A few weeks after Día de los Muertos, still caught up in the vibe of skulls and spirits, we dove headfirst into the world of Mexican horror. Typically celebrated on the first and second days of November, the Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, honours the souls of the deceased who return to visit their family members on earth. This tradition dates back 3,000 years and is said to be linked to the Catholic feast days of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day.

For most, Día de los Muertos is a reflective occasion that celebrates the lives of lost family members and joins them in their remembrance through joy and love. During this celebratory period, people often pay tribute by decorating altars with sugar skulls, flowers, candles, food, and other significant items to honour the lives of those who have passed.

While it’s not traditionally associated with watching films, we have decided to create a list that intertwines the fleeting spirit of Halloween with that of Día de los Muertos. With that, we present to you ten of Mexican cinema’s best horror films.

LA LLORONA (1960)

Rene Cardona

La Llorona or as she's referred to in English, The Crying Woman, is one of the most famous Mexican folktales of all time. As such, there have been many renditions of the story over the years.

Cardona's Golden Era adaptation follows the story of two newlyweds as they are told the legend, while the audience is presented with flashbacks of the original tale's progression. In it, a woman named Luisa is shunned by her husband for not being of pure Spanish descent.

As she learns of his infidelity and plans to leave her, she takes revenge on him through the murder of their children and is soon after put to death for her crimes. In her final moments, she curses her former husband and his new bride, damning every first child born of their bloodline to be murdered, just as she murdered her own children. The story then returns to the present day, where the newlyweds are less than amused with the tale, only to find that the bride is a descendant of this cursed bloodline and her infant son is in danger of being taken by this deadly legend come to life.

ALUCARDA (1977)

Juan López Moctezuma

Scripted entirely in English, Alucarda is a film that loosely adapts the 1872 Gothic novella Carmilla. The film follows the story of two orphaned girls who come together in a Catholic convent and bring about its downfall by inviting Satan into the convent’s halls.

Moctezuma explores themes that were considered highly taboo for a film released in the late 1970s, such as demonic worship, profane murder, exorcisms, orgies, and the depiction of religious leaders as oppressive dictators, along with much other blasphemous imagery. Alucarda is a visually striking and gory film that is sure to become a favourite of anyone who watches it.

Alucarda (1977)

1974: LA POSESIÓN DE ALTAIR (2016)

Victor Dryere

Portrayed through a "found-footage" style, 1974 takes themes of the paranormal, conspiracy, and religion to deliver a delectably dark and shivering experience. Shot entirely on 8 mm film, the grainy visuals help immerse viewers in the portrayed period and add an extra layer of eerie realism to its viewing.

The film begins with a flurry of people: reporters, doctors, and police are requesting any information on a missing newly wedded couple when suddenly their home videos are found. These videos account for a harrowing tale of a strange spiral of what became of the couple and the skill contained in the imagery of these videos will have viewers anxiously reminding themselves that this is not actually a documentary.

1974 La Posesion de Altair, 2016 trailer

LA REGIÓN SALVAJE (2016)

Amat Escalante

It's said that Escalante was inspired to film La Región Salvaje after reading a degrading article about a freak accident that occurred involving a gay man. Appalled by the lack of compassion and humanity for the man, Escalante went on to create La Región Salvaje, a Cronenberg-esque psycho-sexual thriller that explores the themes of homosexuality, gender roles and violence in an attempt to mock the chauvinism and homophobia of mainstream media in Mexico.

The film begins with a woman being pleasured by some sort of tentacle alien but this is only a catalyst for what’s to come. The story follows a married couple, Alejandra and Angel, who are dealing with the hardships of a complacent marriage and struggle to keep their love alive in the face of religious values and chauvinism. Living with them is Alejandra's brother, Fabian, a nurse at the local hospital. As the family struggles to keep it together, a woman called Veronica approaches them with an otherworldly solution that has blasted from space into her isolated cabin, promising to keep the family together or truly tear them apart.

La Región Salvaje (2016)

MÉXICO BÁRBARO (2014)

Various Directors

México Bárbaro is an 8-chapter horror film anthology that is based on is based on real Mexican legends and Traditions.

In it, eight different Mexican directors were given the free reign to portray eight different tales in their view.

Tzompantli (Laurette Flores)

The first film in the anthology highlights the likeness of rituals practiced by drug dealers to those of which originated with the Aztecs. It begins, with a journalist narrating from the future, a time when he discovered a gory altar put together by a cartel which emulated ancient Mexican customs.

Jaral de Berrios (Edgar Nito)

Forced to take refuge in the ruins of Hacienda del Jaral de Berrios in San Felipe, two criminals experience occurrences that defy logic, realizing there is truth to the legends of Jaral del Berrieos' curse.

Drena (Aaron Soto)

Upon smoking a joint found on a dead body, a young girl begins having entity-induced visions that she must drain her sister's menstrual blood.

La Cosa más Preciada (Isaac Ezban)

Two teenagers in love, escape for a romantic night in the forest, hoping to enjoy an unforgettable evening together. Upon discovering the forest is inhabited by Aluxes, or trolls, the night is indeed unforgettable, but not in the romantic way that they planned.

Lo que Importa es lo de Adentro (Lex Ortega)

Laura is a young girl who is unable to communicate due to an undisclosed disability. As such, she's developed a strange fixation for looking out her window, allowing her to witness all the things that come to pass in her neighbourhood. As Laura begins to see more and more terrible things from the window, including the abduction of her younger brother, her distress gives her the ability to utter one-word "boogeyman." She utters this word whenever her building's custodian is nearby, but her parents ignore her cries.

Muñecas (Jorge Michel Grau)

A woman escapes her butcher captor, only to be recaptured in the canals of Xochimilco. In these canals, hundreds of dolls hang darkly: dismembered, decapitated, and sadly tortured.

Siete Veces Siete (Ulises Gùzman)

A narco trafficker steals a corpse from a rival but then performs a ritual to bring him back to life first, so the deceased can atone and then kill him and start all over again.

Día de los Muertos (GiGi Saul Guerrero)

Taking place in a seedy brothel in Northern Mexico a group of abused women are under rule to perform. On the night of the Day of the Dead, they open their doors to all sinful men, to take their revenge through a bloody exotic dance.

Mama Andres Muschetti (Guillermo del Torro)

Mama is originally based on a three-minute horror short directed and written by Muschetti. The 2013 version, follows the story of a couple who come to raise their nieces who have been missing for five years following the disappearance and presumed death of their father. As the girls had to fend for themselves for such a long period of time they became feral, and it was assumed that their psychological state had become deeply impaired due to claims of assistance from a mysterious figure called "Mama."

Though attempts at remaking a normal home and life for the girls are made, there are strange and dark occurrences plaguing the house that keep this new family from attaining a normal happy life once again.

México Bárbaros (2014)

SOBRENATURAL (1996)

Daniel Gruener

Sobrenatural, or as it’s referred to in English: All of them Witches is Gruener's tribute to Rosemary's Baby but with the addition of a little voodoo flavour. Following the unexplainable death of her best friend taking place on her doorstep, and the experience of violent nightmares experienced by her husband, Dolores' life becomes a terrifying living nightmare. To combat this delusion-inducing strangeness, Dolores contacts a witch for guidance, and together they go deeper into an unstable madness.

Sobrenatural, 1996 trailer

THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE (2001)

Guillermo del Toro

Taking place in Spain during the final days of the Civil War, The Devil’s Backbone tells the tragic tale of what a ghost really is. Not an entity that exists only to frighten but a soul that aims to communicate a message so it may finally rest. A 12-year-old boy whose father has died in the war is left at an eerie orphanage by his tutor, as he attempts to come to terms with his new harrowing life, he makes a terrible discovery of the secrets that the orphanage holds.

The Devil’s Backbone (2001)

CRONOS (1993)

Guillermo del Toro

Cronos is known for being the directorial debut feature film of del Toro's career. The film begins in 1536, as an alchemist creates a device to bestow upon himself eternal life. Centuries later, in the collapse of a vault, the alchemist is found dead, pierced through the heart with a stake made from the debris.

The film then turns to the year 1996 when the device is found by an old antique dealer. As the device latches on to him and pricks his skin, he is then granted eternal life and youth...at the cost of an equally eternal thirst for blood. As the antique dealer is enjoying his newfound vigour, others plot to steal his device, but he's not willing to give up immortality so easily, even at the cost of his family.

Cronos (1993)

EL GIGANTE (2014)

Gigi Saúl Guerrero and Luke Bramley

Despite its short run time and low budget, El Gigante is a hard-hitting drama that attacks the senses. A young Mexican man uses his life's savings to hire a smuggler to get him, and his family across the U.S borders in hopes of starting a new life. Instead, he is abducted by a strange cannibal family and is forced to participate in a wrestling match. The "Lucha-gore" depicted in the film brings new meanings to the term culture shock, and is sure to leave viewers deeply unsettled.