[REVIEW] Brooklyn Horror Film Festival: Huesera
Fresh off its wins for Best New Narrative Director and the Nora Ephron Award at Tribeca, Michelle Garza Cervera’s body folk horror Huesera played Brooklyn Horror Film Festival to just as much delight.
Huesera is Garza Cervera’s debut feature and is a feat for any film debut, let alone a horror debut. Garza Cervera and co-writer Abia Castillo have created a wonderfully disgusting twist on the Mexican La Huesera myth. Though the story of a woman battling the realities of pregnancy has been seen in horror before, Huesera is equally invested in the culturally specific pressures among Mexican women and these horrors are explored through a culturally specific myth, creating a unique addition to the canon.
The woman in question in the film is Valeria (Natalia Solián) who becomes pregnant with her husband Raul (Alfonso Dosal) after what is implied to be a struggle with fertility. The couple are overjoyed, but days later Valeria begins to notice a woman without a face following her. The woman’s bones crack in a sound design sure to make any audience cringe, driving Valeria to breakdowns with blood-curdling screams, though no one else can see the woman.
Valeria’s younger life is shown in flashbacks, showing us that she is and always has been in love with a woman named Octavia (Mayra Batalla). Valeria led a life in the punk scene and donned a shaved bleached head of hair, a stark contrast to her appearance in current times. Valeria continues an affair with Octavia in present day so we are able to catch glimpses of her happiness with this woman she loves.
What is perhaps most intriguing about the film is that Valeria is forced to confront her choices and her true feelings about them, as she does appear genuinely elated at her pregnancy and her life with her husband. The pair believably love each other and it’s only when Valeria begins to see the faceless woman that she questions her path in life. She is conflicted with which path to choose and which will be the most fulfilling because both do have their benefits. The film is not so cut and dry as to which life Valeria truly wants to live. This perspective is more nuanced and shines light on the decisions women make and that the life of a mother and wife may not be right for everyone, but it does have its place for the right people. In the end, Valeria leaves the baby with her husband and moves out, letting us know which path she has chosen, but we still see her hold her daughter with love and protection, not contempt. The baby will have a better life with the person who wants to raise her.
Huesera is brilliantly directed with enough suspense and surprise to scare the bones out of you. Garza Cervera has crafted a piece about the pressures of the perfect nuclear family life placed upon women and the freedom that lies just on the other side of breaking free.