Huesera: The Bone Woman

Valeria is a newly pregnant young wife, but her feelings at the thought of soon becoming a first-time mother quickly darken when she is cursed by a sinister entity. As the creature closes in, becoming more and more dangerous, she is forced deeper into a chilling world of dark magic that threatens to consume not just herself, but her child as well.

Finally pregnant after many attempts, Val has been struggling with the quiet dissatisfaction of growing up, of growing old, and the finality of her adulthood at this stage in her life. The threat that this is who she is, and this is who she will always be, especially with a new baby on the way, is daunting. She feels like she loves where she is, that she loves her baby and her husband and their life, but she also can’t help but long for her old wild-ass, partying, “fuck you” punk rock past, and the good times with the old girlfriend she left behind there. She was freer then, not so tired down. She was more honest then too. Or at least, that’s how it feels to her now, pregnant, about to become “Mom” and to stop being “Val.”

Her inner conflicts end up attracting the attention of a demon.

The thing latches itself to her, cursing her. It stalks her, clinging to the shadows, its bones cracking and snapping as it scuttles about, causing havoc in her relationships and in her reputation, causing damage in her life, physically and emotionally. No one believes her, of course, she appears to be losing her mind, suffering from a condition that starts out as maybe the usual bout of “baby brain” perhaps, but it becomes more and more dangerous, and soon her loved ones are questioning her sanity, and begin to believe that she may be a threat to her baby.

In order to save herself and her child, Val must turn to a local coven of witches, a group of women who wield powerful dark magic, and who also have some experience with this kind of thing.

Huesera: The Bone Woman is a tense and scary little Mexican horror movie concerned with the dark abyss that can consume both motherhood and adulthood, exploring not just Val’s fear of what society deems to be her fulfilling her ultimate purpose in life, but also her realization that the bourgeoisie young wife she is now is miles and miles from the anti-authoritarian young punk she used to be.

There’s a lot of broken bones in this film. There’s a lot of use of the loud snap-crack sound of breaking bones too. There’s also a lot of agonizing contortions that lead to a lot of the use of that breaking bones sound. Just fyi. As I understand it, a “Huesero” is a person who specializes in the mending and setting of broken bones, so the title seems to suggest that a person on the wrong path, much like a badly set bone, needs to be broken, and reset properly, before they can truly heal and become who they are supposed to be.

So yeah, a lot of this film is about a young woman realizing that she might not be happy with the life she is now living, and it then follows her as she navigates this realization, and tries to discover her path to true happiness.

But also, there’s definitely a demon after her.

Huesera: The Bone Woman is a pregnancy-as-body-horror meets existential crisis story set in a haunted house movie, that merges the monster that is in Val’s head and the monster that is after her soul very effectively.

It’s really good.

Scary. Atmospheric. Artfully done. Driven by a Spanish-language punk rock soundtrack. This film often relies on prickly, discordant sounds to ratchet up the tension as Val tries, mostly unsuccessfully, to keep it together during her pregnancy. The stress is palatable, the demon creepy, and the baby’s arrival only makes it worse. The whole thing culminates in an incredible dream-like sequence in a dark and damp forest of tangled naked branches, featuring a literal pile of contortionists, their limbs all bent at frightening angles, as Val and the witches wage a magical war against the vicious demon.

This film sits comfortably at the intersection of the everyday horrors of real life and the supernatural horrors that are lurking just beyond the firelight, much the same as something like Issa Lopez’s Tigers Are Not Afraid does. They’re not the same kind of story obviously, but the tone is similar, and both are very good, and I feel like, if you liked Tigers Are Not Afraid, then you’ll probably enjoy Huesera: The Bone Woman.

Plus, loved the ballsy ending.

Big thumbs up.