DVD Movie Guide @ dvdmg.com
.
Review Archive:  # | A-C | D-F | G-I | J-L | M-O | P-R | S-U | V-Z | Viewer Ratings | Main
WARNER

MOVIE INFO

Director:
Michael Chaves
Cast:
Linda Cardellini, Raymond Cruz, Patricia Velasquez
Writing Credits:
Mikki Daughtry, Tobias Iaconis

Synopsis:
Ignoring the eerie warning of a troubled mother suspected of child endangerment, a social worker and her own small kids are soon drawn into a frightening supernatural realm.

Box Office:
Budget:
$9 million.
Opening Weekend
$26,347,631 on 3372 screens.
Domestic Gross
$54,733,739.

MPAA:
Rated PG.

DISC DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Audio:
English Dolby Atmos
English Dolby 5.1
English Descriptive Audio
French Dolby 5.1
Latin Spanish Dolby 5.1
Portuguese Dolby 5.1
Subtitles:
English
Latin Spanish
French
Portuguese
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
English
French
Latin Spanish
Portuguese

Runtime: 93 min.
Price: $35.99
Release Date: 8/6/2019

Bonus:
• ”The Myth of La Llorna” Featurette
• ”Behind the Curse” Featurette
• ”The Making of a Movie Monster” Featurette
• Deleted Scenes
• Storyboards
• Previews
• DVD Copy


PURCHASE @ AMAZON.COM

EQUIPMENT
-LG OLED65C6P 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart OLED TV
-Marantz SR7010 9.2 Channel Full 4K Ultra HD AV Surround Receiver
-Panasonic DMP-BD60K Blu-Ray Player
-Chane A2.4 Speakers
-SVS SB12-NSD 12" 400-watt Sealed Box Subwoofer


RELATED REVIEWS


The Curse of La Llorona [Blu-Ray] (2019)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (August 19, 2019)

A spinoff from the Conjuring series of films, 2019’s The Curse of La Llorna takes its core from Latin American folklore. In that culture, “La Llorona” was a woman who killed her children and then was forced wander the Earth in ghostly form until she finds them, with mayhem provoked along the way.

In 1973, social worker Anna Tate-Garcia lives with her kids Chris (Roman Christou) and Samantha (Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen). At work, she works with Patricia Alvarez (Patricia Velásquez), a mother suspected of child endangerment.

Patricia blames La Llorona for her actions and warns Anna of this potential threat. Initially Anna scoffs at these supernatural claims, but she soon encounters the menace, as La Llorona comes after her own kids.

Six movies into the “Conjuring Universe”, I must admit I’ve yet to meet one I really liked. Why do I keep watching? Glass half-full version says I remain optimistic one will break through, glass half-empty says I’m a glutton for punishment.

Or maybe I’m just desperate for content to fill this site. Anyway you look at it, I continue to check out these films, and I continue to hope one will eventually click with me.

My wait persists. Despite the presence of the ever-charming Cardellini, Curse fails to do anything to separate itself from its horror brethren.

Heck, if you took a drink every time you spied an obvious influence/inspiration here, you’d get toasted in short order. It’s less that Curse wears these on its sleeve and more that it lacks a smidgen of creativity.

Some horror movies overcome their copycat nature and still deliver the scary goods, but Curse just seems tedious. We can view the potential creepy or frightening moments miles in advance, and they feel recycled and stale.

Even Cardellini fails to do much with the material. So engaging in better movies, she finds herself stuck in a whiny, dull part here, and she can’t add life to the proceedings.

With a miniscule $9 million budget, Curse turned a sizable profit, but I can’t figure out what audiences see in it. The movie becomes just another trite, cliché entry in the genre, one that lacks personality or terror.

Trivia footnote: at one point, Anna’s kids watch the Scooby-Doo cartoons on TV. I assume this acts as a nod toward Cardellini’s appearance in those live-action films.


The Disc Grades: Picture B+/ Audio B+/ Bonus C

The Curse of La Llorona appears in an aspect ratio of 2.40:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. As expected, the movie presented appealing visuals.

Across the board, definition seemed good. Only a few hints of softness appeared, so the film usually appeared accurate and concise.

Jagged edges and moiré effects didn’t mar the presentation, and I saw no edge haloes. Print flaws also failed to appear.

In terms of palette, Curse went with a standard orange and teal orientation – one that emphasized the blue side of things. Within stylistic choices, the hues seemed well-depicted.

Blacks were dark and dense, and shadows gave us good clarity most of the time. However, some low-light situations – of which the film featured many – could be a bit on the thick side. Even with those, though, I felt pleased with this transfer.

As for the Dolby Atmos audio, it offered a mostly typical horror movie soundscape. Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, this meant a fair amount of creepy atmosphere and occasional “jolt moments”.

Along with good stereo music, the soundfield was able to open things up in a satisfying manner that embellished the story. We got a good sense of elements along with a useful sense of the spooky material, with some that worked really well.

In particular, panning satisfied. A few scenes features components that moved around the channels, and these did so in a smooth, convincing manner.

Audio quality was always good. Music appeared full and rich, while effects demonstrated nice clarity and accuracy. Low-end appeared deep and rich.

Speech was natural and distinctive throughout the film. The mix used the speakers well and created a fine sense of the material.

A smattering of extras pop up here, and we begin with The Myth of La Llorona. In this two-minute, 29-second featurette, we hear from actors Tony Amendola, Raymond Cruz, Marisol Ramirez, and Patricia Velasquez.

As implied by the title, “Myth” discusses the folklore behind the film. It’s too short to tell us much.

With Behind the Curse, we get a nine-minute, 43-second reel that features Amendola, Cruz, Velasquez, director Michael Chaves, producer Gary Dauberman, production designer Melanie Jones, and actor Linda Cardellini.

“Behind” looks at story, characters and themes, Chaves’s work on the shoot, sets and locations. It’s a mediocre overview of the production.

The Making of a Movie Monster runs five minutes, 53 seconds and provides notes from Dauberman, Cruz, Chaves, Ramirez, producer Emile Gladstone, special effects makeup artist Gage Munster, costume designer Megan Spatz, and actors Roman Christou and Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen.

Here we learn how the filmmakers brought the title character to life. This winds up as a fairly informative piece.

Six Deleted Scenes fill a total of 11 minutes, 10 seconds. Most of these expand existing segments or add some minor character beats.

Under Storyboards, we see a running program that spans 17 minutes, 32 seconds. It shows the art on the left side of the screen and the final film on the right.

I think the traditional “art on top, movie on bottom” works better, as this format crams the material too tightly. Still, it’s a decent array of footage.

The disc opens with ads for It Chapter Two, Annabelle Comes Home and Godzilla: King of the Monsters. No trailer for Curse appears here.

A second disc gives us a DVD copy of Curse. It includes “Making of a Movie Monster” but lacks the other extras.

Despite a premise based in folklore, The Curse of La Llorona feels just like every other 2010s horror movie. Predictable and tedious, it does nothing to invigorate the genre. The Blu-ray brings solid picture and audio along with a handful of bonus materials. Audiences seem to like these films but I think Curse becomes a dull drag.

Viewer Film Ratings: 2 Stars Number of Votes: 1
05:
04:
0 3:
12:
01:
View Averages for all rated titles.

.
Review Archive:  # | A-C | D-F | G-I | J-L | M-O | P-R | S-U | V-Z | Viewer Ratings | Main