La Llorona is coming for you. And in some theaters, this dark spirit will be charging toward you from every angle.
The Curse of La Llorona, the newest chapter in the ever-popular Conjuring Universe, was unleashed upon the population this past weekend and saw a whopping $26 million opening at the box office. It also happens to be one of a few films currently in theaters to take advantage of the ScreenX theatrical experience. Horror Buzz was invited by Warner Bros. to attend one of these screenings to experience the film in a more immersive environment.
For those who are unfamiliar, ScreenX is a multi-projection theatre experience that expands the frame to the auditorium walls, allowing a film to become a 270-degree immersive experience where action can happen to the left, right, and in front of the viewer. The intent is for the film to envelop the audience, and for The Curse of La Llorona, this is used to quite an interesting effect.
During the opening scene—a flashback showing the origin of La Llorona—the side-wall projections fade on, extending the frame in such a way that the setting appears to surround the room. The idea is to make the audience feel like they’re in the middle of the action, and the effect itself is pretty neat. Seeing the environment of the film move around you adds a fun, theme-park-attraction-feel to the experience, and this element is used pretty well here.
When the horror and suspense sequences arise, the side-wall projections are used in an attempt to wring any added eeriness out of these scenes. While much of the main action plays out on the center screen, the side projections incorporate several blink-and-you-miss moments of ghostly activity that you’re meant to catch in your peripheral vision. These moments are when the ScreenX experience for this is most effective, peppering in a few extra eerie flourishes that tease the audience from all sides.
These added projections also allow the film to include additional views of the events unfolding on screen. For example, during a montage in which the characters are setting up spiritual defenses against the dark entity, the side walls display supplementary montages showing different parts of their preparation from other angles. It helps to paint a more detailed picture of what was happening and added a moody feel to these scenes. A similar technique was also used during La Llorona’s sudden appearances on screen. Large close-ups of her screaming face would be projected onto the side walls as a means of making the audience feel like she was surrounding them.
That’s not to say that this experience is perfect. While the uses of the side-wall-projections add a fun layer to the viewing experience, they are not used for the entirety of the picture. They are used during certain scenes and sequences but are absent during others. While their appearances are admirably motivated (e.g., the side projections will start just as a character turns on a light), it is slightly distracting to see them appear and disappear multiple times throughout the movie. Greater consistency would have helped this viewing experience feel more organic and seamless.
Overall, the best way I can describe the ScreenX experience for The Curse of La Llorona is neat. It adds a fun, almost sideshow-like effect to the film that left this audience member checking his peripheral vision every time it came into play. Whether you find its implementation scary or silly, it never took away from the experience and it remained entertaining nonetheless.
