It’s October, which means it’s officially Halloween season — and no demographic gets more riled up for the onslaught of horror and haunts than Latinos.
According to UCLA’s most recent Hollywood Diversity Report, Latinos made up 29.1% of audiences for theatrical horror releases in 2025 — 9 percentage points higher than the percentage of the U.S. population they make up.
Even though Latinos remain historically underrepresented in Hollywood horror, as they do in Hollywood in general, Latinos have played a pivotal role in crafting horror onscreen since the talkies.
For this month, De Los has curated a guide to scary movie classics screening in L.A. and Orange County, featuring Latino talent where they were meant to be seen: on the big screen. Find out where to watch these fright flicks below.
“Dracula” (1931, U.S.)
This 1931 adaptation of “Dracula,” starring Carlos Villarias and Mexican star Lupita Tovar, was filmed using the same sets at the Universal Studios lot as Tod Browning’s English-language version that came out in the same year. Directed by George H. Melford, the Spanish-language “Dracula” was filmed exclusively at night — while its English counterpart went to work during the day.
The film was shot on a way shorter schedule than the U.S. version and had a significantly smaller budget. Additionally, Melford spoke no Spanish and communicated with his cast through an interpreter.
Villarias delivers a more over-the-top, theatrical performance than Bela Lugosi’s English-language offering, while Tovar imbues her take of the entranced Mina character with pre-Hays Code sensuality and confidence that distinguishes the horror flick from the U.S. interpretation.
In 2015, the movie was preserved by the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress due to its cultural and historical importance.
“Dracula” is showing at the Frida Cinema in Santa Ana on Oct. 25 at 10:30 a.m. Buy tickets here.
“Santo y Blue Demon Contra Dracula y el Hombre Lobo” (1973, Mexico)
Wrestling and camp meet horror in this tale of good versus evil.
Legendary luchadores El Santo and Blue Demon take on their most formidable opponents, Dracula and the Wolf Man, in this 1973 action-horror flick.
The film is as over-the-top and schlocky as a lucha libre match and serves as a time capsule for 1970s style.
Presented by the Eastside CineClub, “Santo y Blue Demon Contra Dracula y el Hombre Lobo” is screening at the Libros Schmibros Lending Library in Boyle Heights on Oct. 16 at 7:30 p.m. This is a free event.
“From Dusk Till Dawn” (1996, U.S.)
Director Robert Rodriguez’s 1996 film starring George Clooney and featuring a memorable performance from Salma Hayek is a bloody fantasia of vampire and western tropes.
The movie follows border-crossing outlaws (Clooney and Quentin Tarantino) as they flee law enforcement by hiding out at a Mexican bar, but soon they must fight for their lives against vampires.
Violence flows freely in Rodriguez’s homage to vampire B-movies, while offensive humor spews from the lips of the main characters.
“Bordering on camp satire, ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’ mixes a plot from a ‘50s horror movie with special effects, the aforementioned raunchy language and a ‘90s soundtrack,” Times movie critic Lynn Smith wrote upon the movie’s release.
“From Dusk Till Dawn” was notably mentioned by director Ryan Coogler as an inspiration for his Oscar-winning film, “Sinners.”
On Oct. 20, “From Dusk Till Dawn” will be screened at Milagro Cinemas in Norwalk at 7:30 p.m. Buy tickets here.
La Llorona (2019, Guatemala)
Folk horror meets real-life atrocities in Guatemalan director Jayro Bustamante’s 2019 feature “La Llorona.”
The movie tells the story of fictional dictator Enrique Monteverde, as he stands trial for green-lighting a genocide of Guatemala’s Mayan population. After being acquitted on a technicality, the former leader encounters the ghosts of Mayan genocide victims as protests break out throughout the country in response to the verdict.
In the movie, the La Llorona folktale is conjured and subverted, painting the murderer as an aggrieved mother who was a victim of state-sanctioned violence.
Monteverde‘s character is based on the Guatemalan dictator Gen. Efraín Ríos Montt, who oversaw the country’s genocide of Mayan people in the 1980s, during the Guatemalan civil war.
“La Llorona” is playing at UCLA’s Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum on Oct. 31 at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free. Additional information about the screening can be found here.
“La Casa Lobo” (2018, Chile)
Animated horror makes an appearance on this list with “La Casa Lobo,” the 2018 directorial debut of Chilean filmmakers Cristobal León and Joaquín Cociña.
Featuring a mixture of stop-motion and 2D animation, the movie functions as a surrealist fairy-tale propaganda film produced by the leader of a fictional religious sect that uses the media as a form method for indoctrinating his followers.
The premise was inspired by the real-life events that took place in Chile’s Colonia Dignidad — an enclave within the South American country made up of German immigrants led by a cultist preacher that became known as a torture camp for political dissidents during the military dictatorship of U.S.-backed Chilean leader Gen. Augusto Pinochet.
The movie will be screened at the Philosophical Research Society in Los Feliz on Oct. 14 and presented by El Cine, the L.A.-based nonprofit and film collective aimed at creating a space for bilingual Latino movie lovers. Buy tickets here.
“Night of the Living Dead” (1968, U.S.)
Did you know that the architect of the zombie movie was Latino?
Director George A. Romero, the son of a Cuban immigrant, directed, edited, shot and co-wrote 1968’s seminal zombie flick “Night of the Living Dead” on a shoe-string budget — while still in his 20s.
The film follows a group of adults in an isolated Pennsylvania farmhouse, as hoards of flesh-eating ghouls overrun the country and infiltrate their residence. As is the now the norm in movies of this genre, “Night of the Living Dead” is infused with social commentary, touching upon race relations in America and Cold War-era politics.
Romero’s zombie flick will be shown on Oct. 9 on a rare 16mm film print at the Art Theatre of Long Beach. Buy tickets here.
“Pan’s Labyrinth” (2006, Mexico/Spain)
Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro’s magnum opus “Pan’s Labyrinth” celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. To honor the occasion, select movie theaters across the L.A. area will be screening the monster flick throughout October.
Set in 1940s Spain during the dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco, the story follows 10-year-old Ofelia as she is introduced to a magical underworld, while also navigating the more treacherous reality of her home life.
“ ‘Pan’s’ stories of what’s happening underground and above ground subtly reinforce each other, but the film refuses to say what exists and what does not,” Times movie critic Kenneth Turan wrote in his 2006 review of the movie. “It not only leaves us free to determine how real Ofelia’s world is, it trusts us to make the right decision.”
Though narratively rich, “Pan’s Labyrinth” really shines thanks in large part to the terrifying practical effects and costumes employed throughout the film.
The 4K restoration of “Pan’s Labyrinth” is screening at several theaters across L.A. and Orange County beginning Oct. 9. Buy tickets here.
“Cronos” (1992, Mexico)
This 1992 vampire movie was Del Toro’s feature film debut.
In very Latino fashion, “Cronos” blends horror with mythology and religion to craft spine-tingling scares. The flick follows an elder antique trader who dredges up a 500-year-old artifact that invigorates him with youth but has the unfortunate side effect of turning him into a vampire.
“Cronos” possesses the hallmarks of many of Del Toro’s films: incredible practical effects, empathy for a monster and fantastical world-building.
“[T]he real centerpiece of this film is writer-director Del Toro, who’s made a droll film out of what is often exploitation material,” Turan wrote in his review of the movie. “Edgar Allan Poe with a sense of humor, Del Toro not only has fun mixing genres, he knows how to convey his enjoyment and make the result distinctly his own. With any luck he’ll have a creative life as long as any vampire’s.”
“Cronos” is screening at the Downey City Library on Oct. 8 at 5 p.m. Admission is free. More information about the presentation can be found here.
“Obsession” (2025, U.S.)
Curry Barker’s “Obsession” is perhaps the most surprising box-office hit of the year so far.
Made on a sub-$1-million budget, the film made $519.4 million at the worldwide box office. But it wasn’t just a commercial success; leading lady Inde Navarette was lauded for her dynamic performance.
The movie is a monkey’s paw-style tale of a down-on-his-luck young man, who uses a magical wish device to make his crush like him back. Naturally, the wish goes awry and all hell breaks loose.
Breakout star Navarette recently spoke with De Los about her Mexican background and how she hopes to breakdown stereotypes about Latinas.
“Whenever I first saw [people online calling my character in the movie a ‘toxica’] I kind of cried because it made me really sad that people took my pride in being Mexican and saw it as, ‘Let’s degrade this person’s experience,’ ” Navarrette said.
“There’s this idea that Latina women are just so intense and so crazy. But let’s look a lot deeper than that. It did hurt my feelings. But I can understand where they’re coming from. It’s a surface level thing to say and sometimes jokes are just that.”
“Obsession” is screening at the Rooftop Cinema Club in Downtown L.A. on Oct. 18 at 9:50 p.m. and Oct. 26 at 9:10 p.m. Buy tickets here. The movie is also screening at Heritage Square Museum on Oct. 16 at 5:30 p.m. Buy tickets here.
The post Spooky screenings: Where to watch Latino horror movies this month in L.A. appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
