Shudder 10: La Llorona (2019)
Director: Jayro Bustamante Run Time: 97 min. Rating: NR Release Year: 2019 Language: Hindi
Starring: María Mercedes Coroy
Country: Guatemala, France
Language: Spanish, Maya
Screening as part of the Shudder 10 Screening Series
Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium horror streaming service, celebrates its 10-year anniversary in 2025. Learn more below.
About the film:
In La Llorona, Guatemalan filmmaker Jayro Bustamante reimagines the legendary Latin American ghost story as a chilling political allegory. The film follows General Enrique Monteverde, a retired military dictator who is finally facing trial for genocide committed against the country’s Indigenous Mayan population. Though acquitted in court, he is condemned in the court of public opinion and placed under house arrest, where he lives with his wife, daughter, and loyal housekeeper.
As protests erupt outside their mansion, strange occurrences begin to plague the household — marked by the arrival of a mysterious new maid named Alma. The lines between the supernatural and psychological begin to blur as the family is haunted not only by spirits, but by the weight of guilt, silence, and impunity.
La Llorona blends horror, political drama, and folklore into a haunting meditation on justice, memory, and accountability in post-genocide Guatemala. It is a quietly powerful and deeply unsettling film that transforms a familiar ghost tale into an urgent cry for reckoning.
About the filmmaker:
Jayro Bustamante is a celebrated Guatemalan filmmaker renowned for his profound storytelling that intertwines personal narratives with pressing social issues. Born on May 7, 1977, in Guatemala City, Bustamante spent his formative years in the highlands near Lake Atitlán, immersing himself in the rich tapestry of Mayan culture. He pursued studies in communication and advertising at the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala before honing his cinematic craft at the Conservatoire Libre du Cinéma Français in Paris and the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome.
About the series:
Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium horror streaming service, will mark its 10-year anniversary and a decade of the best in horror with its most terrifyingly ambitious programming slate to date, special fan events, customized merchandise and more.
Kicking off in April and running through the fall, Shudder’s nationwide screening tour, “Shudder 10 Screening Series,” will feature a curated selection of Shudder films that are making their big screen debut.
The tour will make stops at IFC Center in New York City, Music Box in Chicago, SIFF in Seattle, The Coolidge in Boston, Popcorn Frights Film Festival in Fort Lauderdale, Gateway Film Center in Columbus, Screenland Armor in Kansas City, all Soho House locations and more.
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