Filmed over six days, Terrence Williams' The River: Legend Of La Llorona abandons the normal cheap gore effects of low budget horror in order to tell a dreamy, often effective, ghost story. While the budget limitations are always evident, he almost pulls it off until a cluttered climax (featuring some god-awful bluescreen effects) hurts what was up to that point an enjoyably creepy effort.
The film (and its two sequels) deals with the Spanish legend of La Llorona or "The Weeping Woman" which is helpfully explained during the opening credits with the help of a few illustrations and narration. The gist is that an old crone haunts the riverside looking for children because, years back, she murdered her own in a fit of jealousy before killing herself. In this story we follow Miguel (Will Morales), a young thug who has been hired to bring back the runaway Luciana (Carrie Wallace) by her father. After narrowly missing a young boy and crashing his car, Miguel wanders to a nearby hotel where strange things begin to happen almost immediately. Eventually we discover that Luciana is apparently the child of La Llorona, and her father (and sister Ann Marie) want her dead to end the curse. Much ghostly doings transpire, and there's a pretty decent twist at the end before things get silly in the final five minutes.
The film (and its two sequels) deals with the Spanish legend of La Llorona or "The Weeping Woman" which is helpfully explained during the opening credits with the help of a few illustrations and narration. The gist is that an old crone haunts the riverside looking for children because, years back, she murdered her own in a fit of jealousy before killing herself. In this story we follow Miguel (Will Morales), a young thug who has been hired to bring back the runaway Luciana (Carrie Wallace) by her father. After narrowly missing a young boy and crashing his car, Miguel wanders to a nearby hotel where strange things begin to happen almost immediately. Eventually we discover that Luciana is apparently the child of La Llorona, and her father (and sister Ann Marie) want her dead to end the curse. Much ghostly doings transpire, and there's a pretty decent twist at the end before things get silly in the final five minutes.
Williams' biggest strength as a director is an obviously clear vision of what he wants to see onscreen. Early scenes with Miguel wandering confused are legitimately eerie, and a dream sequence featuring a character hanging himself (from a ceiling fan?) is disconcerting though suffers from some bad acting. Considering the pace at which is had to have been filmed, Williams is able to tell a solid story.
That said, the film would have been elevated greatly by better acting and a more polished script. Will Morales is fine, and obviously has more chops that the rest of the cast, but some of the performances are a tad embarrasing. Denise Gossett as Mary, Luciana's mother, is particularly bad, though it's Mary Sanchez as Ann Marie who does the most damage. She's fine throughout most of the film, but her final scenes feel rushed and are quite difficult to understand.
That said, the film would have been elevated greatly by better acting and a more polished script. Will Morales is fine, and obviously has more chops that the rest of the cast, but some of the performances are a tad embarrasing. Denise Gossett as Mary, Luciana's mother, is particularly bad, though it's Mary Sanchez as Ann Marie who does the most damage. She's fine throughout most of the film, but her final scenes feel rushed and are quite difficult to understand.
While the movie's atmosphere is well served by the score, occasionally it overpowers the dialogue, which hurts a lot in a feature as talky as this. And while the film takes place at night, lighting was obviously a problem throughout and several scenes feature excessive video noise from attempts to brighten them.
As mentioned, though most of the film takes places in a small hotel, when the characters eventually leave things take a turn for the worse. We rapidly get some scenes featuring some egregiously bad (and seemingly unnecessary, since they are purely dialogue) blue-screen effects which are just awful. The final scene with Miguel and Ann Marie is supposed to feel tense and climactic, but instead is merely laughable.
As mentioned, though most of the film takes places in a small hotel, when the characters eventually leave things take a turn for the worse. We rapidly get some scenes featuring some egregiously bad (and seemingly unnecessary, since they are purely dialogue) blue-screen effects which are just awful. The final scene with Miguel and Ann Marie is supposed to feel tense and climactic, but instead is merely laughable.
The River: Legend of La Llorona is presented in a full-screen transfer that is likely the most consistent of the collection so far. Occasionally scenes feel a little washed out, but it's never difficult to recognize the action on the screen. There are occasional sound issues, particularly when paired with music, but the dialogue (outside of the final scene) can usually be heard clearly.
While I can't say i'm interested in seeing two more films based on the La Llorona legend, I do respect Terrence Williams (and his wife Nicole) for treading some new ground with this low budget effort. It still has some significant flaws, but shows definite promise and i'm interested to see future films from Cinema Threat Productions.
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