- Directed by Michelle Garza Cervera
- Written by Michelle Garza Cervera, Abia Castillo
- Stars Natalia Solian, Alfonso Dosal, Mayra Batalla
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 37 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yupd1vBO8FA
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This one combines the fears of pregnancy and body changes with religion, family stress, and mythology. And maybe some dark external forces. It looks good, and the acting seems natural, but there was too much of a lack of explanation. We give it a weak thumbs-up.
Synopsis
We open on a woman climbing a huge number of stone stairs on her knees, using a pillow to soften the pain. Others are there, walking up the immense stairs normally. At the top is a huge religious statue. Valeria places flowers at the shrine, and makes a motion as if this is a fertility ritual of some kind. We cut to a woman on fire, and then the credits roll.
Valeria and Raul have sex. He’s into it, but she just wants to get on with her day. She then lays on her back and holds her legs up, another pregnancy helper. After work, she watches children in the park wistfully. She then picks up a report from the doctor’s office, and it’s really good news.
Valeria and Raul start shopping for cribs. Mother-in-law Norma buys them an ugly one that they don’t care for. Her parents, Maricarmen and Luis, and sister Vero are thrilled; their prayers worked.
Not long after, Valeria starts getting severe cramps in her hands. Her friend Octavia hasn’t seen her in years, but they don’t talk for long. That night, she watches a woman jump out a window, but rather than die, she gets all “bendy.” Raul doesn’t see anything and thinks she imagined it.
The doctor says she’s lost six pounds and has anemia. This can’t continue. She goes home and works on the baby’s room. That night, she hears someone downstairs, and we see the “broken” woman from before crawling around out there.
Valeria goes to see Ursula, who does a little ritual and predicts trouble for her. The doctor says it’s going to be a girl. When she sees the baby on ultrasound, she gets afraid.
She takes a nap and we see a hand reach out from under the bed and break her leg. Raul says it’s just a cramp.
We flash back to Valeria and Octavia when they were much younger. Octavia wants the two of them to run off together as a couple, but Valeria is thinking about going to college. Back in the present, Valeria goes to see Octavia, who now teaches boxing. They kiss and make up, but that escalates quickly into more. She doesn’t mention that to Raul.
Valeria goes to her family’s house for some practice babysitting. We see that the children are horrible people. She sees the strange woman again and panics, pressing the alarm button. The kids are traumatized and get minor injuries in the commotion. The dog is killed, but everyone thinks he just choked on his chain. She won’t be asked to babysit again; she may not even be allowed to see the children again.
Raul has friends over for dinner, but Valeria sees a spider in the food and freaks out. She goes into the nursery and sets the bed on fire. She blames the bone woman, but Raul thinks she’s losing her mind. He also knows about the babysitting incident, and also about Octavia. Raul talks to his parents about having her committed.
Octavia has had enough of Valeria’s games and breaks it off with her. Valeria almost immediately goes into labor and has the baby.
Eventually, Raul has to go to work and leave Valeria alone with the baby. It cries all the time, and she does nothing to make it stop. Valeria’s back gets all “scrunchy” and changes. We see that she does something to make the baby quiet. She wakes up later and the baby is gone; she looks all over and finds it crying in the refrigerator.
Valeria’s aunt and Octavia take her to a house in the country. Ursula is there and warns that once they start this, they cannot turn back. Ursula has a group of witches there who will help fix Valeria’s problem. They start a very strange ritual.
She walks through the woods and hears a baby crying. She runs around looking for the source of the sound and we see a woman in a sheet is following her. She sees a whole pile of “broken” people who crawl after her, popping and crunching as they move. The bone-crunching people grab her and tear her apart. Then the woman in the sheet burns up.
Valeria wakes up, and all the witches are smiling. A success!
Back at home, she hands off the baby to Raul and wheels out her suitcases. I guess he’s had enough of her nonsense as well…
Commentary
Being pregnant can be scary, and yes, a mother’s body changes during that time, but this is taking it all a bit far. If there is some actual Mexican mythology or lore behind all this, it’s not explained at all in the film; Valeria comes off as crazy. It’s not even post-partum, as she was weird from the beginning.
The creature effects are good. The suspense is good. I never understood why any of this was happening, and I don’t really know why she left Raul and the baby in the end.
It made no sense.