On a superficial level, it may be weird that there are so many horror movies about mothers. Rosemary’s Baby, Psycho, The Babadook, and The Exorcist are the masterpieces that come to mind, but there are so many more; some get right to the point in their titles — Goodnight Mommy, Ma, Mom and Dad, You Are Not My Mother, Mama, mother! It doesn’t take much consideration, though, to realize that every animal comes from a mother; it’s kind of our thing.
Humans, and most mammals in general, grow inside another’s body, parasitically draining nutrients until they’re ready to tear through the birth canal in a gooey, painful exit, or crawl out of someone’s flesh in a gory caesarian. So of course there are plenty of horror films about mothers, and pregnancy in particular — it’s universal, and it’s kind of disturbing. Society sprinkles glitter across this fact, though, covering up the creepiness of it all by calling babies ‘miracles’ and fawning over the beauty of birth.
Huesera: The Bone Woman taps into the hidden disgust of pregnancy, and also the societal pressure for it to adhere to certain norms. Valeria is pregnant, and she puts on a happy face around her family and partner because this is what she’s supposed to want. However, something very dark has seemingly attached itself to Valeria’s mind and spirit, and nobody else sees or hears the horrible things that are haunting her in this wonderfully written psychological horror gem.
A Punk Gets Pregnant in Huesera
XYZ Films
Valeria (a name that brings to mind the plant used for insomnia, anxieties, and of course, premenstrual syndrome and menopause symptoms) opens the film with a visit to a massive Virgin of Guadalupe statue, a spiritual behemoth where women pray for fertility. From there, she becomes pregnant with Raúl (Alfonso Dosal), who loves her just the way she is — now. Her parents are excited, too, but they know more about her past than Raúl does.
Valeria was a bit of a punk rocker. When we see her in flashback, those long, traditionally beautiful locks were shorn in favor of a nearly shaved head, and she was making out with a woman, not a man. That woman, Octavia (Mayra Batalla, who was also great in Prayers for the Stolen), was seemingly the love of Valeria’s life. They were going to ‘run away together’ and escape the city in favor of some desolate mountaintop.
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But social and filial pressure led Valeria to grow that hair out, to settle down with a nice boy, to get pregnant. She’s a brilliant artist, capable of building cribs, chairs, and rotating mobiles by hand, but once she’s created the new baby’s room, she has to put away all her tools to child-proof her life. They are, in a sense, the last vestige of who she was — a little rough, queer, and independent. However, the past is a ceaseless apparition, and Valeria soon becomes haunted by and terrorized by her repressed identity.
The Bone Woman Snaps
XYZ Films
The hallucinations start horrifically. Across the street, she sees a woman jump from her balcony. On the ground, limbs splayed in all different directions with bones jutting out, the woman begins to snap her joints back in place — the ulna, the humerus, the femur, everything starts to creak and crack as the broken woman begins to get up, staring right at Valeria. Of course, there’s no one on the ground when Valeria calls Raúl.
From there, Valeria’s haunting continues in a creepy, dreadful fashion. Huesera falls into that old frustrating trap, where a character (usually a woman or a child) sees something horrible that nobody else sees, and no one believes them. This is generally called, ‘It Was Here, I Swear!’ Huesera isn’t exactly exempt from the annoyances of this trope, but it uses it for good reason. The film is all about a family, a partner, and a society pushing Valeria in one direction, when in fact, she is meant to go the opposite way. So it makes sense that nobody but her would see these monstrosities, and that nobody would believe her — nobody wants to see, or accept her real self.
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Nobody except Octavia, that is, and Valeria’s aunt, a kindly spinster who is also looked down upon by society for her sexuality and life choices. Rather than heterosexuality, she’s a lesbian; rather than Catholic, she has more pagan, mystical beliefs. These two women are the only ones who can help Valeria, because they’re the only ones who accept her for who she is, and who understand what it’s like to be ostracized from the prison of polite society. With a dark ritual and a bit of real love, Valeria can escape the dark forces that threaten her mind, body, and child.
Huesera Has a Perfect Horror Script
XYZ Films
Director and co-writer Michelle Garza Cervera, along with co-writer Abia Castillo and their screenplay advisor Patricio Saiz, construct all of this perfectly. While the film may understandably succumb to some tired tropes, and may lack energy and style at just a few points, the script is magnificent, the kind that could be used to teach writing. Every detail is shown and understandable, yet subtle and fascinating.
Take, for instance, the way that Octavia cracks Valeria’s back in the flashback sequence. That intimacy, where Octavia holds her from behind and lifts her, becomes tied to the sound of her back cracking. When Valeria is then haunted by snapping bones, it has thematic weight to it that’s more significant than just being scary.
XYZ Films
There are many little details like this in Huesera which show the thought and consideration that went into every decision. The way Valeria’s family is written, and how their history is hinted at, is simple yet extremely effective. The way the aunt is fleshed out, or Valeria’s gradual realization that Raúl only loves her artifice and the part of her that’s faked, are all expertly plotted. As Valeria, Natalia Solián lives up to the great script in every sense and gives a standout performance that’s beautifully in tune with Huesera’s vibe.
While it’s not perfect, Huesera has the kind of script that any budding horror filmmaker should study carefully. From its beginning to the bittersweet, astoundingly honest ending, the film knows exactly what it’s doing, and sends some meaningful chills down viewers’ spines while it’s doing it. Huesera: The Bone Woman is opening theatrically on February 10th and landing on VOD beginning February 16th from XYZ Films.
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