There have been so many horror movies now that writers have a difficult job creating any fresh and interesting monsters or slasher villains, but there have been a few popular ones lately. After The Conjuring hit cinemas, the Annabelle doll got a lot of attention - and eventually two movies of her own. The producers of these film have now brought out The Nun, which did pretty well too - so it looks like they're on a roll with it.

Their next effort is The Curse of La Llorona, which is directed by Michael Chaves (who is also set to direct The Conjuring 3) and starring Linda Cardellini (yes go Velma), while James Wan, the director of Insidious and both Conjuring movies, is serving as a producer.

The film follows a social worker raising her two children in 1970s Los Angeles, but when she digs deeper into one of her cases, she finds some seriously scary paranormal activity haunting the family. At the centre of this story is 'La Lorona', a ghost from Mexican folklore that has has made its way into other American fiction in the past, such as the pilot of Supernatural and the second season of Sleepy Hollow.

Pronounced as 'LAH-yoh-ROH-nah' and translated into English as "the weeping woman" - the ghost has a rich history as a folk tale in Mexico. The legend goes that a woman married a wealthy man and had two children with him, but when he abandons her for years before reappearing married to a younger woman, she throws her children into a river, drowning them.

Once she realises what she has done, she joins them in the river, hoping to die with them. Denied entrance to heaven until she finds her children, she is caught between the living world and the spirit world until she completes her goal. Now, her spirit spends eternity looking for her children around that river.

It is said that if you hear her cries, they could bring misfortune or even death - while children are warned to stay away in case she finds you and drowns you like she did with her own. Many parents in Mexico apparently use this story to scare their children from staying out too late, and I'm betting it works.

In alternate versions of the story, La Llorona kidnaps lone children who resemble her missing children, asks them for their forgiveness, then kills them to take the place of hers. Appearing at night near rivers and lakes, some believe that those that hear her cries are marked for death.

Clearly, there's plenty of room there for a horror movie in the same vein as The Nun or Annabelle to terrify audiences, and it's actually a surprise no one has made a horror movie about her in recent years. We'll find out if the tale translates well to the big screen when the movie is released in April 2019.

There have been so many horror movies now that writers have a difficult job creating any fresh and interesting monsters or slasher villains, but there have been a few popular ones lately. After The Conjuring hit cinemas, the Annabelle doll got a lot of attention - and eventually two movies of her own. The producers of these film have now brought out The Nun, which did pretty well too - so it looks like they're on a roll with it.

Their next effort is The Curse of La Llorona, which is directed by Michael Chaves (who is also set to direct The Conjuring 3) and starring Linda Cardellini (yes go Velma), while James Wan, the director of Insidious and both Conjuring movies, is serving as a producer.

The film follows a social worker raising her two children in 1970s Los Angeles, but when she digs deeper into one of her cases, she finds some seriously scary paranormal activity haunting the family. At the centre of this story is 'La Lorona', a ghost from Mexican folklore that has has made its way into other American fiction in the past, such as the pilot of Supernatural and the second season of Sleepy Hollow.

Pronounced as 'LAH-yoh-ROH-nah' and translated into English as "the weeping woman" - the ghost has a rich history as a folk tale in Mexico. The legend goes that a woman married a wealthy man and had two children with him, but when he abandons her for years before reappearing married to a younger woman, she throws her children into a river, drowning them.

Once she realises what she has done, she joins them in the river, hoping to die with them. Denied entrance to heaven until she finds her children, she is caught between the living world and the spirit world until she completes her goal. Now, her spirit spends eternity looking for her children around that river.

It is said that if you hear her cries, they could bring misfortune or even death - while children are warned to stay away in case she finds you and drowns you like she did with her own. Many parents in Mexico apparently use this story to scare their children from staying out too late, and I'm betting it works.

In alternate versions of the story, La Llorona kidnaps lone children who resemble her missing children, asks them for their forgiveness, then kills them to take the place of hers. Appearing at night near rivers and lakes, some believe that those that hear her cries are marked for death.

Clearly, there's plenty of room there for a horror movie in the same vein as The Nun or Annabelle to terrify audiences, and it's actually a surprise no one has made a horror movie about her in recent years. We'll find out if the tale translates well to the big screen when the movie is released in April 2019.