Huesera takes pregnancy body horror up to 11

polygon.com:

In the horror movie Huesera, Valeria (Natalia Solián) wants to be a mother. She shows her devotion to this idea by making a pilgrimage to a shrine for Our Lady of Guadalupe to pray that the Virgin Mary bless her womb. A craftswoman who makes furniture for a living, Valeria eagerly awaits a positive pregnancy test with her boyfriend, Raúl (Alfonso Dosal), while building a crib for their future baby herself. Then something begins haunting her, a figure that takes on unnatural shapes and makes her feel like her bones are breaking. Maybe because, in some way, they are.

The directorial debut of Michelle Garza Cervera, Huesera — which translates to the film’s English subtitle, The Bone Woman — looks at motherhood through the lens of body horror. Other people’s expectations — which weigh heavily on any couple looking to start a family, but on the pregnant person the most — begin to infringe on Valeria’s peace of mind. But where Huesera stands out is in how its horror stems not from external pressures placed on Valeria, but in her expectations for herself.

Huesera’s script — which Cervera co-wrote with Abia Castillo — is methodical and clear, as a supernatural apparition quietly invades an intimate drama. Not long after getting pregnant, Valeria begins to see things — sometimes a spider, but more often, a faceless woman whose bones break as she crawls from shadow to shadow at the edge of Valeria’s vision. In a manner similar to The Babadook, the apparition is clearly symbolic, but also possibly real — a malign, unnamed spirit that only Valeria can see, causing her to act out in ways that make her family begin to question her mental health.

While Huesera remains coy about the nature of its horrific presence, the film is less