Synopsis, Review, and Analysis of “Her Cry: La Llorona Investigation”

I selected this film to watch and review because Dr. Perez recommended it as an option for a recent interpretation of la llorona in a film, and also because I enjoy horror movies, so I thought that this film would be a good selection for satisfying both the project and my intrigue at the same time.

The film “Her Cry” is centered around a group of paranormal investigators that receive a supposed letter from the father of a father who is seeking assistance with his daughter, who, according to the letter, is possessed. The film commences with a woman, Tina, following orders in envelopes left by her sorority with instructions of how to join them. She ends up being led to the woods where she has to say “ Maria, quiero ayudar a encontrar tus ninos,” which she then hears a woman crying, and then into a house where she hears a woman again and is then attacked by the a woman in white and apparently killed. The team of three sent to investigate the daughter’s being three years later, consisting of James (lead investigator), Brian (producer and cameraman) and Andrea (new member) arrive at a house where Tina has supposedly been locked away for three years by her father.  The three of them are curious to see if Tina really is still in the room so they open the door to check and she shuts it closed really hard and fast. They begin to wonder what exactly is going on in the house so they do perimeter checks while Andrea sleeps on the couch. A shadowed figure appears next to Andrea, the lights go out, and Andrea is carried to the room somehow, only to awaken in hysterical screams. James contacts Father Albert, a priest who had assisted in a prior case, to come and discuss the matters occurring in the home. Father Albert tells the three investigators that they’ve stumbled onto something very dangerous and that they should leave. Father Albert says that the house, and all the surrounding land, is a well-documented witch sanctuary. He goes on to explain that Tina’s father brought Tina’s body back to the house to try and resurrect her, and that he had died several months earlier, about around the time he sent the letter to James.  The witches gather and give a sacrifice to la llorona. Then, out of nowhere, the father begins to attempt exorcizing Andrea and she begins freaking out and screaming, and that shocks Brian and James so they throw the father out of the house. According to my understanding, the witches gather to pray to la llorona and protect her, while also giving her sacrifices, which is why the sorority sister sent Tina there (the sorority sister was a witch). Brian (the producer) decides to walk outside to get some air and runs into Andrea, but at the same time inside the house, a ghostly fake Andrea is teasing and leading James on to have sex. When Andrea and Brian walk in the room, James is confused as to how she had been outside the whole time and questions the things the house is doing to his mind. The investigators decide to de a séance to help assess the situation and conclusively determine that there is no llorona present and that it is just a big hoax. After completing the séance, something happens to Andrea and she begins attacking both Brian and James, to which they run outside and begin running towards the creek. When they arrive at the creek, James tells Brian that la llorona needs a sacrifice and so he kills Brian. James then begins to push the body in to the river as a sacrifice for la llorona so he could catch her on film and receive glory for his footage, but then something pulls James into the river and kills him. The final scene shows the woman in white say “mis hijos” and grabs Brian’s body and drags it with her into the river.

This film was definitely an interesting take on la llorona, especially because they decided to incorporate religious affiliations like exorcisms, and also witchcraft, with an already supernatural and gothic story. One thing that was extremely bad, however, was the acting. Even for a found footage film, the acting was terribly unbelievable and bland. Every line was a pain. I think the acting was scarier to watch than the actual content dealing with La llorona. This is obviously a modern look on a story that has been told countless times in multiple languages and regions. I do believe that the movie focused too heavily on what was happening with Tina in the house far too much in comparison to actually talking about la llorona, which is ironic considering the movie is entitled “La Llorona investigation.” Furthermore, the woman in white only appeared maybe six or seven times, which was enough to notice it was la llorona, but not enough to actually portray her as the center of what was occurring. Overall, it ended up feeling like another typical found footage exorcism film. I will give credit to the cinematographer for having good camera angles and setups, because that did help convey a more gothic and supernatural tone. I believe that it was an ideal choice to make a version of la llorona into a found footage film because it adds a bit of realism to the tale. Had the film been a typically shot film, it would have felt fake to begin with, but since most Hispanic people can recount at one time or another of people telling them they say a woman in white or heard her calling, shooting it in this format makes it seem like something more plausible (though of course still false). I definitely thought back on the times my uncles or aunts from Mexico have told me about certain experiences with hearing a woman crying down by a river, and watching this film, being found footage, definitely intrigued me more.

To conclude, I would recommend this film only to people that are curious to see a different take on the story of la llorona, but I do warn that the acting is extremely bad and that if you can get past that, and the at times complex set up of the plot, then it could be a somewhat bearable and even mildly entertaining film.