Huesera: The Bone Woman

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Huesera has an approval rating of 97% based on 37 reviews, with an average rating of 7.80/10. Its consensus reads, "A bone-chilling body horror, Huesera offers genre fans a twisted take on What to Expect When You're Expecting."[10]

Variety's Manuel Betancourt called Huesera "at times spine-chillingly terrifying," writing that it "rarely [resorts] to jump scares", relying instead on "increasingly disturbing imagery" and sound design.[1] Betancourt concluded: "A fable of modern motherhood, of calcified feminist ideas about domesticity and women's agency, Huesera offers a Mexican folk-inspired spin on such horror classics as The Babadook, Hereditary, Rosemary's Baby and Boias maneras."[1] Natalia Winkelman of The New York Times commended Solian's performance, the film's shot composition and its themes, writing that the film "raises the provocative idea that motherhood can feel akin to a curse [...] the movie — like many great works of vision, scale be damned — is almost an exorcism itself, stripping away fuss and banalities to expose raw truths."[4]

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."[7] 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."[6]