The Conjuring Producer’s New Horror Movie Trailer Puts A New Spin On A Creepy Old Story

Scary movies based on urban legends are nothing new. As long as the horror genre has existed, old stories and folklore have been mined for content, whether it was The Amityville Horror or Candyman. Now, thanks to an upcoming film, there’s one more piece of folklore coming to the big screen.

The Curse of La Llorona is based on a Latin American folk tale about the “Weeping Woman,” who is a ghost that cries over the loss of her children after drowning them. A trailer for the new film, which stars Linda Cardellini as the subject of La Llorona’s torment, is putting a bit of a new spin on the story.

In the trailer, Cardellini’s Anna Garcia is a social worker who, as a synopsis for the film explains it, “[ignores] the eerie warning of a troubled mother suspected of child endangerment.” Soon enough, she can no longer ignore that is happening, as the weeping woman is coming for her own kids and leads her to figure out how to vanquish the spirit. The synopsis continues, “Their only hope to survive La Llorona’s deadly wrath may be a disillusioned priest and the mysticism he practices to keep evil at bay, on the fringes where fear and faith collide.”

This isn’t the first time La Llorona has been adapted. In addition to the story being portrayed more than once in Mexican cinema, the legend was the basis of the pilot for the Supernatural TV series. What’s more, before this film was ever announced, a Curse of La Llorona haunted attraction was featured at Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights at both the Hollywood and Orlando parks.

The film comes from producer James Wan (The Conjuring series of films) and director Michael Chaves, who is making his feature directorial debut and already attached to helm The Conjuring 3. Joining Cardellini in the film’s cast are Raymond Cruz (Major Crimes), Patricia Velasquez (The L Word), and Sean Patrick Thomas (Halloween: Resurrection). The Curse of La Llorona is in theaters on April 19.