interest in the cast. It focuses on the teenage actors and how filming went for them. (Example - The bullying scenes may be uncomfortable to watch but everybody got along.)

Author of Fear (13 minutes, 51 seconds)

- Stephen King discusses the common writer question…how the story of IT was formed. Bangor, Maine, actually gives many of those answers. And why he wrote about kids and (inevitable on the movie front) the adults.

Deleted Scenes (15 minutes, 18 seconds)

- Eleven deleted or extended scenes from the film. It’s easy to understand why most of them were cut. There is a gag scene which is the highlight of the bunch but won’t be spoiled here. There is also an alternate ending.   

Warner Brothers Home Entertainment