'The Curse of La Llorona' is Horror Beyond Borders

Ellen Burstyn in The Exorcist, Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby, Toni Collette in Sixth Sense and Hereditary, and recently Lupita Nyong'o in Us--Linda Cardellini continues the barrage of matriarchs kicking ass in horror films in this terror beyond borders, The Curse of La Llorona.

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And it's not only 'La Llorona', an iconic Latin American folklore about a weeping woman slash children killer that hops from one continent to another, this film itself expands the quickly growing universe of 'The Conjuring' which started in 2013.

This newest demon lures in 1973 Los Angeles, when Anna (Cardellini), a widowed social worker helps the mysterious home of a certain Mrs. Alvarez (Patricia Velasquez) where she finds her two kids locked in a closet filled with hand drawn black figures. In her willingness to help, she places Patricia in a psychiatric hold and takes the kids into protective custody. Little did she know, the family is actually haunted by 'La Llorona' and her own family faces the scary consequence.

By scary, I'm talking about constant jump scares, dark places, more jump scares, evil, and then some. The Curse of La Llorona offers a lot of them that it pretty much fills every horror fan's appetite for terror. Director Michael Chaves boasts great horror choreography (horreography!) that is both original and unpredictable even in its limited setting from Anna's household to the psych ward.

It's a bit formulaic in its plot, however, following the same blueprint of other 'Conjuring' movies where a new demon is introduced, the lead encounters it, they find a solution, then a new character emerges to help them conjure the ghost. The good thing is that La Llorona finds new ways to shock even in its few twists especially in its climax where all characters involved are put into one game changing situation.

Apart from the narrative formula, the horror and the comedy also match its universe where often times the laughs create a good catharsis in its erratic jump scares albeit it gets a little too goofy at times. But anything non-scary is welcomed in a terrifying movie like this.

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Thanks to this film's 'Elise', Rafael Olvera, a former priest turned curandero who knows everything about the ghost of 'La Llorona', for making it more entertaining than it is the moment he enters the picture. He provides the laughs in the most unexpected moments that it's only going to be looked at as either cheesy or hilarious. Same can be said to Linda Cardellini and Patricia Velasquez who are both gripping to watch as two mothers who only want the safety of their kids.

Overall, The Curse of La Llorona gets the job done when it comes to its genre. A thrilling and entertaining movie that would stand out among its sibling spinoffs. It's a film to enjoy without nothing much to digest.

Laika's Newest Adventure 'Missing Link' is a Humor-Filled Beauty

Laika continues to make a name for itself, joining the likes of Pixar and Studio Ghibli as one of the most distinctive animated companies in the world. From Coraline to Kubo and the Two Strings and now Missing Link, it maintains its insignia as one of the best working stop motion animation studios there is, and from the looks of it, they're just getting started.

Missing Link is a humor-filled stop motion adventure about identity and acceptance between two eminently opposite characters who met by kooky circumstance. It's hilarious all throughout while boasting an epic animation.

Set in a highly stylized Victorian era patterning European wallpapers and textiles, Sir Lionel Frost, a confident and persevering myths and monsters investigator wants to prove himself as one of the world's most famous. When an unexpected mythical beast aka the 'missing link' named Mr. Link sought his help to find his distant relatives on the other side of the world, he sees this as an opportunity to headline himself as the world's foremost explorer.

Sir Lionel Frost and Mr. Link are the opposites and their dynamic duo, as familiar as it may be, is nothing short of wit and heart. Sir Lionel is brave and dashing while Mr. Link is naive but instinctive. Pairs with completely different personalities have been done countless times but this one still feels refreshingly blended. Thanks to writer-director Chris Butler's head-scratchingly surprising but hilarious humor, the laugh-out-loud moments come in almost every sequence of the film. It doesn't hurt that one would feel a bit warm and fuzzy by the end of it.

Also noteworthy are the unmistakably animated voices of Hugh Jackman as Frost and Zach Galifianakis as Mr. Link who are both foolproof in the characters they are portraying. Zoe Saldana as Adelina Fortnight, who possesses the only known map to Sir Lionel and Mr. Link's destination, is also fun even with her uniquely strange voice shtick. Emma Thompson as a primitive Elder is also distinctively delightful.

Then again, as fun and as heartwarming Missing Link's story may be, it doesn't go beyond limits and the film's strength truly lies on its incredible stop motion animation with stunning production and costume design. It helps a lot that it showcases several landscapes all over the world--boasting the eternal details of European roofs, to the wondrous leafy elements of old Washington and Northern India, and to the tiled and snowy mountains of the Himalayas--that it's magnificent in every bit of its structure.

The combination of humor and artistry is what makes this film one of my favorite Laikas. Kubo and the Two Strings may be heartfelt and Coraline might be more imaginative, but Missing Link provides more afterthoughts or rather, afterlaughs, even if its low-key in plot.

'Pet Sematary' Will Revive Your Nightmares

Adapting a Stephen King novel into a film is common but not an easy feat as it is inevitably going to be compared and nitpicked. Remaking a film adaptation of a book is even trickier as it has to at least hold the level of both the book and the film that it's going to remake.

Directors Dennis Widmyer and Kevin Kolsch held up their sleeves and rose to the challenge by remaking one of King's most famous and iconic horror novels, Pet Sematary, and modernized it (complete with smartphones!) like they didn't care

Photo Credit: United International Pictures

This newest remake stars Jason Clarke and Amy Seimetz as Louis and Rachel Creed, a couple who relocated with their young children and their pet cat from Boston to an eerie woods in rural Maine where high-speed trucks pass in front of their new home. Near they discover a strange burial ground seemingly built by kids wearing pet masks, and there they discover their old neighbor Jud, played by John Lithgow, who has grown a wholesome endearment to their daughter.

When one day they found out that their pet cat Church died, Jud introduced Louis to a place beyond the woodscraps surrounding the 'pet sematary' to appease their daughter's possible outcry of their loss. There starts the spooky tale of the dead coming back to life.

With its strong tagline "Sometimes dead is better", there is no surprise that this has something to do with the dead, and writer Jeff Buhler establishes that it's not only meant literally. Even the subject's childhood and present nightmares come into play.

Pet Sematary's scare tactics will revive nightmares in a sense that it restores our childhood illusions about our traumatic dreams and the dark corners within our homes. It has a lot of hair-raising scenes that make sleeping in the dark a bit scary again.

It's effective in its scare factor, and moreso in mixing all of the characters' storyarcs. Pet Sematary is a straightforward horror story with a great exposition that doesn't distract with its sequence. It's able to incorporate the couple's struggles--Rachel's haunting past and Louis' ongoing dreams and how it affects the family especially with their daughter--with the horror concept of the 'pet sematary' bringing dead creatures into life.

Photo Credit: United International Pictures

It backslides however in keeping the terror intact with its tonal inconsistencies. Outside the 'pet sematary', everything looks somber and realistic even in their dreams and haunting past (apart from the alienesque backbone of Rachel's sister). It loses a bit of its authentic vibe once we were introduced of the magic of the cemetery. The set is complete with smoke, thunder and lightning, and a full moon which looks straight from an MTV from the 90s/2000s era.

The third act is also noteworthy when things get way weirder. It's fun and exciting and made the theater go berserk, but it completely stepped out of the atmosphere of the first act that it's almost like watching a different movie.

I love crazy movies, and it's appreciated when films go overboard but this doesn't knock out. The feeling went from unsettling to just plain morbid. By the end of it, you're not rooting for the family anymore, although it's definitely enjoyable.

'Shazam!' is DC's Funniest Superhero Movie Yet

What a time to be alive especially for comic book and superhero movie fans! Whether it's DC or Marvel, there's just no slowing down for this genre. Just a few weeks ago, Marvel unleashed their first ever superhero with a woman in the lead. And a few weeks after that, DC set loose their own and it's Captain Marvel's counterpart Shazam. It's about time they release one of the first ever superheroes there is. As a matter of fact, it's a wonder what took them so long to put him on the forefront.

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Finally, Shazam's here and it's fair to say that DC has finally perfected the ingredients of a great superhero movie. Without seeming like a try-hard or a Marvel copycat, DC's Shazam! is their funniest superhero movie yet. No more bleak set or melodramatic script, director David F. Sandberg focused on the fun side of the superhero movie brand. That despite its dark familial plot which Sandberg is known for. See Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation.

Imagine a 14-year-old foster teenager who's still a kid at heart turning into a ripped, superhero body complete with a superhero suit, cape and superpowers embracing it to its full potential, using it to his advantage whether in school, or life in general. That's basically the fun part of Shazam! and it's almost neverending without seeming repetitive. Watching him discover his powers and use all the tricks up his sleeve brings to light the childishness of the film which resonates well to the inner youngster in us. We were all once kids anyway, and we're used to dreaming of having our own superpower.

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Still, it doesn't rest entirely on the fun part. Shazam! digs deeper to our superhero's origins and it's quite murky. Inside the superhero is Billy Batson, a sardonic teenager who gets in and out of foster families in search of his real mother whom he lost in a carnival while he's young. Because he's too focused on his goal, he's unable to see 'family' even when he arrives in a welcoming one filled with foster children and a loving foster parent which weirdly enough, the foster mother looks so much like Angelina Jolie.

The family's dynamics help a lot in building the film's enjoyable nature. His newfound brothers and sisters with varying personalities make for an amusing watch. One's an achiever, another is a talkative lass who tries her best to be the best sister she can be, one's a quiet guy, and lastly, Freddy, a tough young kid with a disability who became Billy's unexpected closest pal. Jack Dylan Glazer plays the role and he almost steals the show from Asher Angel as Billy and Zachary Levi as Shazam.

Sure, it's not devoid of weaknesses. Shazam! is almost more of a comedy than a superhero movie except for the last third where a surprising turn of event would definitely delight and surprise. Unfortunately, the superhero part is my least favorite part of the film. But that's okay because it's clearly all about the fun. To the point where its visual-effect-driven characters look like Left 4 Dead's The Boomer or The Spitter and I'm willing to ignore it just because it was super entertaining for most of its course.