Parents' Guide to The Legend of La Llorona

This cheesy horror tale, which cashes in on a monster made famous in bigger-budget movies, glides confidently into the "so bad, it's good" realm, making ill-advised choices in nearly every capacity. A good place to start is the way The Legend of La Llorona appropriates Mexican culture, not only borrowing the monster, but also focusing on a White family while viewing the Latino characters as either "bad men" or helpful servants or side characters. (The main female character is adopted and may or may not be of Latino descent, but she doesn't speak Spanish and identifies as White.)

Even if viewers choose to overlook that (though why would you?), other issues in The Legend of La Llorona include the subpar performances (with the exception of Trejo; he's still cool). Cupo makes husband Andrew seem especially abrasive and pushy and not exactly the most sympathetic character. Even the performers who can manage to deliver a line can't get around the silly story and poor dialogue and decision-making, especially the fact that young Danny gets taken by La Llorona three times. The low-rent digital effects round things out, from blobby-looking blood to a "menacing" scarf that slithers through the water. La Llorona herself merely cackles and snarls at the camera, recalling little Gage in Pet Sematary and not scary at all.