Huesera: The Bone Woman

A Mexican horror movie that explores the dark side of motherhood and its impact on a new mother, Valeria, who is tormented by an entity that cannot be named. The film takes a unique approach to the body horror and haunted house genres and presents them in an artfully crafted vessel that brings the characters and their relationships to life. The film won two major awards at the Tribeca Film Festival last summer.

Director Michelle Garza Cervera has a strong grasp on millennial color palettes and each shot in the film is beautifully composed and lit. The score and sound design also stand out for their ability to spike cortisol levels and make the Spanish-language punk tracks in the film seem soothing by comparison.

The most engaging aspect of the film is the characterization of Val, a woman caught between what she wants, what she thinks she should want, and what society wants for her. Val is a rebel with an anti-authoritarian punk rock past, and the idea that she is now a "Mama" first and a person second clearly bothers her. She doesn't take naturally to anything maternal, and her family's teasing about the time she.

This movie is lost between trying to create, horror, and a female empowering movie about motherhood. Sadly, is none of them. Instead we get an annoying and irresponsible 30yo lady who at the beginning wants to be a mother, the. Regrets it because when she was young she drop a baby to whom nothing happened. She hallucinates strange hunting images in an attempt to stop her pregnancy(?). It's hard to care about her journey when all she does is avoid responsibility and constantly cries to make herself look like the victim. I laughed at the dumb dialogue and stupid decisions that everyone makes. This is lost film that doesn't know what it wants to be. Even if it attempts to be political, which is not, is just an immature person who doesn't what she wants.

Despite some cool horror scenes, Huesera is a boring, slow-paced drama that doesn't really go anywhere, nor does it leave any sort of message.

In the film there is the subplot of the main character and her gay relationship with her best friend, which is used as an excuse that she has a second identity, but this relationship never really comes to anything relevant, and neither does her relationship with her husband to be honest. It is simply the typical dose of mandatory forced inclusion these days.

Also many of the decisions and actions of the characters (especially some very important ones) are quite questionable, not to say stupid, and it is impossible not to cringe at the protagonist every time. Not to mention that the acting, especially of the main characters, is quite mediocre. It seems that in order not to include any caucasian characters (because there are no caucasians in Mexico, of course) they chose any actor they could find.

In itself a boring movie as a drama, and dull as a horror, Huesera fails twice as much.

Valeria just found out she is pregnant, and she and her husband Raul are ecstatic. We then notice her withdrawing a bit from Raul with her joy and enthusiasm dwindling. One night, she witnesses a woman jump from her apartment window, but all is not what it seems.

Soon after, Valeria starts sensing and seeing things. Is it her imagination? Is she hallucinating? Or is it something far more sinister? If you've watched 'Huesera: The Bone Woman', then the answer will be obvious, but I'm not doing spoilers here for those who haven't seen it yet!

The film offers so many creepy moments and disturbing images. This is not your average Hollywood-style possession movie and some viewers might be disappointed in that regard. The narration makes the viewer wonder and question what is real, and what is a figment of Valeria's imagination. It also doesn't explain everything as clearly as most mainstream movies do. Either way, it makes for a disturbing watch in the vein of 'Under the Shadow', while the ending (sort of) reminded me of 'The Witch'.

The film takes a bit of a dip around the end of the second act and into the third, but Natalia Solián's fantastic performance as Valeria kept me interested and wanting more. The ending is not what I expected, but then again, this is not your average horror movie and it is unpredictable.

Huesera: The Bone Woman (2022) is a Mexican horror movie that I recently watched on Shudder. The storyline follows a young lady with a checkered past who has settled down with a good man and decided it's time to have a baby and start a family. Unfortunately, some things from her past may come back to haunt her and spoil her plans.

This movie is directed by Michelle Garza Cervera (Mexico Barbaro 2) and stars Natalia Solián (Red Shoes), Alfonso Dosal (Narcos: Mexico), Mayra Batalla (Prayers for the Stolen), Sonia Couoh (Potosi) and Mercedes Hernández (Identifying Features).

The storyline for this movie is fairly straightforward but well executed. The acting is very good, the settings are well selected and the story is well paced. The horror elements have great sound effects and some worthwhile open wounds that make you cringe. The last 15 minutes of the movie does a great job flipping on its head and contains fantastic horror elements. The people at the end of this movie are very creepy and perfectly executed...though I wish the movie got there faster. I also wish they dug a little deeper into the main character's past and into the things she needed to do to survive.

Overall, this movie is very average with a few worthwhile horror elements. I would score this a 5.5-6/10 and strongly recommend it.