This is probably a cheap knockoff movie made to cash in on the sudden popularity of the legend of La Llorana that's come up since the movie "The Curse of La Llorana" came out recently, but I figure that the La Llorana legend is scary, and ghost and possession movies freak me out, so if the movie is even halfway decent, I'll enjoy watching it. I like to live dangerously.
So the legend of La Llorana actually has a long history in Latin folklore. Supposedly, she was a woman abandoned by her husband to raise her kids alone, but instead she drowned them because she was overwhelmed with grief and anger. Now she is cursed to wander the earth weeping until she can find the bodies of her sons. Creepy, right? The legend says if you hear her crying, you should run away, because she is always looking to kidnap children to replace the ones she killed. That's a great way to scare your kids into not staying out too late.
Most movies that utilize this legend really only touch briefly on the details of the legend, and just use the name recognition from the story to promote a generic horror flick that doesn't have much to do with the legend, but this movie at least actually has a connection to the legend, in that it opens with a woman who is trying to find her missing daughter, when she encounters a weeping spirit that messes with her mind. Soon other people in the neighborhood are experiencing ghostly activity, and they have to figure out what's going on and stop it before it kills them.
The ghost effects aren't great, since this movie had a really low budget, but there's some good stuff here, and the music is creepy. There's a connecting thread running throughout the movie of women who feel used, abused, and abandoned, seeking revenge for how they have been treated. There's a local priest who at first seems like a good guy, but who might be hiding some dark secrets. There's a homeless woman named Tiffany who saves the life of a local woman who's being attacked in an alley by a man, and the woman, Cassandra, asks Tiffany to come stay with her while her husband is away driving a truck for a living. it seems that Cassandra's house is haunted, and Tiffany suggests they ask the priest to bless the house and get rid of the ghost.
The acting isn't the best, but I can tell the actors are at least trying. The Priest has the biggest problem with sounding like he's reading his lines, which is really annoying, but I like the two women, so they mostly make up for his shortcomings. The actor who plays the husband is ok. His character is a jerk, but he does a good job playing the jerk. Plus he gets better. So ultimately, with the freaky imagery working and the characters I actually kinda liked, this movie isn't horrible. It's not the best, but it was a fun little ghostly revenge flick.
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