Curse of La Llorona

Bad acting for the most part except for a few spurts by Antonio Royuela as Hana's uncle. Of course, if you have a terrible script that was seemingly written as the film was rolling without a synopsis to work with, ANY acting is likely to suffer. What I gather from the basic plot of the story is that Hana's relatives have been asked to come and take care of her in order to keep her out of an insane asylum after her family has been murdered. We're never told how they were killed or by whom but we're supposed to assume from the beginning scene wherein a fully nude Hana is seen in a bathtub with her wrist slit that she was the lone survivor of the massacre. I would give away spoilers if I knew what they were. All-in-all, I can only give it a 2 at best. Watch at your own peril.

Is this "good" in the technical sense, not really, and will most people like it, of course not, but for the right type of fan, it's a highly enjoyable watch. A lot of passion and energy went into this project and it shows. Most of the cast is really likable. The stilted dialogue, forced acting, absurd reactions, and inane plot all swirl together into a beautiful campy concoction. Most importantly, it doesn't fail where most bad movies fail: it's not boring. Every scene has several things to enjoy. Ultimately, it wins you over into cheering for this warped vision someone had. Cannot wait to see the other two!!!

First of all, I am into micro-budget horror films. That being said, I rather enjoyed this movie. It definitely isn't scary, so if you're looking for something with a high tension factor, award-winning performances and a slick production, do yourself a favor and look elsewhere. However, if you can enjoy a silly B-movie that tries a little too hard to be serious, therefore making it fun to watch and giggle along with, then I can think of much worse ways to kill an hour. There was some cool lighting and set design (or, rather, the interior painting of the house), a couple of surprising splashes of good performances (especially from the mom), a laughable script spoken with conviction (husband shows wife a partially- eaten brain, and she says, "Dispose of that thing this instant!" Or a police woman in her early twenties, who we meet only once, says to the mother, "Tend well to your family. This house will not accept you now.") and a woman near the same age as the mother and father playing the role of the daughter. This is a fun movie to watch while getting a good buzz on, just don't take it too seriously and don't expect anything miraculous.

4.5/10 stars