io9 got a peek at The Curse of La Llorona at San Diego Comic-Con—and now everyone else can join us in our excited (yet petrified) anticipation with the arrival of the film’s spooky first trailer. The movie is by first-time feature director Michael Chaves, who was just hired for a little movie called Conjuring 3.
As the title suggests, The Curse of La Llorona makes use of the horrifying “weeping woman” legend from Mexican folklore, which the film’s press release explains thusly:
La Llorona. The Weeping Woman. A horrifying apparition, caught between Heaven and Hell, trapped in a terrible fate sealed by her own hand. The mere mention of her name has struck terror around the world for generations. In life, she drowned her children in a jealous rage, throwing herself in the churning river after them as she wept in pain. Now her tears are eternal. They are lethal, and those who hear her death call in the night are doomed. La Llorona creeps in the shadows and preys on the children, desperate to replace her own. As the centuries have passed, her desire has grown more voracious…and her methods more terrifying.
Did we mention this movie is produced by James “Welcome to my Conjuring multiverse, now you’ll never sleep again” Wan? (Also producing: Gary Dauberman and Emile Gladstone.) As you can see from the trailer below, The Curse of La Llorona is set in 1970s Los Angeles and stars Linda Cardellini and Patricia Velasquez (as well as Raymond Cruz, Marisol Ramirez, Sean Patrick Thomas, Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen, and Roman Christou). Cardellini plays a social worker and single mom whose latest case ends in tragedy; it also introduces her to a lurking monster who is very much not “just a folktale.” As you will soon see.
That’s really more of a clip than a teaser, which actually works quite well considering how freaking tense that entire scene is. Kids, when mom says stay in the car...y’all better stay in the car!
The Curse of La Llorona is out April 19, 2019.