The Curse of La Llorona: Does the ending hint at a potential sequel?

The final seconds of The Curse of La Llorona may actually mean something quite sinister for one of the film’s main characters.

Easter weekend’s biggest new film release is the latest entry into The Conjuring universe, The Curse of La Llorona. The movie focuses on the legendary story of La Llorona, also known as the “weeping woman”. She is a central figure in Latin American folklore and her story has been spun into many different variations over the years.

The main similarities through these differing fables is that a woman is overcome with a jealous rage after finding out her husband has been having an affair. She decides to steal from him that which is most precious and drowns their children. In most versions, she is unable to deal with the grief and guilt afterwards and commits suicide.

Stop reading if you haven’t see The Curse of La Llorona yet, there are spoilers from this point on.

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Anna Tate-Garcia (Linda Cardellini) and her two children, Chris and Samantha, become the unwitting new victims of La Llorona. The spectral menace haunts and attacks the family repeatedly throughout the film, attempting to claim the lives of Anna’s children to replace her own.

Eventually, Anna is forced to visit Father Perez (who Conjuring fans will recognize from the first Annabelle film and we do get treated to a quick flashback in order to cement the connection) for help. He advises she turn to Rafael Olvera (Raymond Cruz) for guidance, as he is a former man of faith himself, but his unorthodox methods of handling the paranormal forced him to part ways with the church.

During the film’s climax, Rafael, Anna, Chris and Sam wage war against La Llorona and finally manage to defeat her by using a special crucifix.

But is La Llorona truly gone for good?

In the final frames of the movie, we see Anna glimpse down into a puddle on the ground as the sound of children’s laughter echoes in the background.

Now it may be meaningless, but a final shot in a film is often one of the most important. It’s your note of closure and this one leaves you with a sense of foreboding.

The Curse of La Llorona – Photo Courtesy of Warner Brothers Pictures

What if Anna is doomed to become the new “weeping woman”? What if she was possessed during the final battle?

Throughout The Curse of La Llorona, we see La Llorona reflected in mirrors. It appears she takes issue with seeing her reflection. Twice, La Llorona causes mirrors to crack. At one point, Chris holds up a necklace that belonged to her former life and she returns to her normal beautiful self until Sam inadvertently pulls down a cloth and reveals another mirror, thus forcing La Llorona to see herself and the monster she has become.

It makes sense why there would be an affinity with reflective surfaces, there has long since been legends about mirrors being portals to other dimensions or entryways for demonic forces.

So it seems particularly strange to end the movie with a reflection of Anna in a pool of water, both symbols of La Llorona’s presence.

If you want to get even more in-depth with the analysis, the puddle could be synonymous with the weeping woman’s tears. We have already seen how Rafael was able to weaponize said tears against the spirit.

Then there is the look on Anna’s face. For someone who has just defeated an age-old evil, you would think she’d be happier but the expression she wears is not that of a woman relieved. It is of a woman fearful of what may come next.

Is the puddle a metaphor for Anna seeing herself in La Llorona’s tears? Might she become the next weeping woman? The movie is called The “Curse” of La Llorona and not The Haunting of La Llorona for a reason. Curses live on, curses are passed on from one person to the next…

Do you plan on seeing The Curse of La Llorona in theaters? If you already saw the movie, what did you think of it? Do you think the ending could be setting up a potential sequel film? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

The Curse of La Llorona is now playing in theaters nationwide.