Huesera: The Bone Woman (2022)
Huesera: The Bone Woman is a 2022 Mexican-Peruvian supernatural body horror film directed and co-written by Michelle Garza Cervera in her directorial debut. It stars Natalia Solián as Valeria, a pregnant woman who finds herself threatened by occult forces. Alongside Solián, the film’s cast includes Alfonso Dosal, Mayra Batalla, Mercedes Hernández, Sonia Couoh and Aida López.
The directorial debut from Mexican filmmaker Michelle Garza Cervera, supernatural horror Huesera: The Bone Woman follows a young woman named Valeria (Natalia Solián) as she becomes pregnant with her first child and begins to question her role as a wife and mother when her ex-girlfriend Octavia (Mayra Batalla) comes back into her life. Haunted by visions of a woman with cracking bones, Valeria’s life begins to spiral out of control.
The film focuses on a protagonist who is torn between heteronormative domesticity with her husband Raúl (Alfonso Dosal) and a life of freedom and adventure with Octavia, paralleling experiences that many bisexual women go through. Additionally, the film displays the importance of intergenerational queer solidarity, as a group of middle-aged women derogatorily referred to as “spinsters” by Valeria’s mother help her to gain autonomy through a magical ritual.
Valeria’s joy of getting pregnant with her first child is quickly cut short when she is cursed by an evil spirit. As danger approaches and her relationships with her family fracture, she is forced into a chilling world of dark magic that threatens to consume her.
Casts
- Natalia Solián as Valeria
- Alfonso Dosal as Raúl, Valeria’s husband
- Mayra Batalla as Octavia
- Mercedes Hernández as Isabel
- Aída López as Maricarmen, Valeria’s mother
- Martha Claudia Moreno
- Sonia Couoh as Vero, Valeria’s sister
Michael Gingold of Rue Morgue wrote that the film “inverts the pregnancy-fear subgenre […] while also paying off the expectations of a genre piece”, and called the film “a singular achievement on the international horror scene.”Meagan Navarro, in her review of the film for Bloody Disgusting, praised Garza Cervera’s direction, writing that “her firm grasp of imagery and tension-building is focused and effective, using fear to engender sympathy with laser precision. Even if Valeria’s denial puts her multiple steps behind the viewer, Cervera’s strong debut sweeps you up in Valeria’s nightmare regardless
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