The Legend of La Lloronais the latest Hollywood iteration of the Latin American folk tale about the dangerous, water-dwelling spirit of a cursed mother who snatches children and torments families. The Spanish phrase La Llorona translates loosely to “the weeping woman,” and the original myth is about a mother who drowned her children and then herself, finding herself condemned to roam the Earth looking for her children in purgatory. The new movie from Saban Films looks to take on the legend in classic horror fashion.
In the new trailer, we meet a young family traveling to Mexico on vacation. The father, Andrew (Antonio Cupo), tells their cab driver (Danny Trejo), that they just needed to get away for a while, no doubt hiding some deeper family mystery as to why they’re really there, or what they’re running from. As they settle into the beautiful home they plan to spend their vacation in, the woman of the house (Zamia Fandiño) tells them about La Llorona. In the night, something has taken their son, Danny (Nicolas Madrazo). We see wet footsteps slinking about, shots of windows being blown open, and Danny not in his bed.
The mother, Carly, asks more about La Llorona and why she wants her son. We then get several suspenseful action shots from the film, featuring Carly being chased by La Llorona, Trejo’s character fighting someone off with a shotgun, someone in a coffin and another person in a mourning veil, and a car chase leading right to La Llorona. Finally, the trailer ends with Danny telling someone that she’s coming, and he doesn’t want her to take him, before we see him pulled into the darkness by the spirit of La Llorona.
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The synopsis forThe Legend of La Lloronaindicates that they’re not the only family this has happened to, with signs of missing children scattered throughout the town. The synopsis also tells us that there’s a secret in Carly’s past that could be the key to defeating the malevolent spirit.
The horror genre is a great place to tell compelling stories about women overcoming hardship through the lens of the supernatural, and the original story of La Llorona has a lot of potential. However, withThe Legend of La Llorona, it looks like we’re going to see more jump scares than emotional, narrative storytelling. This type of movie certainly has a place in the genre, but audiences probably shouldn’t go intoThe Legend of La Lloronaexpecting more than a popcorn thriller.
The Legend of La Llorona, directed byPatricia Harris Heelyand written byJose Prendeshits theaters on August 15, 2025 and it will be available on-demand and digital on July 07, 2025. The movie stars Autumn Reeser, Antonio Cupo, Zamia Fandiño, and Danny Trejo. Check out the trailer and poster below:
