This is a great folk drama or supernatural drama but it's not a horror film at all. The only time in the entire film that I experienced horror was when I thought Val had thrown her baby out of the window or broken the infant's neck in a fit of post-partum sleep deprived psychosis.
Basically, a bisexual woman leaves her lesbian lover at a young age - late teens from all appearances - and attends college, gets into a serious relationship with a man, and becomes pregnant. All of the things she thought would make her happy.
It turns out the "demons" that she's fighting is simply that this was never the life she wanted. She doesn't like children, she doesn't want to be a mother, she's still in love with her lesbian ex from when she was younger, and she has to undergo an extreme ritual ceremony to make peace with leaving her male partner and newborn baby for the life she actually wants.
It's a good movie in many ways, but I don't consider it a horror movie.
I see so many reviews here saying that Valeria is somehow "irresponsible" or "avoiding motherhood" who missed the point completely. Mexican culture is still extremely traditional and there's a lot of pressure on women to be mothers. Clearly there also is in the conservative parts of the US too. This is basically a movie about a queer person trying to play straight and give society what it wants, only to break down and realize she's living a lie.
In the opening scene, Valeria doesn't seem to even be that into sex with her male partner. I noticed that right off the bat. Then he rejects her sexually while she's pregnant, and she turns back to her female lover, not to another man. I mean I think it's obvious what's actually going on here, and Valeria is not irresponsible at all - she realizes she could hurt the baby and is protecting the child by leaving. Plenty of folks would accept that a child is better off without its biological father, why not the biological mother?
This is a complex film about women and about how religion and traditional society forces people into roles they might not really want, like trying to force gay people to be straight or trying to force women to be mothers when they don't want to be.
Basically, a bisexual woman leaves her lesbian lover at a young age - late teens from all appearances - and attends college, gets into a serious relationship with a man, and becomes pregnant. All of the things she thought would make her happy.
It turns out the "demons" that she's fighting is simply that this was never the life she wanted. She doesn't like children, she doesn't want to be a mother, she's still in love with her lesbian ex from when she was younger, and she has to undergo an extreme ritual ceremony to make peace with leaving her male partner and newborn baby for the life she actually wants.
It's a good movie in many ways, but I don't consider it a horror movie.
I see so many reviews here saying that Valeria is somehow "irresponsible" or "avoiding motherhood" who missed the point completely. Mexican culture is still extremely traditional and there's a lot of pressure on women to be mothers. Clearly there also is in the conservative parts of the US too. This is basically a movie about a queer person trying to play straight and give society what it wants, only to break down and realize she's living a lie.
In the opening scene, Valeria doesn't seem to even be that into sex with her male partner. I noticed that right off the bat. Then he rejects her sexually while she's pregnant, and she turns back to her female lover, not to another man. I mean I think it's obvious what's actually going on here, and Valeria is not irresponsible at all - she realizes she could hurt the baby and is protecting the child by leaving. Plenty of folks would accept that a child is better off without its biological father, why not the biological mother?
This is a complex film about women and about how religion and traditional society forces people into roles they might not really want, like trying to force gay people to be straight or trying to force women to be mothers when they don't want to be.