“The Curse of La Llorona” premiered April 19 in theaters nationwide. The movie features actress Linda Cardellini as the main character. The film is based on an old Mexican folk-tale that takes place in the 16th century. So far, the movie has grossed a total of $42.2 million.

The Curse of La Llorona is a Mexican Folktale that dates back to the 16th century. The folktale revolves around a Mexican woman who found out her fiancé was cheating on her, so she drowned his two children. La Llorona later regretted this decision and waited by the river to drown more kids, in exchange for her ex-fiances.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Going into the movie, I really had no idea what to expect, being this is the first horror movie I have seen. But knowing the basis of most horror movie plots, I guessed that this would be the same, and I was right.

Junior Meghana Acharya commented on the plot of the movie, “I would say that it is your cookie cutter horror movie, the victims always lead themselves into the situation, and always seem to make the least logical decision.”

The movie is based on single mom Anna Garcia who works for Child Protective Services, she gets herself involved in a case where a woman named Patricia claims to have the Curse of La Llorona and her children end up dead. This is allegedly how Garcia gets the curse.

After this happens, the majority of the remaining movie is spent in Garcia’s house. The house is dark and old with a ghost living in it, this adds to the cookie cutter feel of the movie.

“I mean the majority of the movie is spent in a dark, old house with a ghost in it, so its not very original, aside from the story line,” Acharya added.

After Garcia finds out she has the curse, she goes to a spiritual healer, who offers to help Garcia and her children get rid of the curse. Garcia has the healer come over for a night, in order for him to do his job, and predictably it was a storming night. This night probably makes up more than half of the movie. This night included many jump scares from La Llorona, but that was the only part that kept my attention throughout the whole second half of the movie.

Patricia who was investigated by the CPS showed up at Garcia’s house that night, because she was going to kill Garcia and her kids as pay back for the death of her own kids, which she blamed on Anna. Garcia and the spiritual healer, finally convince her to let them go after she hears Garcia’s kids screaming from La Llorona. I was not surprised when the movie ended with everybody getting out of the house safe and Garcia and her kids freed from the curse. The quality of movie was good, but took place in dark places, making it hard to see what is happening

Junior Sophie Mcafee who saw the movie on opening night commented, “I thought that the movie was pretty good, but it didn’t  really have a whole bunch of originality to it, it seemed like every other horror movie to me.”

Lindsey Bahr from the Associated Press wrote, “The legend of La Llorona could inspire a whole universe of films on its own, but not with a kick-off like this.”

“I actually thought that the ending was a good ending, but again it was lacking originality, aside from the back story of La Llorona,” Mcafee added.

“The Curse of La Llorona” was too cookie cutter and lacked originality aside from the backstory or La Llorona. The movie had a lot of jump scares, which kept me paying attention and gripping the edge of my seat. If the movie had less of a cookie cutter feel to it, it would have a lot of potential, but it was too basic for me. This movie is unoriginal and the only somewhat interesting peace of the movie were the classic jumpscares.

La Llorona – Weeping Woman of the Southwest