The Curse of La Llorona

Michael Chaves's 2019 debut, a Conjuring Universe story of the weeping woman in 1973 Los Angeles.

The Curse of La Llorona, also released as The Curse of the Weeping Woman, is a 2019 American supernatural horror film, the feature directing debut of Michael Chaves, written by Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis. Drawn from the Latin American folklore of La Llorona, it stars Linda Cardellini, Raymond Cruz and Patricia Velásquez and follows a mother in 1973 Los Angeles trying to save her children from a spirit that wants to take them.

James Wan produced it through Atomic Monster; it is not counted as an instalment of the franchise but takes place within The Conjuring Universe.

Quick Facts

Director

Michael Chaves

Producer

James Wan
Gary Dauberman
Emile Gladstone

Writer

Mikki Daughtry; Tobias Iaconis

Starring

Linda Cardellini
Raymond Cruz
Patricia Velásquez

Music

Joseph Bishara

Cinematography

Michael Burgess

Editing

Peter Gvozdas

Studio

New Line Cinema
Atomic Monster
Emile Gladstone Productions

Facts from the source article.

Background

A prologue in 1673 Spanish Mexico shows a mother drowning her sons. Three centuries later the widowed caseworker Anna checks on Patricia Alvarez's two boys, finds them locked in a room and takes them to a shelter, where they are found drowned in a river. Patricia screams that it was Anna's fault and names the force La Llorona.

The weeping woman burns the wrists of Anna's children Chris and Sam and tries to drown Sam in the bath. Father Perez, recalling his experience with a haunted porcelain doll, sends Anna to the former priest turned curandero Rafael Olvera, and Patricia admits she prayed to La Llorona to take Anna's children in place of her own.

The film premiered at South by Southwest on March 15, 2019, and opened on April 19. Reviews were mostly unfavourable, but it grossed $123.1 million worldwide against a $9 million budget.