believes in capitalizing on the same exact equation that brought in the box office bucks in the past. There's only so much you can wring out of a shock-oriented franchise, and clearly Warner Bros. Only this time, Rafael is more of a supernatural warrior, like the Warrens, rocking the same kinds of trinkets, rituals and deus ex machinas to conveniently stop beings from Hell.įalling into the run of the mill horror trap was bound to happen. In fact, the family's put onto him by Annabelle's Father Perez (Tony Amendola) in what's basically a straight swap of the magical character trope. Overall, the Conjuring Universe simply builds to one consistent point: A priest arrives to orchestrate a mystical trap and save the day, which is the purpose the shaman, Rafael Olvera (Raymond Cruz), serves here. One would think the Weeping Woman would prompt a new approach, but her entire dynamic, from her ghastly facial design to the way she stalks her prey, feels like a rinse and repeat take on The Nun.
RELATED: The Curse of La Llorona Has the Dumbest Family In Horror Movie History Not to mention, all these movies do now is pride themselves on jump scare after jump scare, attacks in bathtubs, people making utterly dumb decisions, inviting agitated spirits home and, of course, the mandatory seance that pays homage to The Exorcist. Storywise, we've seen this concept of a close-knit circle being haunted by a malevolent entity, with kids being dragged from room to room, in both Conjuring movies, as well as the Annabelle flicks. As intriguing as the premise sounds on paper, the film disappointingly goes on to follow a template that has quite frankly become redundant.
The aggravated ghoul has latched on and, as per the legend, she wants to drown the kids to claim their souls to replace her own children.
Chaves' film details the adventures of a social worker, Anna (Linda Cardinelli), and her kids in Southern California in the '70s, with the Weeping Woman looming menacingly on the periphery.