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Featuring: Vera Whelpton, Kendall Whelpton, Jon Dougherty, Jill Morris | Directed by Vera Whelpton, Kendall Whelpton

The Haunting Lodge is described as an “unscripted investigative documentary”. That’s another way of saying it’s one of those films where a couple of ghost hunters set up some gear at an allegedly haunted location and wander around in the dark recording allegedly spooky goings on. In this case, the parapsychologists are Kendall and Vera Whelpton who also made The House in Between and its sequel as well as The Sleepless Unrest: The Real Conjuring Home.

This time they’re investigating an allegedly haunted hunting lodge owned by a man named Dan Giles. Built in 1913 it sat abandoned on some farmland his father had bought until Dan restored it. Almost immediately, he says, people were hearing footsteps and other sounds in the night. After several years of this scaring off hunters, he decided...

Stars: Doug Bradley, Victor Maraña, Robert Donavan, Denice Duff, Kayla Fields, Kate Hodge, Katie Silverman, Michelle Bauer | Written and Directed by Jose Prendes

Yes, you read that title right, not The Exorcist but The Exorcists. And with a title like that could anyone else but The Asylum be responsible for it?

Father Ryland is in the cemetery reading sports scores to one of the deceased when he’s approached by Father Cortez. He comes bearing bad news, Ryland’s mentor, Father Murphy has passed away.

But before he passed he he told Cortez to find Ryland and ask him to help with a case of possession, something he hasn’t done since an exorcism went wrong and caused the death of the young boy he was reading to. Given the circumstances, he agrees to help.

Meanwhile in Chicago, Sister Caroline has tracked down Doctor Beckett while she’s on vacation,...

Former Shudder chief Craig Engler left the streaming service a couple months ago, shortly after overseeing the release of the horror film Skinamarink, which was made on a budget of $15,000 and earned over $2 million during its theatrical run. Now Variety reports that Engler has teamed up with The Cartel, the production company behind Shudder’s Creepshow series, to launch Shiver Studios, “a new genre company with plans to make and finance up to 10 horror films a year”!

Variety explains that the Los Angeles-based studio will focus on a theatrical-first approach, looking to ride the recent trend of indie horror hits. The overall plan is for Shiver to follow its theatrical releases with a Tvod, SVOD, AVOD, linear and physical windowing strategy, working with partners that include both streamers and traditional distributors.

The first two films on the Shiver Studios development slate are Incident at Joshua Tree and Bloody Mary.

Incident...

The former Gm of AMC’s Shudder, Craig Engler is sticking to the horror genre, with Variety reporting that Engler and The Cartel (“Creepshow”) have formed a new horror shingle.

Dubbed Shiver Studios, the plan is to “make and finance up to 10 horror films a year.”

“Based in Los Angeles, Shiver Studios will focus on a theatrical-first approach,” Variety details. The report continues, “The overall plan is for Shiver to follow its theatrical releases with a Tvod, SVOD, AVOD, linear and physical windowing strategy, working with partners that include both streamers and traditional distributors, the nascent studio specified in a statement.”

The first projects on the Shiver Studios slate include…

Incident at Joshua Tree – From “NCIS: Hawai’i” and “Colony” writer/producer Noah Evslin, “the chiller involves a trail of cryptic social media posts used as clues by a 30-year-old guidance counselor who travels to Joshua Tree to locate her fiancé...

Former Shudder chief Craig Engler and The Cartel, the production and finance company behind “Creepshow” have teamed up to launch Shiver Studios, a new genre company with plans to make and finance up to 10 horror films a year.

Based in Los Angeles, Shiver Studios will focus on a theatrical-first approach, looking to ride the recent trend of indie horror hits such as Shudder’s release of micro-budget hit horror feature “Skinamarink,” directed by Kyle Edward Ball. Prior to his departure from Shudder Engler oversaw the release of “Skinamarink” which has grossed $2 million in theaters on a budget of $15,000.

The overall plan is for Shiver to follow its theatrical releases with a Tvod, SVOD, AVOD, linear and physical windowing strategy, working with partners that include both streamers and traditional distributors, the nascent studio specified in a statement.

The first announced projects in the Shiver Studios pipeline are:

– “Incident at Joshua Tree...

First two projects announced: Incident At Joshua Tree, Bloody Mary.

Production and finance company Cartel and former Shudder head Craig Engler have launched genre production and finance company Shiver Studios and announced their first two theatrical projects.

Shiver plans to produce and finance four to 10 horror films a year for theatrical-first release, followed by roll-out on TVoD, streaming, AVoD, linear and physical home entertainment releases. The company plans to work with both streamers and traditional distributors.

Cartel co-ceo’s Stan Spry and Eric Woods and Engler will serve as Co-CEOs of the new venture and will produce the first two...

Stars: Ethan Daniel Corbett, Amanda Jones, Nic Caruccio, Sean Whalen, Michael Paré, Kate Hodge, Jonathan Huynh-Mast, Adam Pepper | Written and Directed by Jose Prendes

The Headless Horseman is one of the latest horror films from The Asylum to hit DVD here in the UK, and it;s what sounds like a mashup of Ghost Rider and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Or Ghost Rider and The Punisher if the UK DVD artwork is to be believed.

To quote the film’s press release “When seconds from death, a nearly decapitated and desperate man makes a deal with the devil to protect the love of his life and seek revenge on the drug dealer who almost murdered him.” Why does it not surprise me that The Asylum’s lack of quality extends to its marketing department?

Angel Cregar is a busy man. If he’s not selling drugs he’s killing...

Stars: Danny Trejo, Adrian Paul, Nick Chinlund, Kevin Grevioux, Fahim Fazli, Cleveland Berto, Reka Rene, Cleo Anthony, Masika Kalysha, Essam Ferris | Written by Matthew Hensman, Gustavo Sainz de la Peña | Directed by Cire Hensman, Matthew Hensman

Originally filmed as simply The Prey, The Prey: Legend of Karnoctus, had the unwieldy subtitle added to help distinguish it from everything from Norman J Warren’s exploitation gem Prey to the 80s slasher The Prey and the more recent Cambodian riff on The Most Dangerous Game also titled The Prey. The film starts in a cave somewhere in Afghanistan as something large and furry gives US forces a helping hand by taking out a couple of Taliban soldiers.

Elsewhere in the area, a US squad is on patrol, but the fireworks are being provided by a well-armed group of mercenaries including Vega, Gunnar, Tagger and Reid. But they’re not working as security contractors,...

Stars: Robert Bronzi, Elizabeth McNally, Anna Liddell, Sarah Alexandra Marks, Steven Berkoff, Nicola Wright, Simon Furness, Ben Parsons, Nicole Nabi | Written by Jeff Miller, Matthew B.C. | Directed by Scott Jeffrey, Rebecca Matthews

As Exorcist Vengeance opens a woman lays bleeding in the street as Father Jozsef performs her last rites before barking at the onlookers “Which way did he go?” and chasing down the criminal responsible and shooting him even after he’s on the ground, thereby justifying the “Death Wish meets The Exorcist” line in the film’s press release.

Meanwhile, a wealthy old woman Agnes (Elizabeth McNally) starts talking in the voice of the possessed before slitting her throat with a letter opener, something that looks like smoke passing from her to her servant Magda (Anna Liddell; Deadly Waters) as she dies. And it isn’t long before Magda is talking in the same voice and attacking Edna’s granddaughter Rebecca.

Hello, dear readers! We’re back with a brand-new batch of horror and sci-fi home media releases that will be out this Tuesday. One of my favorite films of 2021, Lana Wachowski’s The Matrix Resurrections is being released on various formats this week, and two other great 2021 releases—Agnes and Silent—are headed to both Blu-ray and DVD as well. Dario Argento’s Phenomena is getting the 4K treatment courtesy of the fine fiends over at Synapse Films, and Full Moon is showing some love to a pair of cult films—Island of the Fishmen and Mansion of the Doomed—that fans will undoubtedly want to check out.

Other genre home media releases for March 8th include Monster From Green Hell: Special Edition, 13 Fanboy, The Legend of La Llorona, Video Psycho, Night of Doom, and the final season of The Walking Dead: World Beyond.

Agnes

Inside a quaint convent,...

The Legend of La Llorona is headed to select theaters on January 7th (with an On Demand / Digital release on January 11th) courtesy of Saban Films and we've been provided with an exclusive clip just for Daily Dead readers! In the clip below, young Danny is attacked while alone in the water, but his parents disagree on whether or not a supernatural spirit may have been involved.

"A malevolent spirit bent on vengeance, stalks a young family visiting Mexico. Andrew, Carly and their son Danny travel to an isolated hacienda in Mexico for a much needed vacation. As they enter the town, signs showing missing children set an ominous tone. The family learns of the legend of “La Llorona,” the evil spirit of a distraught mother who lurks near the water’s edge and strikes fear in the hearts of all who see her. La Llorona torments the family mercilessly,...

"What's a Llorona? And what does it want with my son?" Saban Films has unveiled an official US trailer for a horror film titled The Legend of La Llorona, the feature debut of filmmaker Patricia Harris Seeley. This is the third horror film in the last few years about the Mexican ghost story of La Llorona. Warner Bros released The Curse of La Llorona, then there was also La Llorona from Guatemala last year. Do we really need another one? This one looks like the least interesting one yet. While vacationing in Mexico, a couple discovers their son's disappearance is tied to a supernatural curse. Aided by the resourceful taxi driver Jorge (Danny Trejo) the family races to save their only child, navigating the foreboding countryside held by menacing cartel thugs. Gaining strength and power and leaving a path of death and destruction in her wake, La Llorona is seemingly unstoppable.

The legend of the Llorona, the crying woman, is told throughout Latin America. It is about a young mother who, abandoned by her husband, is driven mad by grief, drowns her two children in the river and kills herself. She is punished by having to haunt the earth forever after.

Jayro Bustamante, the fiery director from Guatemala who burst on the festival scene with his debut film Ixcanul (Silver Bear winner at Berlin in 2015) and the Lgbt drama Tremors, in Berlin this year, brilliantly reinterprets this folktale in The Weeping Woman (La Llorona), which leaps from psychological suspense and dark ...

The legend of the Llorona, the crying woman, is told throughout Latin America. It is about a young mother who, abandoned by her husband, is driven mad by grief, drowns her two children in the river and kills herself. She is punished by having to haunt the earth forever after.

Jayro Bustamante, the fiery director from Guatemala who burst on the festival scene with his debut film Ixcanul (Silver Bear winner at Berlin in 2015) and the Lgbt drama Tremors, in Berlin this year, brilliantly reinterprets this folktale in The Weeping Woman (La Llorona), which leaps from psychological suspense and dark ...

The Tokyo International Film Festival will this year give over most of its competition section to films from outside East Asia. This contrasts to previous editions with a strong presence from the region.

The festival, which will hold its 32nd edition next month, announced its lineup Thursday. Of the 14 announced films for competition, only two – Wang Rui’s “Chaogtu With Sarula” (China) and Paul Soriano’s ”Mananita” (Philippines) – are from East Asia.

Korean films are noticeably absent this year, a situation that may reflect the acute political tensions between Tokyo and Seoul.

Others in the competition are Valentyn Vasyanovych’s “Atlantis” and Jorunn Myklebust Syversen’s “Disco,” which both screened at Toronto. The competition also includes Saeid Rustai’s “Just 6.5,” Jayro Bustamante’s “La Llorona,” Nunzia De Stefano’s “Nevia” and Dominik Moll’s “Only the Animals,” which were all pickups from Venice.

The two Japanese films in the competition...

The 15th Zurich Film Festival (Sept. 26-Oct. 6) is marking a major changing of the guard while again presenting an impressive selection of high-profile international works and showcasing the

latest in Swiss cinema.

Todd Phillips’ “Joker,” Rupert Goold’s “Judy” and James Mangold’s “Le Mans ’66” (aka “Ford v Ferrari”) are among the films screening in the fest’s Gala Premieres section, which offers some of the year’s most highly anticipated films.

Zurich will again welcome a slew of major stars and filmmakers. This year the fest is honoring Roland Emmerich, Cate Blanchett and Kristen Stewart.

Likewise on hand will be Oliver Stone, who heads the fest’s international feature film competition jury, as well as Donald Sutherland, Javier Bardem and Julie Delpy, all of whom will be taking part in the

Zff Masters series.

2019 marks the final outing for fest founders and co-directors Nadja Schildknecht and Karl Spoerri. They...

“Loro” is the definitive Paolo Sorrentino film to date. It’s brash, stylish, and silly. It oscillates back and forth between horny and human, profound and misguided. It’s a glorious mess. That it exists in the #MeToo era is a miracle. That it manages to evolve beyond a dick-swinging affair is even more miraculous.

In the vein of “The Great Beauty,” “Youth” and “The Young Pope,” the film is sprawling and idiosyncratic. This time Sorrentino centers his story on Silvio Berlusconi, the infamous medial mogul and former prime minister of Italy. But this is not your standard cradle-to-grave biopic.

The film toggles back and forth between Silvio and Sergio, a youthful businessman determined to impress Silvio. Sergio works primarily as a glorified pimp, trafficking escorts to bribe politicians for permits and favors. When he’s not knee-deep in a line of cocaine or anonymous women, he has ambition. The...

Guatamalan writer-director Jayro Bustamante had a dream debut with “Ixcanul” in 2015: The richly textured folk drama premiered in Competition at Berlin and won him the Alfred Bauer Prize, before going on to healthy international arthouse exposure. So it’s surprising that Bustamante’s subsequent work, while amply delivering on his first feature’s promise, has been comparatively sidelined in major festival programs. Earlier this year, his superb gay drama “Tremors” was demoted to Berlin’s lower-profile Panorama section; now “La Llorona,” his swift, thrilling, genre-expanding follow-up, has unspooled on the Lido in the external Venice Days sidebar — duly winning the top prize. By any measure, Bustamante’s latest is meaty, adventurous auteur cinema that would be of prime competition standard at any major fest: A nervy alternative horror film in which political ghosts of the past mingle with more uncanny phantoms, it ought to be the filmmaker’s most widely distributed work to date.

Guatamalan director Jayro Bustamante’s genocide revenge drama “The Weeping Woman” (“La Llorona”), set during the 1960s civil war in his country, has won the Venice Days Director Award, the top nod in Venice’s independently run section.

This is the second feature by Bustamante, who put Guatemalan cinema the map with his debut, “Ixcanul.” The film takes its cue from the acquittal of a former Guatemalan general whose initial sentence is overturned on a procedural pretext. This unleashes a vengeful supernatural spirit upon his household.

Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz (“The Invisible Life”) presided over the jury formed by 28 young European movie buffs. They praised the film for being “an intimate ghost story told through a vivid female character.”

The award comes with a cash prize of €20,000, which is split equally between the director and the film’s international distributor, in this case Film Factory Entertainment.

Plenty as twenty-one Golden Lion hopefuls can offer, leaving the Venice Film Festival without having ventured beyond the fest’s official lineup and into its parallel sidebars would be a missed opportunity. Aside from the notorious Horizons (Orizzonti)—a competitive selection running parallel to the official lineup and designed to showcase new trends in cinema—the festival invites you to explore a panoply of other programs and events, including Out of Competition slots, a selection of restored masterworks (Venice Classics), a virtual reality section (Venice Vr), and independent sidebars such as the International Critics Week and Venice Days (Giornate degli Autori), an independent program modeled on Cannes’ Directors' Fortnight. Now at my fifth year here on the Lido, I must confess I am yet to step foot on the island of Lazzaretto Vecchio, home to the Venice Vr screenings—a trip that would be well worth the ticket, if anything...

Fanny Lye Deliver’d, starring Maxine Peake, and Honey Boy, featuring Shia Labeouf, are among the titles competing in competition at the London Film Festival.

The 63rd BFI London Film Festival has unveiled the ten films to compete with 60% of the features directed or co-directed by women, while Isabel Sandoval, who directed Lingua Franca, is the first transgender director to compete in Official Competition.

The films are Thomas Clay’s Fanny Lye Deliver’d, Alma Har’el’s Honey Boy, Jayro Bustamante’s La Llorona, Isabel Sandoval’s Lingua Franca, Oliver Hermanus’ Moffie, Alejandro Landes’ Monos, Małgorzata Szumowska’s The Other Lamb, Haifaa Al Mansour’s The Perfect Candidate, Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor’s Rose Plays Julie and Rose Glass’ Saint Maud (full details below).

The Best Film winner will be chosen by the Official Competition Jury, the members of which will be announced in the coming weeks. Recent...

Works by female directors dominate the lineup for the BFI London Film Festival’s official competition section, it was revealed Wednesday. Six of the 10 films set for the main competition of the festival’s upcoming 63rd edition are directed or co-directed by female filmmakers, including Alma Har’el’s Sundance title, “Honey Boy,” and Haifaa Al-Mansour’s Venice competitor, “The Perfect Candidate.”

The competition selection, announced ahead of the unveiling of the festival’s full program Thursday, represents productions and co-productions from 16 countries. Titles from the Venice Film Festival also dominate, with four out of the 10 selected films having their world premieres in Venice.

Written by and co-starring Shia Labeouf, and based on his own life, “Honey Boy” will receive its European premiere in London. The film world premiered at Sundance in January and will play in Toronto next month. “The Perfect Candidate,” from Saudi filmmaker Al-Mansour, will have its...

Sorry We Missed You, The Traitor, A Hidden Life among Masters selection.

Toronto International Film Festival top brass announced on Tuesday (13) The Aeronauts and Wasp Network among a cluster of additions to Galas and Special Presentations, and also unveiled Contemporary World Cinema, which Our Lady Of The Nile will open, as well as Masters, and Wavelengths.

Tom Harper’s ballooning adventure The Aeronauts starring Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones will receive its Canadian premiere in Galas, suggesting a Telluride world premiere slot, while Olivier Assayas’ spy saga Wasp Network with Penélope Cruz and Edgar Ramírez gets a North American premiere...

Venice premieres La Llorona and El Príncipe are among the 15 titles.

The line-up for the Horizontes Latinos section at this year’s San Sebastián International Film Festival (September 20-28) includes films that have won awards at Cannes and Sundance.

The strand will showcase 15 Latin American productions of which seven are first or second works. All the titles (except Jayro Bustamante’s La Llorona) are competing for the Horizontes Award, which comes with a €35,000.

Among this year’s line-up is César Díaz’s Critics Week title Our Mothers, which won the Camera d’Or for best first film at Cannes. There...

Madrid — Frederico Veiroj’s “The Moneychanger,” Andrés Wood’s “Spider” and Gael García Bernal’s “Chicuarotes” will play in San Sebastian’s Horizontes Latinos, the Spanish Festival’s most important sidebar, along with its New Directors strand, and a virtual best of the fests titles of Latin American movies with standout at Sundance in particular, plus Berlin, Cannes, Venice and no doubt the upcoming Toronto.

“Spider” will have its European Premiere at San Sebastian.

Bookended by Patricio Guzman’s “The Cordillera of Dreams” and “La Llorona,” the latest from Jayro Bustamante, whose “Tremors” also makes the Horizontes Latinos cut, the section also captures key trends forging Latin America’s new landscape of Latin American movies.

Mined and prized by major festivals, Latin America has yet to go off the boil. The big prizes are going ever more, however, to lesser-known talents. Alejandro Landes’ “Monos” won a Sundance World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award,...

The Venice Film Festival has announced the selections for its 76th edition, which is set to take place from August 29 to September 7. The announcement marks the week’s second major film festival lineup to confirm titles following the Toronto International Film Festival. With both official selections for Venice and Tiff now revealed, the upcoming 2019-20 awards season is quickly taking shape.

As previously announced, Venice 2019 will open with the world premiere of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s new film “The Truth.” The family drama stars Juliette Binoche, Catherine Deneuve, and Ethan Hawke. “The Truth” is Kore-eda’s first directorial effort since winning the Palme d’Or in 2018 with “Shoplifters.” This year’s festival will close with “The Burnt Orange Heresy,” the latest feature from Giuseppe Capotondi. The movie stars Claes Bang, Elizabeth Debicki, and Mick Jagger.

Venice has already announced that Argentinian director Lucrecia Martel will serve as the president of this year’s competition jury.

The Venice Film Festival’s independently run Venice Days sidebar has unveiled its 2019 lineup with 11 movies in competition.

The section, which is modeled after Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight sidebar, comprises six first features and four films directed by women.

Competition highlights include Dominik Moll’s Seules Les Bêtes, which will open the strand on Wednesday, August 28; Jayro Bustamante’s La llorona; Japanese actor Joe Odagiri’s feature directorial debut They Say Nothing Stays the Same; and Fabienne Berthaud’s Un Monde Plus Grand, starring Cécile de France.

Also in competition, Corpus Christi comes from Polish director Jan Komasa; family saga Beware Of Children is by Norway’s Dag Johan Haugerud; Un Divan à Tunis, starring Golshifteh Farahani, is by Manele Labidi; Laos’ Venice debut comes with The Long Walk by Mattie Do; and U.S.-Philippines co-production Lingua Franca comes from Isabel Sandoval.

Comics artist Igort’s 5 è Il Numero Perfetto stars Toni Servillo,...

“It’s about saying things al chile!” says Lila Downs backstage at the Center for the Arts in Escondido, where she’s about to perform cuts from her latest studio album, Al Chile. Just like the Mexican expression conveys — roughly meaning “straight up” — the folk singer has been keeping it real to her roots, and championing the lives of countless indigenous populations, since her emergence in the Nineties.

“I feel like I would be making a deal with the devil if I did [commercial pop],” she says with a wink. Her dedication...

The real mystery in “Detective Pikachu” is never even addressed, for it raises a question so existential that a movie in which Ryan Reynolds voices a beloved video-game character would never dare: If pokémon were real, wouldn’t they just be called animals?

Phrased another way, what actually distinguishes the charmanders and squirtles of the world from chimpanzees and salamanders? Since each pokémon is a distinct species, there has to be something that warrants defining them with a unique umbrella term that excludes the existing animal kingdom. One reason this question matters is because, without answering it, you can’t possibly explain the fundamental difference between pokémon battles and dog fights.

A number of theories emerge while pondering this conundrum. One popular idea among gamers hoping to assuage their guilt is that the pokémon-trainer relationship is akin to the boxer-trainer dynamic: Pokémon are compelled to fight — it’s just what...

This unscary, 70s-set horror about a child-killing ghost is a formulaic genre dirge

There’s something scarily inconsequential about fright flick The Curse of La Llorona, a formulaic slab of supernatural dirge destined to be forgotten by year’s, or perhaps even month’s, end.

Not technically part of the blockbusting Conjuring franchise yet linked via an awkward, silly anecdote about evil doll Annabelle (who also cropped up in last month’s Shazam!), this 70s-set horror starts 300 years earlier with an ineffective introduction to the titular terror. La Llorona is a mother who drowns her two young children after finding her husband with a younger woman, and her story becomes an urban legend for future generations. Struggling widow Anna (Linda Cardellini) finds out the hard way that La Llorona is more than just a myth after the child-killing spirit attaches herself to her family with murder on her mind.

Continue reading.

Hitting the big screen on April 18th with a modest budget of $9 million, The Curse of La Llorona was poorly received by critics, currently holding a score of 31% Rotten Tomatoes. This is understandable though, as the film mostly consists of predictable jump scares and creepy scenes that are flawed by heavy-handed writing. Even though The Curse of La Llorona doesn't dare stray away from the simplistic formula that the other movies in The Conjuring franchise tend to follow, this addition is perhaps the most unique to date.

Related: The Conjuring 3 Logo Revealed by Director

However, that is only thanks to the ancient legend it was adapted from. La Llorona translates to "the weeping woman" in English. The Mexican folktale tells the story of a woman who drowned her children in a river after her husband left her. Later, she was found dead by the riverbank, but in Mexican lore, it...

 

Hitting the big screen on April 18th with a modest budget of $9 million, The Curse of La Llorona was poorly received by critics, currently holding a score of 31% Rotten Tomatoes. This is understandable though, as the film mostly consists of predictable jump scares and creepy scenes that are flawed by heavy-handed writing. Even though The Curse of La Llorona doesn't dare stray away from the simplistic formula that the other movies in The Conjuring franchise tend to follow, this addition is perhaps the most unique to date.

Related: The Conjuring 3 Logo Revealed by Director

However, that is only thanks to the ancient legend it was adapted from. La Llorona translates to "the weeping woman" in English. The Mexican folktale tells the story of a woman who drowned her children in a river after her husband left her. Later, she was found dead by the riverbank, but in Mexican lore, it...

The Curse of La Llorona is an interesting oddity. With a dead-faced title ghoul and jump scares a-plenty, it certainly feels like an entry in producer James Wan's growing Conjuring Universe. But outside of an appearance by Tony Amendola's Father Perez from Annabelle and a brief reference to "an incident with a doll", La Llorona is mostly a standalone look at Mexico's legendary Weeping Woman. Apparently, that wasn't always the case. In an interview with Gamespot, director Michael Chaves revealed a deleted La Llorona scene would have put the Weeping Woman's trademark necklace …...

Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture: Easter Eggs of the Day: The Curse of La Llorona was the top-grossing movie over the weekend in its theatrical debut, and now everyone knows about its association with a certain horror franchise. Right? Either way, here’s Zac Morris of CZsWorld detailing all the connections to other movies, as well a look at how La Llorona sets up a possible sequel: Franchise Recap of the Day:...

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With New Line Cinema's The Curse of La Llorona now haunting theaters, the team at Mezco Toyz has conjured up their own version of The Weeping Woman with a new mega scale talking La Llorona figure, and we have a look at photos of the creepy new collectible ahead of its release later this year.

Read on for official details and photos of the talking La Llorona figure below, and in case you missed it, check out The Curse of La Llorona figure that's joining the Living Dead Dolls line.

"Mds Mega Scale The Curse of La Llorona: Talking La Llorona

“We are facing an evil…that has no bounds…”

The Mds Mega Scale La Llorona with Sound stands at a forbidding 15” tall and features 11 points of articulation. Depress the button discretely hidden on her back to activate sound.

The Weeping Woman wears her infamous white gown with black,...

With total grosses this weekend around $110 million, “Avengers: Endgame” can’t come soon enough. In attendance, it’s the worst Easter weekend since at least 1994 — a period when the North American population was 20% less than what it is today.

It also marks the 13th weekend out of 16 so far in 2019 in which results lagged below the preceding year. This one is particularly grim because this 12% drop compares to a date one week post Easter. The actual 2018 Easter weekend grossed $140 million, which would represent a 21% drop. Best not to think about it.

That makes the results for “The Curse of La Llorona” stand out more. Budgeted at $9 million, this horror film (tangentially related to the “Conjuring” franchise) opened over $25 million. Easter weekend typically is a strong draw for Latino audiences, and they made up about half of the ticket buyers for this Mexican-folklore story. This is a core group that continues to be underserved by studios,...

Warner Bros. and New Line’s “The Curse of La Llorona” led the way at the international box office, summoning $30 million when it opened in 71 foreign markets.

The supernatural thriller collected $26.5 million in North America for a global start of $56.5 million. “La Llorona,” based on the Mexican folklore about the Weeping Woman, had the best showing in Mexico where it debuted with $5.3 million. Other top territories include Colombia ($2.4 million), France ($2.1 million), and Spain ($1.7 million).

In another win for Warner Bros. and New Line, “Shazam!” crossed the $200 million overseas. The DC superhero tentpole added another $22 million from 80 territories this weekend, bringing its global haul to $322.8 million. “Shazam!” opened in Japan with $2 million.

Disney’s live-action remake of “Dumbo” also hit a significant milestone, surpassing $300 million in ticket sales. Director Tim Burton’s re-imagining of the classic cartoon brought in $13.7 million from 55 markets for an international bounty of $206.6 million.

Elsewhere, Paramount Pictures...

It was a very quiet weekend at the box office as moviegoers appear to be saving up their hard-earned money for multiple trips to see Avengers: Endgame next weekend. The Warner Bros./New Line horror film The Curse of La Llorona topped the weekend with a solid $26.5 million—above expectations—but overall it was the slowest Easter weekend since 2005, when the Ashton Kutcher-led Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner remake topped the charts. Remember that one? No? Alrighty then. La Llorona is a 70s-set horror thriller produced by James Wan with tangential ties to …...

Warner Bros./New Line’s “The Curse of La Llorona” has beaten box office expectations this weekend with a $26.5 million opening against a $9 million budget. But while the horror film will find profit for New Line, the anticipation for “Avengers: Endgame” has depressed overall grosses for the Easter box office, leading to the lowest total for the holiday weekend in 14 years.

Overall, the domestic box office grossed an estimated $103 million this weekend, down 22% from last year’s Easter weekend. With “Avengers” expected to dominate the global box office next weekend, most studios have steered clear of releasing a movie this weekend to avoid getting ignored by audiences who can’t wait to see how the Marvel superheroes take down Thanos. The last time an Easter weekend was this low was in 2005, when the Sony comedy “Guess Who” opened to $20 million and the overall box office only reached $99 million.

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Warner Bros. and New Line’s “The Curse of La Llorona” ascended to the top of domestic box office charts, conjuring $26.5 million when it opened in 3,372 North American theaters.

“La Llorona” is the latest horror movie to outperform expectations, further cementing the genre as one of the most reliable box office draws. Even so, “La Llorona” and other new releases “Breakthrough” and “Penguins” couldn’t salvage movie theaters from suffering the worst Easter weekend showing in almost 15 years. This weekend’s offerings amassed a combined $112 million in ticket sales, the lowest haul since 2005, according to Comscore. The decline in sales is likely because the rest of Hollywood avoided opening a big movie ahead of Disney and Marvel’s “Avengers: Endgame,” which is expected to crush records when it debuts on April 26.

“The Curse of La Llorona” also launched this weekend in 71 international markets, where it collected $30 million for a global start of $56.5 million.

In another win for the horror genre, The Curse of La Llorona opened ahead of expectations at the domestic box office, scaring up $26.5 million to easily win the weekend.

The bad news: The R-rated pic couldn't rescue the domestic box office from the worst Easter in 14 years as Hollywood studios held back releasing their bigger event pics because of Disney and Marvel's Avengers: Endgame, which is set to hit theaters Friday. Revenue came in at an estimated $110 million to $112 million, the lowest since 2005 ($99 million).

La Llorona also topped a slow weekend overseas, taking in ...

In another win for the horror genre, The Curse of La Llorona opened ahead of expectations at the domestic box office, scaring up $26.5 million to easily win the weekend.

The bad news: The R-rated pic couldn't rescue the domestic box office from the worst Easter in 14 years as Hollywood studios held back releasing their bigger event pics because of Disney and Marvel's Avengers: Endgame, which is set to hit theaters Friday. Revenue came in at an estimated $110 million to $112 million, the lowest since 2005 ($99 million).

La Llorona also topped a slow weekend overseas, taking in ...

New Line’s horror pic “The Curse of La Llorona” is summoning a $25 million debut at the domestic box office, leading a quiet Easter weekend before Marvel’s “Avengers: Endgame” hits theaters on April 26.

The James Wan-produced “La Llorona,” playing in 3,372 theaters, was a hit with Hispanic audiences, who accounted for nearly 50% of ticket sales. The R-rated film, budgeted at only $9 million, marked the directorial debut of Michael Chaves, who will next helm Wan’s “The Conjuring 3” at Warner Bros.

Overall, Easter weekend is looking scary bad compared to last year’s Easter frame (down 22%). t’s also the worst Easter frame since 2005. Box office observers feel the low numbers are simply a result of auds holding out for the “Avengers” next weekend.

Warner Bros.’ “Shazam!” held strong in second place with a $17.2 million outing. The Zach Levi-starrer has now collected $120 million in the U.S.

Meanwhile, Fox...

With “Avengers: Endgame” coming out next week, Easter weekend at the box office has been notably slower than usual with an estimated 22% drop compared to last year’s holiday totals. But it is still looking like a successful weekend for Warner Bros. as it’s on track to take the top two spots on the charts with newcomer “The Curse of La Llorona” and the third weekend of “Shazam!”

“La Llorona,” which was produced by New Line on a $9 million budget, earned $11.8 million from 3,372 screens on Friday and is expected to beat tracker expectations with a $26 million weekend opening. The low budget will make this a profitable film for Warner, though it will likely have a very frontloaded performance at the box office given the film’s tepid word of mouth and “Avengers” on the horizon. The film has a 34% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and a B- from opening night audience polls on CinemaScore.

Reviews are in for the newest spinoff film inspired by “The Conjuring” universe, “The Curse of La Llorona,” and the horror film appears to be dead on arrival, at least as far as critics are concerned. “La Llorona” is the latest film to hit the formerly revered franchise begun in 2013 by director James Wan and writers Chad Hayes and Carey W. Hayes. That includes both “The Conjuring” movies, two “Annabelle” movies with a third on the way, and last year’s box-office hit but critical failure “The Nun,” which also has a sequel coming. Wan handed over the reigns to director Michael Chaves for “La Llorona,” which is currently the franchise’s only standalone film. From reading the reviews below — it may stay that way.

Inspired by Latin American folk tales and set in 1970s Los Angeles, “La Llorona” follows a social worker and her two children who are being...

Warner Bros Pictures International executives find themselves with the high-class problem of two films competing for Hollywood’s international box office crown this weekend.

Superhero adaptation Shazam! has dominated the global and international charts for the past two weekends and faces a challenge from The Curse Of La Llorona, the latest horror film to emerge from The Conjuring stable that launches in select key markets this weekend day-and-date with North America.

Shazam! has generated $178m and...

Following the death of paranormal investigator Lorraine Warren, actress Vera Farmiga has posted a heartfelt tribute on social media to the woman who inspired “The Conjuring” movie universe. Farmiga has played Warren in “The Conjuring” and “The Conjuring 2.” Warren’s passing was confirmed by her son-in-law Tony Spera, who wrote on social media Warren died “peacefully in her sleep at home.” Warren was 92 years old.

“My dear friend Lorraine Warren has passed,” Farmiga wrote on Instagram in a post accompanied by photographs of the two women together. “From my deep feeling of sorrow, a deep feeling of gratitude emerges. I was so blessed to have known her and am honored to portray her.”

Farmiga continued, “She lived her life in grace and cheerfulness. She wore a helmet of salvation, she dawned her sword of compassion, and took a shield of faith. Righteousness was her breastplate, and she has touched my life so.

“The Curse of La Llorona,” Warner Bros. and New Line’s horror film from the producers of “The Conjuring” movies, earned $2.75 million in Thursday box office previews.

Both Fox’s “Breakthrough” and Disneynature’s “Penguins” opened early as part of the Easter holiday weekend, making “La Llorona” the sole weekend release. All three are hoping to compete with Warner Bros. and DC’s tongue-in-cheek superhero film “Shazam!” for the top spot, and “La Llorona” is looking at a three-day opening between $17-20 million. New Line’s “Conjuring” spinoff film “The Nun” opened in September last year and made $5.4 million at the Thursday box office ahead of a $53.8 million opening.

For other more recent comparisons, “Pet Sematary” from earlier this month made $2.3 million in its Thursday previews opening against “Shazam!” and made $24.5 million in its opening weekend. January’s “Escape Room” also made $2.3 million from Thursday previews and made $18.2 million when it opened.

“The Curse of La Llorona,” the latest entry in Warner Bros. and New Line’s “Conjuring” universe, conjured $2.75 million from Thursday preview showings, while “Breakthrough,” a faith-based offering from Fox-Disney, brought in $1.5 million from its second day of screenings.

“La Llorona’s” haul tops recent horror counterparts “Pet Sematary” and “Escape Room,” which each took in $2.3 million in previews.

The two films are hoping to dominate the Easter and Passover holiday box office, but they face stiff competition from “Shazam!,” the tongue-in-cheek superhero flick that has topped charts for two weekends in a row. The domestic haul of “Shazam!” stands at $104 million.

“Breakthrough,” which is the first 20th Century Fox film to be released by Disney since it wrapped its deal to buy most of the studio’s assets, already got a jump on the weekend, opening on Wednesday. It is expected to earn between $13 million to $20 million from 2,700 theaters...

Daniel Kurland Apr 20, 2019

We examine the ghastly conclusion to The Curse of La Llorona and what it means for the future of The Conjuring franchise!

This article contains spoilers for The Curse of La Llorona.

The ever-evolving Conjuring universe has slowly grown into over a billion-dollar franchise, which is even more impressive for a series of R-rated horror films. Up until this point, The Conjuring universe has effectively been able to predict which monsters and demonic entities from its core films are deserving of spin-offs and deeper looks, but The Curse of La Llorona takes a decidedly different approach. The Curse of La Llorona’s demonic “Weeping Woman” gets her origins from Mexican folklore, rather than some pre-existing Conjuring film.

La Llorona may market itself as a standalone entry, but it does occupy a space in the same universe as Annabelle, Valak the Nun, and the Crooked Man. While The Curse of La Llorona...