THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA (2019) review // Movies & Makeup #2

Hey!

Today we’re taking a look at The Curse of La Llorona, an infamous horror movie that could’ve been much better if they changed up some parts of the plot. For this post I created a look that was inspired by the ghost of the film, and you can read all the details on how to recreate it below the review!

IMPORTANT! This review contains a rendition of the plot and lots of spoilers. There are mentions of murder, suicide, and child abuse, so read this post at your own risk.

The Curse of La Llorona

Horror, Thriller // 2019 // 1 h 34 min

The Curse of La Llorona was directed by Michael Chaves and produced by James Wan, among a whole lotta other people. The movie is part of The Conjuring universe, and was inspired by the traditional Mexican folk tale of La Llorona, a spirit of a weeping woman who’s responsible for kidnapping and drowning small children. The objective of the protagonist, a social worker named Anna (played by Linda Cardellini), is to protect her family from the vengeful spirit, but you can read all about that below, in the plot description part.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/

via Warner Bros. Pictures on YouTube

Plot description: SPOILERS AHEAD! 

The movie is set in 1970s where a caseworker called Anna investigates a potential child abuse case. The mother of the family in question reveals that she’s trying to protect her sons from La Llorona. Stuff happens, and La Llorona gets to her boys.

Anna is called to the scene and, being a single mother, she brings along both of her kids as they can’t be left alone. While she does some investigating, her son has a run-in with La Llorona that leaves him with a burn on his arm. Soon enough, her daughter also meets the ghost and receives the same marks.

Anna learns why her kids have strange burns after she herself meets La Llorona. Terrified for her children’s lives, Anna reaches out to the local priest who refers her to a certain folk shaman called Rafael. Rafael agrees to help.

The ex-priest successfully banishes La Llorona from the house, but their plans get derailed. A boss battle between the family and La Llorona rakes place soon after that, and in usual horror movie fashion, everything ends relatively well. (Besides the pychological trauma everyone would have from being haunted by a ghost.)

End of description.

To me, the idea behind The Curse of La Llorona seemed more interesting than the movie itself.

The character writing was fine enough and the movie looked nice, but there weren’t enough references to the cultures the story comes from. It would have made more sense if the movie happened in Central or South America, as that’s where the legend originates from.

Can we talk about the La Llorona’s appearance? Because it’s really bad.

The actress is gorgeous and played her part well, but the clothes and makeup they put on her were not good. It seems like they found the dress at a Halloween costume store, or a thrift shop that only sells ultra cheap wedding dresses from the 1980s, and the makeup was cartoonish at best. I believe they could’ve done more to make her truly terrifying, and 

Would I recommend watching The Curse of La Llorona?

Truth be told, not really. This movie isn’t particularly interesting, educational, funny, or scary, and the story feels a bit predictable. I honestly believe the only people who will get spooked by this movie get scared watching Scooby Doo!

Another reason why I believe it’s not a good movie is the lack of cultural representation. In my opinion, if you are to use a character from Central and South American folk tales, you should ensure that these cultures are well researched and represented through appropriate actors, clothing, set design, and other movie-making aspects. For me, The Curse of La Llorona feels like any other ghost movie, and it pains me to think of the awesome film we could’ve had instead.

ghostly Halloween look

The ghost of La Llorona in this movie looked rather goofy, as if they spent only 50 bucks on the SFX makeup budget. She looked scariest at the end of the movie during the mirror scene, and that’s the look I was inspired by today.

Products used:

• L.A. Girl Pro Coverage HD liquid foundation in White
• Revolution Pro Fix Amazing Makeup Fixing Spray
• E.L.F. 100 Piece Marble Eyeshadow palette
• random black pencil liner
• Rival Loves Me Volume Wonder mascara in Black

♥ face makeup ♥

1. Use a dry sponge, spray one side of it with a setting spray, and use it to blend white foundation all over you face, eyes, and lips. Layer the product on as needed, and don’t worry if it doesn’t look too even; we are going for a corpse-like ghost look so any cracks, lines, and unevenness will only add to it. (If you have deep skin, I suggest using a foundation or concealer that’s 1-3 shades lighter and has a more ashy undertone than your normal makeup.)

2. Mix grey with a bit of warm brown eyeshadow, and use the concoction to contour your cheeks and temples with a fluffy eyeshadow blending brush. If you don’t know how to make your face look gaunt, check out some skull makeup tutorials online!

3. Take a thin and slanted brush, dip it into a dark grey eyeshadow, and create lines wherever you want them to be. A good tip is to scrunch up your face and use the natural lines to see where you should draw the fake ones. Draw the lines depending on the look you’re going for; I chose to look old and angry, but you can also make yourself appear scared or sad.

4. Create shadows around your nose, mouth, and eyes using grey eyeshadows and two types of blending brushes, a fluffy one and a dense one. Contour your nose, too, if you want to look extra angular. At this point you can also use the same foundation and sponge to add highlights, or to blend the makeup on any parts of your face that you think should be toned down. If you are not going to wear a mask, apply black lipstick/eyeshadow on your lips to look extra spooky!

♥ eyeshadow lewk ♥

1. Fill in your eyebrows with a dark grey eyeshadow, creating a shape that will make you look angry. Use black mascara as brow gel to give your brows some definition.

2. Create a black smoky eye by dipping a small, dense blending brush in dark brown and black eyeshadows and applying the concoction in the creases of your eyes. Put the same stuff all over your upper and lower lids, too. Blend the edges using a fluffy blending brush and don’t worry if you go too far in either direction; after all, we are trying to look like ghouls!

3. Apply streaks of tears using a thin, slanted eyeliner brush that’s been dipped in black eyeshadow. Think where the tears would go if you were crying and start the lines from the middle and outer parts of your eyes. Apply the streaks as far down your cheeks and/or neck as you wish, though make sure they get thinner towards the bottom. If necessary, apply a bit of dark grey eyeshadow at the starting points of your “tears” to make them look more natural.

4. Apply a coat of mascara on both top and bottom lashes, and put black pencil liner on the waterline. Gently tap the mascara brush against your skin at the start of the eyeshadow streaks to create an illusion that your mascara has crumbled down your cheeks from crying too much.

#QOTD: Do you like films that are part of The Conjuring universe? Will you be participating in any Halloween parties? My country is back in strict lockdown until at least January, so I doubt any physical parties will be happening anywhere, but this look could be fun for virtual parties, too!

Until later,

xoCaligo

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This is not a sponsored post; all opinions are my own. I am not being paid to promote anything. I do not own any rights to the video, all rights to it belong to the video’s legal owner/creator. If you are the legal copyright owner and want the video removed, contact me at xocaligo@gmail.com.