The Wailer (2006)

Waste of time

That was an excellent one.

Excellent but underrated film

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

I had no idea what I was going to get when I rented LA LLORONA or THE WAILER in English. It deals with a Mexican legend that I've heard very little of, about a woman who drowns her two children in order to have the love of the man she wants. After being rejected by this man, she kills herself. Fast forward in the movie and we have an assortment of horror movie clichés that would be worth mentioning to a film class in order to avoid them! You have the sexy teens looking for a good time, going to a lonely cabin in the woods of Jalisco, in the middle of nowhere, the mandatory bad acting, the explicit (albeit, cheap looking) gore and your mandatory tit scene. In all honesty, the premise of this so called "film" holds promise. It could've been a decent horror movie in the hands of a more skilled director, but this is strictly "amateur" hour. Rent (DON'T BUY!) only in interested in seeing classic horror movie clichés ALL in one movie!

I rented this through the red box machines and thankfully it was a free rental..I haven't watched something this bad since Murder Set Pieces... To begin, the lighting and sounded was horrible. In and out, up and down..slow through the whole beginning, the horror didn't start until way later and when it did, it was very amateur. I hate mentioning people's acting abilities because I know its hard, but this was just not good..overly dramatic, poor dialogue and script..bad makeup for the attacks/deaths...cheesy blacked out windows that no one could escape through..that looked like they had black sheets on the outside of the windows... If your going to make a movie even low budget, it can look way better than this visually..and in every other imaginable way...don't bother with this one if you enjoy good quality horror flicks.

Despite the beautiful locations and the inarguable intensity of the first scene, despite the great make-up effects and the right approach on the monster, I found myself waiting (hoping) for the movie to end (or to begin) for most of the lenght of the film. I don't know if it is me, but I found the music really really annoying and unfit, thus making me really uncomfortable in the moments where the movie was supposed to be comfortable... I could almost guarantee absolute boredom for about most of half the film. First half is just... plain uninteresting, and when things finally happen to happen, it gets pretty better but in absolutely no way makes up for the indifference it creates... you're already bored of the characters, and you just don't care for them... (In fact, I found Michelle the only likable character, but maybe cause she gets not much screen in the first half and the pretty good acting). As I stated in the summary, it could have been good but the movie suffers from ,not many, but really bad choices.

First of all let me just say that I'm glad to be writing only the second critique of this film, so I know that it'll be read somehow. I have to agree with a lot of the things the first viewer that posted thought of this movie. I've been a huge fan of this old Mexican legend and always thought it was creepy and hair raising. I live in Laredo, which is a border town to Mexico, and in between is the Rio Grande, so I've heard plenty of stories about La Llorona. There's plenty of versions about her legend but this one nails the more commonly heard version. I'm gonna give you the positives and negatives of this film so here goes:The BadThis film drags for the first 45 minutes. And I mean it drags. The introduction of the film is solid and explains the origins to a minimal extent but it covers what you need to know about La Llorona's origin. After that the movie is slow paced. Here's the story. You have two out three horny couples go to Mexico to have a good time on their vacation. While they're eating they are attended to at their table by a Mexican guy,who informs them that all the hotel rooms are booked but he has this one private cabin that is nice but is out in the middle of nowhere. So they stupidly listen. Believe me, this guy would never be able to sell me a used car but he convinces these three couples to go to the cabin anyway. You're not gonna feel sorry for these people cause of they way they so foolishly accepted this poor guy's offer. The production quality of La Llorona is like one of those late night Cinemax erotica Shannon Tweed movies. It's low budget, and has that trashy b movie feel to it. The acting is lousy, but c'mon this is horror. Horror movies weren't intended to win Oscars for best picture or best acting unless it's an intelligent film like Rosemary's Baby. There's nothing new here in the acting that you haven't seen already. The main protagonist makes you like her cause she's the good girl of the film and so is her couple. That's were the clichés start. Remember it's horror so there's clichés in every horror movie. There's the black cat that pops out to give you the cheap scare. The sudden music. The idiot black guy who just won't shut up and manages to cram and utter every slang word imaginable. There's the horny couple and the overly horny couple. I found most of those characters to be annoying and you sure don't feel sorry for them. At the beginning there's the mysterious drunk old man who warns people of the legend. Pretty much like that old guy in the Friday the 13th movies. The clichés are all there. Absolutely nothing happens within the first 40 minutes after the intro. There's isn't much of a soundtrack to this movie and I thought the movie suffered because of this. It deserved to have a creepy Carpenter like soundtrack. Anything with a creepy piano tone would've done the trick. That's the bad about this film.The GoodThe three females in this movie are downright gorgeous, I have to say that. When the title character makes her presence is an awesome terrifying experience. What I loved about this movie is that you rarely see her. In the shots that you do, there's just quick momentary shots. You see her for seconds and never longer than a minute. I loved that about this film. I don't like to see my killers over exposed. That's why the Freddy and Jason sequels were terrible. You don't want to see Freddy crack jokes before he kills someone in the Nightmare sequels. What made the first movie great is that he was just quiet and killed. Same here. There is no overexposure from La Llorona. What I had said about the production quality of this film isn't just bad but it helps when the movie picks up. I love the low budget feel to a horror movie. I hate the clean new film of the Scream type movies of the new generation. I always preferred the old feel of the Halloween movies and that's what La Llorona has going for it when the movie is clicking on all it's horror cylinders. She is scary as hell and the murder scenes aren't too creative but effective and gruesome. The effects and make up are well done for a low budget film. This movie is a mixed bag. I have to rate this a 6. It's not a bad horror movie but you have to really withstand the first 40 minutes of this film. If you make it after the first 40, I assure you that you will be rewarded. Like the other person said, view this with a good quality sound system, or just turn the volume up. I suggest viewing this at night with the volume up to get the best pop out of it. It'll supply a good scare and you'll enjoy this movie a lot more. It's atmospheric just like the Evil Dead movies were with people trapped in a cabin. I may have given this movie a 6 but believe me, it's a very solid 6. I would love to see this movie edited and add some creepy music to it.