The Conjuring franchise is one of the strongest names in cinematic horror right now. While The Curse of La Llorona isn't a part of that particular franchise, it does boast many of the names that made those films successful. After seeing the first trailer, it's possible they could have another major horror hit on their hands. It doesn't just tease us with tension but puts us right in the middle of the terror. Check it out.
The trailer opens with a woman, being played by Linda Cardellini, who is asking a priest about somebody called La Llorona. It sounds like she's something of a boogeyman in Mexican circles, but this priest doesn't necessarily believe she's entirely a myth. From there, we move to the scene of a crime where a woman is being taken away for the deaths of her children, though she blames the eponymous La Llorona.
Next, we get an extended sequence where a boy sees the woman in question and tries to keep her from getting into the car where he and his sister are hiding. The tension builds as La Llorona tries to get into the car by simply rolling down the windows, making the kid probably wish his mom had sprung for the power windows on the family car, though the film is set in the 1970s, so maybe that wasn't an option. The trailer wraps when we see Llorona once more, looking terrifying and making you jump.
It's an effective trailer, largely because rather than cutting between one jump scare moment and the next, it gives us an extended sequence and lets the tension build naturally. It shows confidence in the film that if horror fans get a real taste of what the movie really has to offer, the filmmakers believe they will come to see the rest.
According to the plot summary, La Llorona is a woman who drowned her own children in a jealous rage, and now searches the world for new children to replace them. She's an actual character in Mexican folklore, which means many in the audience will already be familiar with her. Putting kids at the center of the terror is likely to only increase the tension for many.
The Curse of La Llorona will be the directing debut of Michael Chaves, but he's already set to direct The Conjuring 3, which shows that the team behind that franchise has serious confidence in him. That team includes James Wan, who is a producer of The Curse of La Llorona, alongside Emile Gladstone and Gary Dauberman, whose horror film credits include co-writing the screenplay to both IT and the upcoming IT Chapter 2 as well as directing the next entry in the Annabelle series.
Thanks to movies like the Conjuring series it feels like horror is going through something of a renaissance. While not every movie, even in that franchise, has been a runaway hit, it's clear that there are some talented filmmakers committed to making quality movies in a genre which is so often overlooked.
While many are gearing up to go heavy into horror right now with Halloween on the horizon, and also Halloween on the horizon, we'll have to make due with only the trailer for The Curse of La Llorona, as the movie itself won't hit until next April.
