Review Huesera: The Bone Woman: pregnancy horror body turned 11

in horror movies HueseraValeria (Natalia Solián) wants to be a mother. She showed her devotion to this idea by making a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe to pray to the Virgin Mary to bless her womb. A furniture craftsman for a living, Valeria eagerly awaits a positive pregnancy test for her boyfriend, Raúl (Alfonso Dosal), while building a crib for their future baby herself. Then something began to haunt her, a character whose shape was unnatural and made her feel like her bones were breaking. Maybe because, in a way, they are.

Michelle Garza Cervera’s directorial debut, Huesera — translated into English subtitles of the movie, bone woman – seeing motherhood through the lens of bodily horror. The expectations of others – which weigh heavily on any married couple, but most heavily on the pregnant – begin to encroach on Valeria’s peace of mind. But where? Huesera stands out in that its horror stems not from the external pressures placed on Valeria, but from her expectations of herself.

HueseraCervera’s screenplay – co-written by Cervera with Abia Castillo – is methodical and clear, as a supernatural phenomenon quietly invades an intimate drama. Not long after becoming pregnant, Valeria began to see things – sometimes a spider, but more often a woman without a face breaking bones as she crawled from one shadow to another. at the edge of Valeria’s line of sight. In the same way as Babadookthe apparently symbolic, but possibly real, apparition — an evil, nameless spirit that only Valeria can see, prompting her to act in a way that causes the family to begin to question about her mental health.

Photo: Film XYZ

While Huesera Still apprehensive about the nature of its gruesome presence, the film is less shady about Valeria’s past than it is a metaphor. As her pregnancy progressed, Valeria began to quietly mourn the parts of herself she gave up in pursuit of the family vision she had so diligently adopted, cooking Raúl’s meals. and build a nursery. She digs up a chest of relics from her not-so-distant past, as she runs around with quirky puns and loudly denigrates the traditional gender roles she’s now willing to sign up for. Huesera leaving the transition between the current Valeria and Valeria punks to the viewer’s imagination. That is largely for the sake of it, because Huesera spend her time on something a little more complicated than a shopping story about a woman transformed by impending motherhood.

There is a focus on ritual in Huesera builds both its horror and character studies in compelling ways. Its scenes are built around ritual types: the opening of the pilgrimage to the Holy Virgin, even as gunfire pierces the forest surrounding the shrine; taming rituals when Valeria and Raúl begin nesting, interrupted by apparitions; the art and buzz of a punk gig where Valeria begins to believe she’s stuck in a life she doesn’t really want; and in folk witchcraft rituals that women practice in private, away from the prying eyes of the church and patriarchy, where mothers and daughters negotiate with unseen forces to gain control of their destiny.

Get rid of the fear of jumping, Huesera instead relies on the protagonist’s inner self. The film focuses closely on Valeria, and Natalia Solián shouldered the burden of storytelling with ease. The others fade around her, but Valeria is the only character with a real arc; support characters mainly act as shields and reflectors, or unselected paths. Solián’s performance is underrated, and it quietly raises a terrifying question about parenting—if having kids is fake until you succeed, what if you don’t stop pretending to be? create?

Image: Film XYZ

Huesera speak in the language of breaking and setting, when rigid structures crack under pressure — the wood of sturdy furniture, the bones of an animal consumed for meat, the expectation of a mother future. Mighty hands pry these things away from their assigned purpose. IN Huesera, Valeria is both a craftsman’s hand and their vehicle: screaming in pain as her bones bend in an unexpected way, but still yearning for control to turn her life around. her into a shape molded by her desires. Cervera created an allegory of motherhood that responds to tradition by asking: Which tradition is the strongest and most powerful? Catholic rigidity represented by a sculpture of the Virgin Mary? The witch of women imprisoned by such ideals? Rebellious puns? When a person whose life is in transition is pulled in so many directions, the body is transformed and the bones are reset.

Huesera: Woman of Bones in limited release and will be on VOD on February 16th, with a Shudder release to follow.