The Mexican legend comes to life in the trailer and poster for The Curse of La Llorona. Originally titled The Children before it was retitled back in July, Curse of La Llorona was produced by The Conjuring cinematic universe architects James Wan and Gary Dauberman for Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema. The movie further serves as the feature directorial debut for Michael Chaves, an up and comer who's already impressed his bosses enough here to land the job of directing The Conjuring 3 next year.
Written by relative newcomers Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis, Curse of La Llorona takes place in 1970s Los Angeles, as a social worker (Linda Cardellini) tries to help a mother suspected of child endangerment. When the former ignores the woman's cryptic warning to beware La Llorona, she gradually comes to realize that her own kids are now in danger of being captured by the infamous "Weeping Woman". Additional cast members here include Sean Patrick Thomas (Halloween: Resurrection), Patricia Velasquez (The Mummy Returns), Marisol Ramirez (NCIS: Los Angeles), Raymond Cruz (The Closer) and child actors Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen and Roman Christou, with Emile Gladstone also producing.
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With the Halloween holiday just around the corner and Halloween the film sequel opening in theaters, WB and New Line have decided to tap into the demand for scary entertainment by getting Curse of La Llorona's marketing started this week. You can watch the movie's teaser trailer in the space below, followed by its poster.
It's easy to see why Chaves was hired to direct the next Conjuring film, based on the Curse of La Llorona trailer alone. If one didn't know any better, they might even assume the footage is from a new Conjuring movie, judging by its '70s setting and creepy demonic villain. Moreover, the trailer includes a clip from a set piece (one in which Cardellini's onscreen children are tormented by La Llorona in their car) that builds suspense and delivers jump scares using many of the same techniques that The Conjuring series is now famous for employing.
Still, it remains to be seen how The Curse of La Llorona fares at the box office without actually having the Conjuring brand to fall back on. The movie is also set to arrive in April 2019, which is going to be a competitive month for horror films, between the release of the new Pet Sematary, the Hellboy reboot and Chaves' ghost story. It's probably a good thing that WB and New Line are releasing this creepy teaser online now, in order to get people buzzing about La Llorona well ahead of her closeup on the big screen.
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Source: Warner Bros. Pictures
