This is one of the key titles from the classic period of Mexican horror, a period which was low on quantity but surprisingly high on quality. It precedes the two best-known films of the cycle, "Dos Monjes" and "El Fantasma del Convento", and shares some key personnel with them. La Llorona is a figure unique to Mexican folklore -- the wailing spirit of a woman who lost or killed her child and now returns to seek revenge and haunt the living. With its framing story and flashback structure, this film sets forth a couple of variations of the story. It is well-shot overall, with fine sets and shadowy photography (reminiscent at times of early US talkies like "The Bat Whispers"), and the scenes of the Llorona and her agents are often visually (and aurally) striking in their crude way. However, the bulk of the movie tends to be somewhat pedestrian and melodramatic, and it can't compare with the stylistic triumphs of "Monjes" and "Fantasma". As the first of the genre, though, it warrants plenty of admiration and respect. Also fascinating is the mixture of the "pagan" beliefs of the indigenous culture with the Catholic morality and ethics of the bourgeois classes, a contrast which would appear often in Mexican films. A later 1960s telling of the story (with the same title) fashions it more as a Gothic vampire piece, and is one of the finest contributions to the Latin horror revival of the time.
6 Reviews
Interesting Early Cinematic Take on this Lore
Reviews_of_the_Dead11 May 2023
This is a movie that I found when looking for horror films from 1933. I'll be honest, my first introduction to this lore of the La Llorona aka The Crying Woman was thanks to the Conjuring universe. I saw that movie deal with this entity in the theater and realized that this is a staple of Mexican culture. It is a story that I would like to learn more about and it excited me to check this out.
Synopsis: Llorona is a figure unique to Mexican folklore - the wailing spirit of a woman who lost or killed her child and now returns to seek revenge and haunt the living.
We start this off by seeing a stone image. This will come back into play later. There is then a man walking outside. It is close to midnight and when it strikes, he dies. It is thought to be a heart attack while others believe it is the spirit of La Llorona. Dr. Ricardo de Acuna (Ramón Pereda) doesn't believe in the supernatural. He trusts there's a medical reason as to the death of this man.
This is an important day. Ricardo's son Juanito is turning four. Helping to throw the party is Ricardo's wife, Ana Maria (Virginia Zurí). Also here is Ana's father, Don Fernando de Moncada (Paco Martínez). He takes Ricardo aside to tell him the story of the de Acuna family and their curse. We then go into a flashback to learn of what happened.
In the past, Pereda portrays his ancestor who is the captain of the guard, Diego de Acuna. He is in love with a woman by the name of Ana Xiconténcatl (Adriana Lamar). She has the illegitimate child to the local royalty, Marqués del Valle (Alberto Martí). There is an issue here that he cannot recognize her child as it will upset his family. Diego doesn't like this and calls him out at church where the Marqués is getting married. This creates issues that lead to Ana killing her son.
Ricardo finds the story interesting, but he doesn't believe that it affects anything. We see there is a hooded figure in the house, trying to kill Juanito. This person is referred to as La Malinche. Ricardo needs to figure out what is going on before it is too late. Whomever this hooded figure is, might not be working on their own freewill. The spirit of La Llorona might be involved.
That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that this is different than I was expecting. What I appreciate here is that this establishes the lore and a couple possible ways this ghost story/lore started. What I've heard is that this woman was upset for being left, which is in line with Ana and her son not being recognized by Marqués del Valle. She then drowned her children. Those that encounter her, hear her crying. Some of that is here. There is a creepy cry that comes from the ghostly apparition. We see and hear it a couple times. I liked that. It made it spooky.
I do need to shift to a negative here, we don't get a lot of it. This movie decides to ground what we are getting. I don't mind what the reveal is. What works there is that whoever is behind it is not able to control themselves. It is a bit of a possession film there. What I would have preferred though was more of a ghost story. We can keep in what we get but give me more haunting. I understand that this is a 'me problem'. I'm projecting what I want as opposed to what we get.
What did work though was the history we get. A variation on the how La Llorona became the figure that she is was good to me. I even like that we then get another aspect of what she came after another of the de Acuna ancestors. What is interesting about what is given is that Ricardo is both correct and wrong. That was a good route to go.
Where I'll then go would be the acting. I thought that Pereda did a good job in dual roles as Ricardo and his ancestor of Diego. We are in the early cinema days so he doesn't do a lot, but it still worked. Zurí was good as this protective mother. The same could be said for Lamar, but what she does is crazy. It fits though for the lore. Martí was also solid in his double roles. I didn't pick up on the fact that he was also Rodrigo de Cortés. It makes more sense now. Other than that, I'd say that Carlos Orellana, Esperanza del Real, Martínez and the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed.
All that is left then to go into would be with filmmaking. The best part of this is the soundtrack and design. The crying sound for La Llorona is eerie. It is mostly synced up with a song that starts heavy with drums before going to an eerie tune. That was effective for me. The cinematography is solid. It is early cinema again so they don't do much to stand out. As for the effects, we don't get a lot and that is again when this came out. I did like the ghostly effect of La Llorona. If there is a gripe, I wanted more of that.
In conclusion, this is a solid film. I don't know if it is necessarily what I wanted. I acknowledge that it isn't fair to judge the movie that way. What this does well is establishing the history of the La Llorona lore. I don't know enough to know how close it is. The acting though is solid. The soundtrack and design are good. No issues with the effects aside from just wanting more. I watched this on YouTube. The subtitles weren't synced up well so that threw me off. I think if you're into early cinema or want to learn more about this lore, this is a decent enough watch.
My Rating: 7 out of 10.
Synopsis: Llorona is a figure unique to Mexican folklore - the wailing spirit of a woman who lost or killed her child and now returns to seek revenge and haunt the living.
We start this off by seeing a stone image. This will come back into play later. There is then a man walking outside. It is close to midnight and when it strikes, he dies. It is thought to be a heart attack while others believe it is the spirit of La Llorona. Dr. Ricardo de Acuna (Ramón Pereda) doesn't believe in the supernatural. He trusts there's a medical reason as to the death of this man.
This is an important day. Ricardo's son Juanito is turning four. Helping to throw the party is Ricardo's wife, Ana Maria (Virginia Zurí). Also here is Ana's father, Don Fernando de Moncada (Paco Martínez). He takes Ricardo aside to tell him the story of the de Acuna family and their curse. We then go into a flashback to learn of what happened.
In the past, Pereda portrays his ancestor who is the captain of the guard, Diego de Acuna. He is in love with a woman by the name of Ana Xiconténcatl (Adriana Lamar). She has the illegitimate child to the local royalty, Marqués del Valle (Alberto Martí). There is an issue here that he cannot recognize her child as it will upset his family. Diego doesn't like this and calls him out at church where the Marqués is getting married. This creates issues that lead to Ana killing her son.
Ricardo finds the story interesting, but he doesn't believe that it affects anything. We see there is a hooded figure in the house, trying to kill Juanito. This person is referred to as La Malinche. Ricardo needs to figure out what is going on before it is too late. Whomever this hooded figure is, might not be working on their own freewill. The spirit of La Llorona might be involved.
That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that this is different than I was expecting. What I appreciate here is that this establishes the lore and a couple possible ways this ghost story/lore started. What I've heard is that this woman was upset for being left, which is in line with Ana and her son not being recognized by Marqués del Valle. She then drowned her children. Those that encounter her, hear her crying. Some of that is here. There is a creepy cry that comes from the ghostly apparition. We see and hear it a couple times. I liked that. It made it spooky.
I do need to shift to a negative here, we don't get a lot of it. This movie decides to ground what we are getting. I don't mind what the reveal is. What works there is that whoever is behind it is not able to control themselves. It is a bit of a possession film there. What I would have preferred though was more of a ghost story. We can keep in what we get but give me more haunting. I understand that this is a 'me problem'. I'm projecting what I want as opposed to what we get.
What did work though was the history we get. A variation on the how La Llorona became the figure that she is was good to me. I even like that we then get another aspect of what she came after another of the de Acuna ancestors. What is interesting about what is given is that Ricardo is both correct and wrong. That was a good route to go.
Where I'll then go would be the acting. I thought that Pereda did a good job in dual roles as Ricardo and his ancestor of Diego. We are in the early cinema days so he doesn't do a lot, but it still worked. Zurí was good as this protective mother. The same could be said for Lamar, but what she does is crazy. It fits though for the lore. Martí was also solid in his double roles. I didn't pick up on the fact that he was also Rodrigo de Cortés. It makes more sense now. Other than that, I'd say that Carlos Orellana, Esperanza del Real, Martínez and the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed.
All that is left then to go into would be with filmmaking. The best part of this is the soundtrack and design. The crying sound for La Llorona is eerie. It is mostly synced up with a song that starts heavy with drums before going to an eerie tune. That was effective for me. The cinematography is solid. It is early cinema again so they don't do much to stand out. As for the effects, we don't get a lot and that is again when this came out. I did like the ghostly effect of La Llorona. If there is a gripe, I wanted more of that.
In conclusion, this is a solid film. I don't know if it is necessarily what I wanted. I acknowledge that it isn't fair to judge the movie that way. What this does well is establishing the history of the La Llorona lore. I don't know enough to know how close it is. The acting though is solid. The soundtrack and design are good. No issues with the effects aside from just wanting more. I watched this on YouTube. The subtitles weren't synced up well so that threw me off. I think if you're into early cinema or want to learn more about this lore, this is a decent enough watch.
My Rating: 7 out of 10.
An early Mexican ghost movie.
BA_Harrison15 September 2022
The Hispanic-American legend of 'la llorona', the vengeful, wailing ghost of a woman who commits suicide after losing her child, has been fairly popular as of late, featuring in a spate of horror films such as The Legend of La Llorona (2011), The Haunting of La Llorona (2019), The La Llorona Curse (2019), La llorona (2019) , The Curse of La Llorona (2020), and La Llorona (2022).
This 1933 Mexican movie was the first time the ghost was featured on film. It sees a family under a terrible centuries old curse, their children doomed to be stabbed to death when they reach the age of four. The curse relates to the legend of La Llorona (The Crying Woman), and in two flashbacks, we are shown the origins of two 'Lloronas', the first a woman rejected by her lover, who kills her son and herself, and the second an Indian woman whose son is taken by the conquistadors, driving her to take her own life.
Unfortunately, the majority of the movie consists of dull melodrama, with very little in the way of style or supernatural happenings, making it a disappointing effort overall. Things pick up a touch towards the end of the film, as a sinister figure in a hooded robe kidnaps four-year-old Juanito, taking him into a secret room with the intention of killing him, thus fulfilling a vow sworn by their ancestor, but it doesn't make up for all of the dreary, slow-moving scenes that come before.
3.5/10 rounded up to 4 for IMDb.
This 1933 Mexican movie was the first time the ghost was featured on film. It sees a family under a terrible centuries old curse, their children doomed to be stabbed to death when they reach the age of four. The curse relates to the legend of La Llorona (The Crying Woman), and in two flashbacks, we are shown the origins of two 'Lloronas', the first a woman rejected by her lover, who kills her son and herself, and the second an Indian woman whose son is taken by the conquistadors, driving her to take her own life.
Unfortunately, the majority of the movie consists of dull melodrama, with very little in the way of style or supernatural happenings, making it a disappointing effort overall. Things pick up a touch towards the end of the film, as a sinister figure in a hooded robe kidnaps four-year-old Juanito, taking him into a secret room with the intention of killing him, thus fulfilling a vow sworn by their ancestor, but it doesn't make up for all of the dreary, slow-moving scenes that come before.
3.5/10 rounded up to 4 for IMDb.
A Crying Shame
richardchatten7 November 2022
Described on screen as "A Modern-Day Version of the Popular Legend", sadly this is one of those films that looks far more promising on paper than it is to actually watch.
For obvious reasons it wasn't until the introduction of sound before the story could be done justice on the screen. Mexico's answer to the banshee has perennially provided material for the cinema right up to the present day, and the character of Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter novels probably continues the tradition.
Bookended by two remarkably graphic scenes depicting corpses with their eyes open, unfortunately nearly half the film is devoted to swordplay rather than the phantom, which doesn't actually appear until the film has already been on for nearly forty minutes - almost half it's running time - and then gets lost in a welter of plots including a sinister hooded figure, the identity of whom when finally revealed admittedly really proves something!
For obvious reasons it wasn't until the introduction of sound before the story could be done justice on the screen. Mexico's answer to the banshee has perennially provided material for the cinema right up to the present day, and the character of Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter novels probably continues the tradition.
Bookended by two remarkably graphic scenes depicting corpses with their eyes open, unfortunately nearly half the film is devoted to swordplay rather than the phantom, which doesn't actually appear until the film has already been on for nearly forty minutes - almost half it's running time - and then gets lost in a welter of plots including a sinister hooded figure, the identity of whom when finally revealed admittedly really proves something!
unanswered questions
leftyguns28 July 2004
In the series Leyendas Coloniales/de Mexico La Llorona is one Luisa Marquesa Del Llano, who bore childs, one boy one girl to one Nuño De Montesclaros. He tried to take the children with an order from the viceroy of New Spain(now Mexico) instead of turning them over she stabbed (not drown) them. My question is those involved were members of the nobility, early Spanish settler. Hasn't anyone tried to search for records (since they were nobles some mention of them should be available in Spanish archives) to at least verify whether these people existed. Also she was hanged for her crime, there should be records of her trial and execution.
Early Mexican horror
BandSAboutMovies6 July 2020
Warning: Spoilers
The first Mexican horror film, this movie is all about the legend of "The Crying Woman." There's been a film made about this story every few years and few of them are good. This one at least has some interesting atmosphere and is historically important.
Maria is a woman who has two children and is quite poor, but finds a wealthy man to marry. However, he cares more about the kids than her, so in a jealous rage she drowns them both and kills herself. Now, she's trapped between life and death, unable to ever stop crying. She can never move to the next plane of existence until she finds her sons.
The film also relates other tales of women who took the lives of their children, all reduced to being crying women as well. Obviously, this movie is very influenced by Universal's horror movies, yet it isn't the same level of quality. That said, it's still worth a view.
Maria is a woman who has two children and is quite poor, but finds a wealthy man to marry. However, he cares more about the kids than her, so in a jealous rage she drowns them both and kills herself. Now, she's trapped between life and death, unable to ever stop crying. She can never move to the next plane of existence until she finds her sons.
The film also relates other tales of women who took the lives of their children, all reduced to being crying women as well. Obviously, this movie is very influenced by Universal's horror movies, yet it isn't the same level of quality. That said, it's still worth a view.
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