The Curse of La Llorona

Perhaps the real-life legend that inspired The Curse of La Llorona was lost in translation.

Any meaningful exploration of Mexican folklore is buried beneath an incoherent parade of horror clichés, leaving this thriller short on actual thrills.

The film spends about five minutes summarizing the source of its title, courtesy of a Catholic priest (Tony Amendola) describing its religious ramifications. As he explains, La Llorona loosely translates to “Weeping Woman,” and is derived from the story of a 17th century woman who drowned her two children to get revenge on her unfaithful husband. So her ghost has been trying for years to abduct two kids to replace them.

Flash forward to 1970s Los Angeles, where Anna (Linda Cardellini) is a widowed social worker responsible for separating two youngsters from their mentally unstable mother (Patricia Velasquez).  But when the children turn up dead after being taken to a city facility, their superstitious mother blames Anna.

So it’s not long before Anna’s two young kids are stalked by ghosts in their own home, causing the family to consult a rogue shaman (Raymond Cruz) in a desperate search for answers.

The film makes a cursory connection to the Annabelle franchise through the aforementioned priest, who plays the same character in both films and makes a reference to that effect. Yet like much of this apparent spinoff, such intricacies are tossed aside in favor of random jump-scares.

Along the way, doors and windows fly open on cue, doors squeak and lights flicker, nighttime thunderstorms fire up conveniently, and specters repetitively jump out of the shadows accompanied by musical shrieks. The characters just act confused, which is the way they’ll be most apt to connect with audiences.

Rookie director Daniel Chaves stages a few effective frights in a film that preys on common fears and paranoia — which transcend language and cultural barriers — regarding maternal instincts and protecting your children at all costs.

However, The Curse of La Llorona fails to capitalize on its premise and to generate consistent suspense, preferring to jolt moviegoers in between the long stretches of dumbed-down dialogue and time-wasting family drama. Little of it makes any sense, regardless of your connection to the target demographic, which is the real curse.

Rated R, 93 minutes.