10 must-see Mexican horror movies that you should watch
Take a look at this selection of 10 Mexican horror movies that you are sure to love this Halloween and the Day of the Dead season. Don't hesitate to give these great Mexican works a chance, they will make your hair stand on end!
Mexican horror movies had an impressive boom of brilliant minds, and Mexico is full of legends, myths, and fantastic tales in which creatures, entities, ghosts, and demons interact with humans; for this reason, the taste for horror movies and stories is part of Mexican culture.
Although there are great international masterpieces such as "The Exorcist", "The Shining", "Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Psycho", in Mexico there is a great variety of productions that have extraordinary cinematographic elements that you will surely love for this Halloween and Day of the Dead season, so this is a selection of the 10 Mexican horror movies you can't miss.
Hasta el viento tiene miedo ("Even the Wind Is Afraid")
It is a gothic horror film directed by Carlos Enrique Taboada, who will be very present in this list. It stars Marga López and Maricruz Olivier and tells the story of a group of girls cloistered in their school, where there is the presence of spirit of a suicidal girl who torments the girls and forces them to stay alone in the school.
Mexico | 1968 | 90 min
Director: Carlos Enrique Taboada
Synopsis
In an exclusive female boarding school of harsh discipline and strict control, Claudia and her group of friends are punished during their vacations in the facilities. Claudia spends her nights with nightmares where a ghost torments her, and even though even the assistant principal of the school, Miss Lucia insists to the principal, the severe and cruel Miss Bernarda that the students are in danger, she insists on keeping the students in the school, provoking a tragedy.
Santa sangre ("Holy Blood")
It is a gore horror film written and directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky. The film is famous for its overloaded mixture of magical symbolism, psychoanalytical references, and deep mystical tone. It stars Cristobal Jodorowsky, Blanca Guerra and Guy Stockwell. The story narrates the life of a young circus performer who is disrupted by a series of family events that end up affecting his mental health.
Mexico | 1989 | 123 min
Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky
Synopsis
A boy who works in his father's circus as a magician and mime, and whose mother is a religious fanatic who leads an apocalyptic sect called Santa sangre, experiences a series of atrocious experiences and must be confined in a psychiatric hospital.
Más negro que la noche ("Blacker than The Night")
It is a thriller written and directed by Carlos Enrique Taboada. It stars Claudia Islas, Susana Dosamantes, Helena Rojo and Lucía Méndez. It tells the story of a young woman who receives an inheritance from her aunt: an old house and the care of her cat. However, when she moves in with her friends, strange things begin to happen.
Mexico | 1975 | 96 min
Director: Carlos Enrique Taboada
Synopsis
After the death of aunt Susana, her niece Ofelia becomes the heiress of the old house with the condition of taking care of her aunt's pet, Becker, a black cat. Ofelia moves into the house with her friends Aurora, Pilar, and Marta. Days later the cat mysteriously appears dead in the basement and strange things begin to happen in the house.
El espejo de la bruja ("The Witch's Mirror")
A film from the golden age of Mexican horror films directed by Chano Urueta and starring Rosita Arenas, Armando Calvo, Isabela Corona and Dina de Marco. It tells the story of a man who has to survive a vendetta through a mirror bewitched by a witch.
Mexico | 1962 | 75 min
Director: Chano Ureta
Synopsis
A benevolent witch enchants a magic mirror to protect her daughter Elena from her cruel husband. When the spell fails and Eduardo kills Elena, the witch vows to avenge the death using every unholy element of the supernatural she can conjure.
La Llorona
It is a thriller film written by Adolfo Torres Portillo and directed by René Cardona. It is based on the story of "La Llorona" by Carmen Toscano, which tells the story of a family that is cursed by the evil spirit of Luisa. The film was shot on location in Guanajuato, Mexico.
Mexico | 1960 | 75 min
Director: René Cardona
Synopsis
In 16th century Mexico, a woman named Luisa is visited by an upper-class Spanish conquistador named Don Nuño de Montesclaros. She falls so much in love with the man that she leaves her life to start over with Don Nuño, who has a boy and a girl. However, Don Nuño leaves and explains to Luisa that he will marry a new woman. Enraged and heartbroken, she curses Don Nuño and his descendants, telling him that all the firstborn children will be violently killed.
Veneno para las hadas ("Poison for the Fairies")
It is a horror film written and directed by Carlos Enrique Taboada, considered his best work in the genre. It stars Ana Patricia Rojo and Elsa María Gutiérrez. It won 6 Ariel Awards including Best Cinematography and Direction; a Diosa de Plata for Best Child Acting and a "Bochica de Oro" from the International Film Festival of Colombia in the same category.
Mexico | 1986 | 90 min
Director: Carlos Enrique Taboada
Synopsis
Flavia is a little girl who begins to be friends with Veronica, who wants to be a witch, thanks to the influence of the stories about witchcraft told by her nanny. To her friend's disbelief, Veronica takes advantage of a series of fortuitous circumstances to convince her that she has provoked them, using her magical arts. The innocence of these games takes a macabre turn when Veronica insists that Flavia invite her to vacation at her family's ranch, where she can prepare poison for the fairies.
El Escapulario ("The Scapular")
It is a horror film directed by Servando González. It is characterized by the care of the photography, the setting, and the lighting, outstanding factors for the narrative. It is an innovative film for Mexican cinema since it used color correction, subjective shots, and narrative elements that allow the viewer to see through the character.
Mexico | 1968 | 88 min
Director: Servando González
Synopsis
Anyone who does not believe in the power of the mysterious scapular possessed by an old woman will die. At the time of the Mexican Revolution, a dying old woman sends for a priest. Before he performs the last rites, she interrupts him and tells him about a miraculous scapular that has belonged to her family all her life.
Dos monjes ("Two Monks")
It is a mystery and fantastic horror film directed by Juan Bustillo Oro and starring Víctor Urruchúa and Carlos Villatoro. The director wanted to give the film an unreal atmosphere, making it enter a German expressionist environment and thus achieve uncommon cinematographic effects.
The famous surrealist André Breton praised the film as "an audacious and unusual experiment." It is a film of impressive textures and chiaroscuro, masterfully photographed by Agustín Jiménez, an exceptional film of Mexican cinema of all times that you have to see.
Mexico | 1934 | 85 min
Director: Juan Bustillo Oro
Synopsis
In a nineteenth-century monastery, two monks get into a fight. When called to confession, each tells a different version of the same story, in which the only common element is the woman they were both in love with.
El libro de piedra ("The Stone Book")
It is a gothic horror film directed again by the incredible and talented Carlos Enrique Taboada. The film has a development of events that is nothing more than a balance between reason and madness, paths that culminate in a heartbreaking and shocking ending.
Mexico | 1969 | 100 min
Director: Carlos Enrique Taboada
Synopsis
After millionaire Eugenio Ruvalcaba and his second wife Mariana move to a mansion far from the city, their daughter Silvia begins to behave strangely, including playing with Hugo, her imaginary stone friend.
Alucarda, la hija de las tinieblas ("Alucarda, the Daughter of Darkness")
Finally, we close with this horror film directed by Juan López Moctezuma and starring Tina Romero. It tells the story of two orphans who live in a Catholic convent and are confronted with a diabolical possession. Although it is a Mexican film, it was originally filmed in English.
The film embroiders controversial themes such as Satanism, murder, hell possession, exorcism, orgies, and lesbianism, all wrapped up in religion. This caused it to generate a lot of controversies and was harshly criticized at the time of its release. Due to its extreme violence, scenes of sacrilege, and perversity around religion and morality, the film has become a reference for fans of gothic horror.
Mexico | 1978 | 85 min
Director: Juan López Moctezuma
Synopsis
In the 16th century, in an old convent in Mexico, lives Alucarda. The enigmatic young woman lives normally until her adolescence, until Justine, whose parents have just died, arrives. The two immediately connect and become friends. The innocence of the relationship between the two turns into desire, and ends when Alucarda, unknowingly, visits the macabre place where she was born; later, with the advice of a gypsy, she invokes Satan and in the middle of a pagan ritual she will make a blood pact with Justine that will unite them until death.
Don't hesitate to give these great Mexican horror movies a chance, they will make your hair stand on end!
