Plot, Cast, Release Date & Everything We Know | Pretty Reel

Raw pasta, lengths of celery, dried twigs: what do all these things have in common? When enough force is applied, each mimics one of the most horrifying sounds on Earth: a broken bone. One of the most painful things you can experience, broken bones have been a cringe-worthy source of discomfort for years, whether it’s skateboarding accidents on YouTube or some of the movies. most brutal horror. With XYZ Films and Shudder’s upcoming release, Huesera: The Bone Woman, that horrible cracking sound will soon flood your local theater and late-night streaming sessions.

Originally released in 2022, Huesera: The Bone Woman is Michelle Garza Cervera’s feature debut, with a North American release coming just a few months away. Combining motherhood, Mexican folk tales, and that horrible muffler noise, Huesera: The Bone Woman feels like a mortifying examination of societal pressures and prolonged body horror.

That’s all we know about Huesera: The Bone Woman.

Huesera: The Bone Woman: The Plot

The official plot summary for Huesera: The Bone Woman is as follows.

“Valeria, a young woman expecting her first child, is cursed by a sinister entity. Immersed in a terrifying and dangerous world, a group of witches appears as her only hope for safety and salvation, but not without serious risks. »

Family worries, societal pressure, and the constant grinding and crunching of bones punctuate Huesera: The Bone Woman trailer. There’s a distinct audio and visual motif that will likely be shared in the full movie, with chickens snapping in half, knuckles cracking, and cradle bars breaking. While we probably won’t see buckets of gore and gore, there’s more than enough sickening sound design to unsettle even the most hardened of stomachs.

From the teaser for the film, it seems that religion and witchcraft will play a big role in the story of the film. Pregnant Valeria (Natalia Solián) receives a Christian blessing, a golden statue of what appears to be the Virgin Mary looms over a secluded wooded area, and Valeria’s reliance on witchcraft to cure her curse may involve a conflict of faith for potentially saving his life. The teaser is careful to omit what exactly gave him the curse and what exactly the curse is.

The trailer hints at the idea that motherhood isn’t exactly in Valeria’s best interests, until the very first time we see her. She walks past a playground and watches the children there, the slightest smile quickly fading as she gets closer to them. A later shot shows her interacting with another child, whose wide eyes and odd facial expression leave her and the audience slightly unsettled. As her pregnancy progresses, weird things start to happen and the habit of cracking her knuckles causes her to bend one finger backwards at a 90 degree angle. It’s a pretty crude effect, with probably more to come in the rest of the film.

A review from The Hollywood Reporter seems to support this idea. Without spoilers, it’s possible that the anxieties surrounding Valeria’s eventual motherhood are behind the increasingly painful and frightening situations she faces. This goes hand in hand with religious, societal and family expectations which indirectly contribute to it.

Huesera: The Bone Woman: Cast and Crew

XYZ/thrill movies

Leading Huesera: The Bone Woman stars Natalia Solián, an actress some might recognize from the Netflix original series Somos. She’ll be playing the role of Valeria, and based on the elements of her performance shown in the film’s trailer, she can hopefully capture the complexities of a character like Valeria.

In the supporting cast, Alfonso Dosal will play Raúl, Valeria’s husband. Dosal has made a splash on a variety of Mexican TV shows, from A que no me dejas to Para volver a amar, and fans of the Netflix series Narcos: Mexico will recognize him as Benjamin Arellano Félix. Enoc Leaño will also make an appearance as Luis, having previously starred in the award-winning Netflix movie Roma. Other cast members include Samantha Castillo, Sonia Couoh, Martha Claudia Moreno, and Aida López.

The film’s director, Michelle Garza Cervera, previously directed the shorts La Rabia de Clara and Isósceles, released in 2016 and 2013 respectively. Her previous works also delve into similar ideas of family conflict and supernatural external forces. Cervera co-wrote the film with Abia Castillo, a screenwriter who also has a published novel, My Lips Won’t Shut, to her credit.

Release date

Huesera: The Bone Woman will be released in theaters on February 10, 2023. An on-demand release will follow on February 16, 2023, along with a possible release on Shudder.

Everything else we know

XYZ/thrill movies

Huesera: The Bone Woman originally premiered in 2022 at the Tribeca Film Festival, where it was originally titled Huesera. The film received significant critical approval, with Variety praising it for its lack of jump scares and impressive sound design. Comparisons are also drawn to contemporary hits like The Babadook and Hereditary, signaling that Huesera: The Bone Woman is not a movie to miss. While the film may not top the domestic box office titans, Huesera: The Bone Woman looks like a promising start to next year’s wave of fresh and inventive horror titles.