5 Horror Films You Can Stream For National Hispanic Heritage Month
National Hispanic Heritage Month is upon us. One of my favorite ways to celebrate it is by diving into a Latin American country. How, you may ask? By indulging their media mainly through music and horror films. As for horror films, it’s a fantastic way to dive into a country’s ideas, fears, anxieties, or even the individual perspective on certain subjects and concepts. I curated a small list of five horror films that are available to stream as we celebrate Latin American culture.
Disappear Completely (Mexico)
Where You Can Watch: Netflix
Disappear Completely is a film that caught me off guard this year. It follows a freelance photographer named Santiago who captures photos of the dead to sell to local tabloids. His tactics are nothing short of exploitative as he frames these incidents to be more grisly than they first appear. He moves the corpses around with no remorse to get that perfect shot ala Louis Bloom in Nightcrawler.
But this film is more than a horror thriller revolving around morally grey characters in the news industry. The story quickly dives into brujeria as Santiago becomes cursed after one of these situations involving the dead. From here the film truly turns into something special. Not only does the narrative introduce folkloric aspects but the production introduces a gimmick I haven’t seen done before in the genre. As Santiago begins to lose a sense a day from the curse, director Luis Javier Henaine chooses to have the viewers experience his struggles in a unique and terrifying way.
When Evil Lurks (Argentina)
Where You Can Watch: Shudder
Argentina has been making a name for itself amongst horror fans and this is thanks to directors like Demian Rugna. With only two films under his belt, he’s put viewers in horrific situations with suffocating tension to the point you feel a visceral cathartic release when the scene is over. His sophomore release When Evil Lurks is a prime example The film follows a divorced father trying to keep his two sons safe from a virus that makes anyone infected extremely violent. No one is safe from the virus. Rugna makes this perfectly clear during the initial outbreak. He maintains this tension until the climax of the film. When Evil Lurks is a mean film that works on so many levels.
Zombi Child (Haiti)
Where You Can Watch: Tubi
The concept of zombies can be traced back way before George A Romero, may he rest in peace, introduced his ghouls in Night of the Living Dead. The first cinematic appearance of zombies in the horror genre appeared in Haitian folklore through the use of voodoo. Instead of vicious undead corpses, the original zombies were displayed as something entirely different. They were typically Haitian locals who lost their free will and were under the control of someone else. This concept was thriving during its introduction. Unfortunately, there haven’t been too many entries in the horror genre that continue this iteration of the zombies. That is until the director Bertrand Bonello introduced his film Zombi Child.
Now this film is the quietest within this list. This is for an important reason. The horror within Zombi Child isn’t as overt as When Evil Lurks. But Bonello still manages to make the horror an underlying presence throughout the film. It can still be felt throughout the entirety such as the latter. The film follows two storylines, the first is about a zombie called Clairvius Narcisse and his journey to becoming human again after becoming infected. The second is of his fictitious granddaughter Mélissa. It follows her struggles of fitting in a boarding school in Paris after becoming orphaned from the devasting earthquake in Haiti.
The Sacrifice (Panama)
Where You Can Watch: Tubi
Panama is fairly new when it comes to making horror films. Still, its entries have been solely unique and introduce its culture to horror fans in a fun way. The Sacrifice, directed by Alberto Serra, follows two sisters who have entered hard times after the death of their mother. Out of the blue, they are contacted by their grandparents to visit their rural farm. While the sisters are hesitant at first, they agree as there’s nothing for them left in the city. It starts as a normal trip to a small village but the story slowly reveals a sinister plan at hand. The first two acts of the film stay within this constant mystery-like thriller as the sisters feel an off-putting energy coming from their grandparents and locals. But once the third act reveals the mystery, the film enters full chaos filled with so much blood, carnage, and scares.
Satanic Hispanics (Latin America)
Where You Can Watch: Shudder
It only makes sense to end this list with Latin America’s first horror anthology that spans many countries, directors, and viewpoints. Satanic Hispanics has a total of five shorts including the wraparound story. The shorts include “Tambien Lo Vi” (Argentina), “El Vampiro” (United States), “Nahaules” (Mexico), “The Hammer of Zanzibar” (Cuba), and The Traveler (United States). This is a great horror anthology that showcases the work of some of the directors who are currently active within the genre.
Not only that, but it shows just how diverse Latin America is. The anthology is divisive in its tone but it works. It exemplifies how Latin America is not a monolith. There are so many different kinds of stories and perspectives that emerge from each country, just as you can see through this article. Latin America has so many stories to tell and seeing the recognition over the years brings me so much joy. Hopefully, you find a new favorite film within this list or it encourages you to dive more into Latin American horror cinema.
Categorized:Editorials Horror En Espanol News
