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(aka "The Crying Woman")
Directed by Ramón Peón
Mexico 1933
An early horror classic drawn from Mexico’s rich tradition of folklore, La
Llorona recounts the chilling tale of the ‘wailing woman’ who kills herself
and her child before returning to haunt the living. *** Llorona is a figure unique to Mexican folklore -- the wailing spirit of a woman who lost or killed her child and now returns to seek revenge and haunt the living. With its framing story and flashback structure, this film sets forth a couple of variations of the story. |
Posters and a Book Cover
Theatrical Release: May 25th, 1933
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
Review: Indicator - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Box Cover |
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CLICK to order from: Coming to standard Blu-ray is March 2023 from Indicator: and in the US in September 2024: Bonus Captures: |
Distribution | Indicator - Region FREE - Blu-ray | |
Runtime | 1:10:18.839 | |
Video |
1. 37:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-rayDisc Size: 23,980,830,574 bytesFeature: 19,974,135,360 bytes Video Bitrate: 33.69 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Bitrate Blu-ray: |
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Audio |
LPCM Audio Spanish
1152 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1152 kbps / 24-bit Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps |
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Subtitles | English, English (SDH) None | |
Features |
Release Information: Studio: Indicator
1. 37:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-rayDisc Size: 23,980,830,574 bytesFeature: 19,974,135,360 bytes Video Bitrate: 33.69 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Edition Details:
• Audio commentary with genre-film experts, critics and authors Stephen
Jones and Kim Newman (2022)
Transparent Blu-ray Case Chapters 11 |
Comments: |
NOTE:
The below
Blu-ray
captures were taken directly from the
Blu-ray
disc.
An opening text screen states: "This restoration of LA LLORONA (1933), the first Mexican horror film production made in sound, is based on the sole surviving 16mm projection print and soundtrack of the film known to exist, as all original 35mm materials are thought to be lost or destroyed. The project was completed in 2021 by Permanencia Voluntaria as a collaboration with Filmoteca UNAM, Academy Film Archive and Cinema Preservation Alliance." The original print required extensive work but I love the heavy textures. Ramón Peón's La llorona had been considered lost for over 1/2 a century. From the liner notes; "La Llorona exists solely in a highly compromised element: a 16mm print, which, itself, was at least three generations removed from the primary source, and suffered from poor lab work. In addition to being generally lacking in fine detail and having a very badly printed soundtrack that made voices difficult to discern, quite a bit of physical damage was 'baked in' from earlier generations of abuse to the source materials." So, I applaud the difficult decisions that had to be made to create this 1080P presentation. They removed the cue blips - saving them as an extra in the supplements. It is certainly worn but the film's impression remains in-tact with the long hours put into the restoration. Hopefully you can embrace the final product as I did as an amazing artifact or art of a film almost lost to time.
NOTE: We have added 46 more large
resolution Blu-ray captures
(in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE
On their
Blu-ray,
Indicator use a linear PCM mono track (24-bit) in the
original Spanish language. La llorona
suffers from it's age and production limitations, and being such and
early sound effort, but my buddy Peter Conheim has done wonders to
stabilize and make the sounds as consistent as possible. There are
occasional examples of hiss and scattered dialogue, but all things
considered this audio transfer should be regarded as quite a triumph.
There is a score by Max Urban (Dos
Monjes), and the film has a prevalent haunting atmosphere with
screams and an eerie aura. It works well for a restored film more than
90-years old - especially noting the quality of the only remaining
source. Indicator offer optional English and English (SDH) subtitles on
their Region FREE
Blu-ray.
The Indicator
Blu-ray
offers a new commentary by
Stephen Jones (author of
The Mammoth Book of
Folk Horror: Evil Lives On in the Land!) and
Kim Newman (author of
Nightmare Movies:
Horror on Screen Since the 1960s.) They discuss the heavy
religious motifs of
La llorona, the many unique interpretations of the legend -
always told slightly differently - and how men characters are usually
corrupt, inept or villainous - among many other details. The commentators are very enthusiastic
seeming to gain energy for each other comments. There is so much to
unearth in that they had plenty to fill the 1-hour 10-minutes with
insightful observations and keen comparisons to modern films - even
Universal's early Horror cycle. There are some video supplements as
well. ‘La Llorona’: Ghosts of the Past is a new 17-minute
documentary by Viviana García Besné, the producer’s great granddaughter,
relaying a personal history of the film. Transcending Time is
also new running a shade longer and has Abraham Castillo Flores, head
programmer of Mexico’s Mórbido Film Fest, exploring the myth and the
film. He's quite interesting - perhaps Mexico's version of Kim Newman?
Lunas y estrellas is a short compilation of the source print’s
distinctive cue marks (cigarette burns) - stars and moons etc. shapes,
which were removed during the restoration. It was put together by
Michael Brooke. The package has a limited edition exclusive 40-page
booklet with a new essay by Emily Masincup, an archival article on the
legend of La Llorona, Valeria Villegas Lindvall on the many cinematic
interpretations of La Llorona, an archival newspaper report on
the film’s premiere, an overview of contemporary critical responses,
Peter Conheim on the restoration of La Llorona, and film credits.
Ramón Peón's La llorona
is a wonderful step back in time with curious cultural motifs and
effective horror conventions. I hope this is a new trend to delve deeper
into early Mexican genre cinema. We should feel quite privileged in two
ways - to simply see 1933's La llorona
and that Indicator and their passionate staff have brought it to Blu-ray |
Menus / Extras
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Box Cover |
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CLICK to order from: Coming to standard Blu-ray is March 2023 from Indicator: and in the US in September 2024: Bonus Captures: |
Distribution | Indicator - Region FREE - Blu-ray |
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