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"The weakest link in The Conjuring universe."
While The Curse of La Llorona has some promising ingredients, including a compelling ghost myth, a good cast, and atmospheric touches, many feel it fails to deliver in terms of originality, emotional impact, and sustained horror. The consensus among negative reviews is that it falls into familiar horror tropes without bringing enough new or meaningful material to the table.
Set in 1970s Los Angeles, the film follows social worker Anna Tate-Garcia, who becomes entangled in the legend of La Llorona, a ghostly figure from Mexican folklore said to have drowned her children and now cursed to roam the earth, searching for others to claim. After investigating a troubling case, Anna's own children become targeted by the vengeful spirit.
As the haunting intensifies, she seeks help from a priest and eventually turns to a curandero (a folk healer) for protection. Much of the movie centers on La Llorona's attempts to claim Anna's children, with the family fighting to survive the night against her supernatural attacks.
The film is part of the broader Conjuring franchise in name. Still, the story itself is largely self-contained, focusing more on the terrifying presence of La Llorona and the family's struggle to escape her curse.
The folklore of La Llorona ("The Weeping Woman") is one of the most famous and haunting legends in Latin American culture, especially in Mexico and the American Southwest.
At its core, the story is about a woman who, in a moment of despair, drowns her children, sometimes out of jealousy, betrayal, or rage after being abandoned by her lover or husband. Almost immediately after, she regrets what she has done and is overcome with grief. Unable to undo her actions, she drowns herself as well. When she reaches the afterlife, she is denied peace and condemned to wander the earth eternally, searching for her lost children.
La Llorona is often described as a ghostly figure dressed in white, with long black hair, heard wailing with the chilling cry: "¡Ay, mis hijos!" ("Oh, my children!"). Her presence is said to be a bad omen, and in many variations of the tale, she kidnaps or harms children, mistaking them for her own.
The legend serves several cultural and social purposes. It has been used as a cautionary tale to encourage children to behave and stay away from rivers or dangerous places at night. On a deeper level, scholars interpret La Llorona as a symbol of loss, guilt, and maternal grief. In contrast, others connect her story to colonial history and the blending of Indigenous and Spanish folklore.
The details of her origin and motives vary depending on the region. Still, the core elements—the drowned children, her endless mourning, and her terrifying cries—make La Llorona a powerful and enduring figure in storytelling.
Many reviewers noted that The Curse of La Llorona relies too much on jump scares, which come off as predictable and lacking in creativity. Instead of cultivating suspense or a gripping atmosphere, the film frequently resorts to sudden loud noises, leading critics to argue that it diminishes the overall experience, making it feel cheap rather than genuinely terrifying.
Another common criticism centered on the film's weak narrative. The plot has been called bland, overly familiar, and packed with clichés that lend it a patchwork quality, reminiscent of other horror films. In addition, the dialogue was often perceived as bland or unconvincing, leaving the storyline lacking originality and impact.
The characters did not escape scrutiny either. Critics pointed out that they appeared one-dimensional, with minimal development, and their choices often seemed unrealistic or illogical. While Linda Cardellini's -the main character's - performance earned praise, many felt the script didn't provide her or the other actors enough material to work with, limiting their potential to enhance the story.
Some viewers were also disappointed by how the film approached its folklore roots. The legend of La Llorona carries significant cultural weight, but the movie barely taps into that depth. Instead, it uses the name and basic premise as a backdrop for a more generic horror approach, leaving many fans of the original tale feeling it was a missed opportunity.
Additionally, the film struggled with pacing issues. Multiple critics noted that some sections dragged and failed to build meaningful tension. Scenes meant to create suspense often felt repetitive or flat, diminishing their scare factor. This pacing challenge contributed to an overall predictability, as the plot twists and scare tactics frequently adhered to familiar formulas, offering no genuine surprises.
The Curse of La Llorona is loosely tied into The Conjuring Universe, though the connection is relatively minimal. The main link comes through the character Father Perez, a priest who first appeared in Annabelle (2014). In Annabelle, he helps the couple dealing with the haunted doll, and in The Curse of La Llorona, he appears again, briefly mentioning his experience with the doll.
This cameo serves as a bridge, placing The Curse of La Llorona within the broader timeline of the Conjuring films. However, unlike The Conjuring, Annabelle, or The Nun, the movie doesn't directly involve Ed and Lorraine Warren or any of the core artifacts from their cases. Because of this, some fans debate whether it feels like a genuine part of the Conjuring Universe or more of a spin-off that happens to share one connective character.
Although marketed as part of the Conjuring Universe, The Curse of La Llorona feels more like a stand-alone film that was awkwardly tethered to the franchise. The supposed connection comes only through Father Perez, a priest who briefly mentions his past encounter with the Annabelle doll. This cameo is the film's only real tie to the established Conjuring lore, and it plays more like a throwaway Easter egg than a meaningful link.
Unlike other spin-offs, such as The Nun or Annabelle, which expand on artifacts or figures directly tied to Ed and Lorraine Warren, La Llorona has no roots in the Warrens' cases, the haunted museum, or the central mythology. The story is instead built around Mexican folklore, and the Conjuring connection is so minimal that it could be cut entirely without changing the film.
This weak attempt at tying the two worlds together comes across as forced and even distracting. Rather than enriching the film, it highlights how little the movie has to do with the rest of the franchise. In effect, the "connection" feels like a marketing tactic rather than a genuine expansion of the Conjuring Universe.
The bathtub scene in The Curse of La Llorona is often pointed to as the film's standout moment, and for good reason. Unlike much of the movie, which leans heavily on predictable jump scares, this sequence builds genuine tension through atmosphere, framing, and pacing. The quiet vulnerability of a child in a bathtub, surrounded by water taps directly into the folklore's themes while also playing on a universal fear: danger invading the safety of the home.
What makes the scene effective is how it balances stillness with sudden terror. The sound design is carefully used to heighten the dread, with dripping water and muffled echoes creating a sense of unease even before the ghost appears. When La Llorona finally manifests, the payoff feels stronger than many of the film's other scares because it has been patiently constructed, and the danger feels more immediate and intimate.
This moment illustrates what the movie could have been if it had leaned more into slow-burn suspense and creative staging, rather than relying on quick jolts. The bathtub scene captures the haunting presence of La Llorona in a way that respects both the legend and the horror genre, making it memorable even in an otherwise uneven film.
Overall, I would not recommend The Curse of La Llorona because it doesn't live up to the potential of its source material or its connection to the Conjuring universe. The film relies too heavily on predictable jump scares instead of building lasting suspense, making the horror feel shallow and repetitive. The story is generic and filled with clichés, with thinly developed characters who are difficult to invest in.
What's most disappointing is how little the movie does with the rich folklore of La Llorona. Rather than exploring the cultural depth of the legend, it reduces her to a standard horror villain, which makes the film feel like a missed opportunity. Even its attempt to tie into the Conjuring universe is weak — limited to a single character cameo that feels more like a marketing ploy than a meaningful connection.
While there are a few effective moments, such as the bathtub scene, they aren't enough to outweigh the film's flaws. In the end, The Curse of La Llorona comes across as forgettable and underwhelming, and there are many stronger horror films to spend time on.
warning - spoilers
warning - spoilers
The ending of The Curse of La Llorona is widely regarded as one of its weakest points, as it relies on tired horror conventions rather than delivering a satisfying payoff. After spending much of the film building up La Llorona as an unstoppable, terrifying presence, the final confrontation resolves far too neatly. The family fends her off with the help of a curandero using a sacred cross and some improvised tactics, and the spirit is dispatched in a predictable, almost anticlimactic fashion.
This conclusion seems unearned for several reasons. First, it reduces La Llorona, a figure rooted in centuries of folklore and grief, to just another generic monster who can be defeated with a simple trick. The emotional weight of her legend is lost, replaced by a shallow, “boss battle” style showdown. Second, the film hints throughout at deeper themes of loss, trauma, and cultural tradition. Still, the ending sidesteps those possibilities for a quick resolution, resetting the family back to everyday life. Instead of lingering dread, the audience is left with a sense of emptiness.
On top of that, the film closes with a cliché “is she really gone?” moment, which only highlights how formulaic the storytelling is. Rather than leaving viewers haunted, the ending feels rushed, unimaginative, and disconnected from the legend’s tragic power.
The Curse of La Llorona. Directed by Michael Chaves, starring Linda Cardellini, Raymond Cruz, Patricia Velásquez, and Marisol Ramirez, New Line Cinema, 2019.
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