There’s a stereotype about Latino films – either we’re the upbeat/exotic people who help the lead character find themselves (equivalent to a Manic Pixie Dream Girl) or we’re stuck in melodramas / tales of suffering and violence, instead of genre. And while neither is inherently wrong, their pervasiveness can give people a very limited idea of the Latino experience.

So how do counter the stereotype? Where is the Latino media that recognizes and explores our many unique difficulties, but still manages to celebrate the vibrancy of our diverse cultures?

Telling stories is not something we do to just have fun – it’s an integral part of who we are as the human species. According to research, consuming fictional narratives can increase a person’s empathetic skills. So yes, stories can have a powerful effect on the human mind and genre storytelling takes that to a whole new level. They allow us to make sense of the senseless by triggering and guiding our emotions toward a satisfactory conclusion (be it happy or sad). That’s why stories, and particularly genre stories, are a powerful tool for making sense of the world and understanding the human connection.

Horror tackles death and grief. Action is about success. Sci-fi explores how to make the right choices now for a better future. Fantasy helps us find magic in daily life. Thrillers are about telling the truth. Genres are all tools that we humans use to fill in reality’s gaps, to understand what’s either too distant from us or too senseless to speak about it directly.

So, to answer the initial question from this article: yes, there is a different way of telling Latino stories, one that is able to recognize our many hardships and still celebrate the diversity of our cultures. And that is through genre storytelling!

To celebrate this unique approach to storytelling, here are five Latino genre films, ranging from adventures to time travel romance to even a horror musical!

Horror/Fantasy: Veneno Para Las Hadas (1986)

Veronica (Ana Patrícia Rojo) convinces a lonely classmate, Flavia (Elsa Maria Gutierrez), that she is a witch, forcing her to become her assistant. Though their games are initially rather naive, they gradually take a nasty and violent turn.

Horror/Drama: Cronos (1992)

In Guillermo del Toro’s first feature film, Jesus Gris (Federico Luppi) stumbles across Cronos, a 400-year-old scarab that, when it latches onto him, grants him youth and eternal life – but also a thirst for blood. As Jesus enjoys his newfound vitality, he’s unaware that a dying old man, Dieter de la Guardia (Claudio Brook), has sent his nephew, Angel (Ron Perlman), to find the scarab and bring it back to him. But Jesus will not give immortality up easily, even risking the life of his orphan granddaughter (Tamara Shanath).

Horror/Drama: Trabalhar Cansa (2011)

Helena (Helena Albergaria) prepares to open her own business, a neighborhood grocery store. But when her husband Otavio (Marat Descartes) is suddenly fired, she’s left to support the family alone. As Otavio fails to find work and the business struggles to take off, the pressure mounts. Strange events take place in the store and Helena begins to suspect that they may be the cause of her problems.

Comedy/Horror/Musical: Sinfonia da Necrópole (2014)

Deodato (Eduardo Gomes) is a gravedigger who is terrified of death. His routine changes with the arrival of a funeral service employee, Jaqueline (Luciana Paes). To maximize profits, they have to remove the remains from certain graves to put them back on the market. Strange events force him to think twice about messing with the dead.

Horror/Drama/Musical: Boas Maneiras (2017)

A mysterious and wealthy woman, Ana (Marjorie Estiano), hires a lonely nurse named Clara (Isabél Zuaa) to be the nanny for her soon-to-be born child, Joel (Miguel Lobo). When a full moon brings about the birth of a werewolf, Clara makes it her mission to care for the monstrosity and protect it from others.

Adventure/Comedy: Los Buscadores (2017)

Manu (Tomás Arredondo) is a 21-year-old newspaper delivery boy who discovers a map in a book given to him by his grandfather, a legendary treasure hunter. Believing the map indicates the location of a fortune, Manu begins an adventure to find it.

Comedy/Drama: El Conde (2023)

Infamous dictator Augusto Pinochet (Jaime Vadell) is a vampire and after two hundred and fifty years of life, he has decided to stop drinking blood and abandon the privilege of eternal life. Despite the opportunistic nature of his family, he finds new inspiration to embark on a life of vital and counterrevolutionary passion through an unexpected relationship.

Horror: Cuando Acecha la Maldad (2023)

When Pedro (Ezequiel Rodríguez) and Jimmy (Demián Salomón) discover that a demonic infection has been festering in a nearby farmhouse, they attempt to evict the victim from their land. Failing to adhere to the proper rites of exorcism, their reckless actions trigger an epidemic of possessions across their rural community. Now they must outrun an encroaching evil as it corrupts everyone who gets exposed.

Romance/Fantasy/Adventure: Perdida (2023)

Sofia (Giovanna Grigio) longs for romance, but only seems to find it in her favorite Jane Austen books. After an unusual encounter with a cab driver, she’s transported to a different world, which resembles the 19th century. Sofia is taken in by the family of the charming Ian Clarke (Bruno Montaleone), while she desperately tries to find a way to return to her modern life. What she doesn’t know is that her heart has other plans.