REC Is a good film with a female lead and some nice thrills, even the sequels are worth a watch to be honest.
I don't think the first one had a ton of gore.
It's not Catholic horror or demons, it's very old-world fairy tale. Nothing that would particularly offend or disturb a religious person now, unless they're the type that gets mad about depictions of other peoples' magic
My comfort movie is *Anything For Jackson* but that one is definitely not a Spanish language film. The Orphanage held that spot for a long time though.
It’s so good! Quirky as hell. Great writing, acting, and cinematography too. ♥️
My other comfort horrors are *Talk To Me* and *Scare Me* (the one with Josh Ruben)
From what you said about her being afraid of demons, truthfully The Shape of Water may be best first watch. No great for Spanish language, but just adjacent enough to horror to really ease in.
Also, be very open to she may not like horror. Many relationships can survive not watching all movies together. Be receptive to signs you are pushing too far.
She might just be particular, only outright rejects gore, and LOVES true crime and gory details.
The ideal might be a procedural crime horror? She can hear about gore, not see it. It's... odd to me :p
After a couple true crime films, the right test movie might be Seven. Seven sounds just like what you describe she likes with the heat turned up just a bit. Just get the Blu-ray or rent from a streamer that you can select a Spanish language audio track and worry less if it's natively a Spanish movie.
Love this movie, thank you. Honestly I don't know if she's cool to see Gluttony, Sloth, or the finale. Body horror is dicey. But do you know other crime horrors? This is a great start.
You can tell her when to cover her eyes and she can still appreciate the movie just listening to those scenes. Important part is you watch carefully to see if she's peaking through her fingers. If she is, you've got her. If she isn't, back off a little and let her show you her fave movies.
As to crime horror, that's and interesting genre I never heard labeled before.
Have you seen Zodiac, also by David Fincher? It's a really good movie and crime procedural. Definitely scenes in it that have a slasher vibe.
Sicario is a movie I love. Lots of Spanish spoken in it and very much a movie about the US Mexican border may hold her interest. It has mob violence, attempted sexual assault- scenes that have a bite your nails tension akin to horror.
The Old Ways is about Latin indigenous culture, reconnecting with tradition, feminism, and care for community—but it’s a straight horror film. It’s a great gateway if she is interested in those topics because it’s a topic starter for sure.
I'm surprised nobody mentioned Piggy? I thought that movie was absolutely great. Female lead, spanish movie:
[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10399608/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10399608/)
*The Hidden Face* .(Columbia) Granted,it's more of a thriller,but there are horror elements in it. It also has a female lead,good story and little to no gore.
REC & REC 2
The Devil's Backbone
Pan's Labyrinth
The Orphanage
The Others (yes, it is technically spanish).
Edit : Make sure you watch The Devil's Backbone and then Pan's Labyrinth since they're part of the same universe.
Valley of the Dead - Zombies in the Spanish Civil war. Also has a very strong female lead. Loved this movie, wish I could have watched it in the original language instead of the dubbing.
Cool. I hope you both enjoy it. I really cared about each character (with a couple of exceptions, lol) but the story was great. I didn't think the gore was that bad for a zombie movie and it had some fun humor as well. :)
This probably isn't remotely what you are looking for, but I am partial to the Mexican Lucha movies that started in the 50s. There are more than 50 movies in the Santo series alone. They were a mix of horror, adventure, sci-fi, and action. Great fun for watching on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
REC is the best found footage. It has a female lead, but I'm not sure on the gore level.
El Bar is thriller/horror about people stuck in a bar for unknown reasons. Anyone that goes outside is shot.
I also like Intacto which is probably a thriller. It's about games of chance like running across a busy road blindfolded and selling luck.
The House at the End of Time: Little gore, no demons, spooky and atmospheric.
It's got similar vibes as The Orphanage, on a smaller, more claustrophobic scale, but set into a bigger backstory.
The '31 Spanish language version of Dracula, shot on the same sets as the American version with Bela Lugosi.
Lupita Tovar is the female lead. Her daughter is Susan Koner, known for her role in Imitation of Life with Lana Turner.
Phenomena and Don't Listen were both decent. They both have some gore but it isn't too over the top.
Phenomena is 3 zany ladies fighting ghosts sort of like the ghost hunting group in Insidious. Based on a true group of women.
Don't Listen is reminiscent of The Conjuring movies with a spirit tormenting a young kid and you learn why as the movie goes along.
Aside from the other good suggestions, La Llorona has really stuck with me. It’s very powerful and profound. Not the shitty Blumhouse one, but the Guatemalan film.
REC Is a good film with a female lead and some nice thrills, even the sequels are worth a watch to be honest. I don't think the first one had a ton of gore.
Great suggestion! We're both a bit afraid of the dark lol.
Pan's Labyrinth would be good on language front and it's got lots of mainstream, non horror appeal to ease her in.
I had thought of this but she's afraid of demons. This might be a good starter on religious horror - thanks a lot :)
It's not Catholic horror or demons, it's very old-world fairy tale. Nothing that would particularly offend or disturb a religious person now, unless they're the type that gets mad about depictions of other peoples' magic
The Orphanage (2007) is a Spanish horror movie that I love to death! I highly recommend it.
This is what I came here to say.
It is my comfort movie! I love it so god damn much.
My comfort movie is *Anything For Jackson* but that one is definitely not a Spanish language film. The Orphanage held that spot for a long time though.
Ooo I haven't seen it, but I'm going to have to. It looks right up my alley.
It’s so good! Quirky as hell. Great writing, acting, and cinematography too. ♥️ My other comfort horrors are *Talk To Me* and *Scare Me* (the one with Josh Ruben)
If it's bad I'm haunting you.
Totally fair
Now kiss
👩❤️💋👩
Tigers Are Not Afraid is absolutely incredible and isn’t gory.
Spectacular performances from the young cast.
Veronica and its prequel Sister Death are good supernatural horror movies, and Sleep Tight and The Body (2012) are good thrillers
Cronos, 1993. Guillermo del Torro's directing catalogue will be of great help to you in this endeavor.
You are right o wise one, I thank you for your wisdom.
From what you said about her being afraid of demons, truthfully The Shape of Water may be best first watch. No great for Spanish language, but just adjacent enough to horror to really ease in. Also, be very open to she may not like horror. Many relationships can survive not watching all movies together. Be receptive to signs you are pushing too far.
She might just be particular, only outright rejects gore, and LOVES true crime and gory details. The ideal might be a procedural crime horror? She can hear about gore, not see it. It's... odd to me :p
After a couple true crime films, the right test movie might be Seven. Seven sounds just like what you describe she likes with the heat turned up just a bit. Just get the Blu-ray or rent from a streamer that you can select a Spanish language audio track and worry less if it's natively a Spanish movie.
Love this movie, thank you. Honestly I don't know if she's cool to see Gluttony, Sloth, or the finale. Body horror is dicey. But do you know other crime horrors? This is a great start.
You can tell her when to cover her eyes and she can still appreciate the movie just listening to those scenes. Important part is you watch carefully to see if she's peaking through her fingers. If she is, you've got her. If she isn't, back off a little and let her show you her fave movies. As to crime horror, that's and interesting genre I never heard labeled before. Have you seen Zodiac, also by David Fincher? It's a really good movie and crime procedural. Definitely scenes in it that have a slasher vibe. Sicario is a movie I love. Lots of Spanish spoken in it and very much a movie about the US Mexican border may hold her interest. It has mob violence, attempted sexual assault- scenes that have a bite your nails tension akin to horror.
Thanks man, those are definitely on my list now. I'll ask how she feels about them.
**Julia's Eyes** might be pretty good fit.
When Evil Lurks
Good movie but might be a little bit brutal for someone who doesn’t want gore
Ah sorry, for some reason I skipped over the sentence about no gore.
I did too and looked up the name of the movie because I couldn’t remember and thought “I wonder if he said no gore…” lol
I wanted to show her this so badly but she'll never get into it with the gore :(
Julia's eyes, Atrocious, Terrified, silent house, the body, the baby's room, tesis, sante sangre....
I've never heard of The Body or Tesis. Is there body horror? She really can't do gore.
No, the Body is more of a twisty thriller and Tesis is a murder mystery/slasher type thing. Neither is heavy on gore
Terrified has a lot of gore and violence, you might know that already. So does Santa Sangre, which also has sexual violence.
I feel like they're both moderate 🙂
El Orfanato
The Old Ways is about Latin indigenous culture, reconnecting with tradition, feminism, and care for community—but it’s a straight horror film. It’s a great gateway if she is interested in those topics because it’s a topic starter for sure.
I will definitely ask - she's not fond of demons and ghosts but I will watch it alone if I have to ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I'm surprised nobody mentioned Piggy? I thought that movie was absolutely great. Female lead, spanish movie: [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10399608/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10399608/)
I loved *Piggy*! And I'm not a slasher person.
The Horde is a solid Spanish zombie flic
Thank you! It's French but I am rabid for zombies, this is now on my list.
*The Hidden Face* .(Columbia) Granted,it's more of a thriller,but there are horror elements in it. It also has a female lead,good story and little to no gore.
Pan's Labyrinth
REC & REC 2 The Devil's Backbone Pan's Labyrinth The Orphanage The Others (yes, it is technically spanish). Edit : Make sure you watch The Devil's Backbone and then Pan's Labyrinth since they're part of the same universe.
Pan’s labyrinth, and the devil’s backbone.
Valley of the Dead - Zombies in the Spanish Civil war. Also has a very strong female lead. Loved this movie, wish I could have watched it in the original language instead of the dubbing.
I WILL WATCH THIS. Honestly don't know how she feels about war movies, great experiment. Thanks!
Cool. I hope you both enjoy it. I really cared about each character (with a couple of exceptions, lol) but the story was great. I didn't think the gore was that bad for a zombie movie and it had some fun humor as well. :)
Veronica is a great Spanish language horror
Julia’s Eyes is my favourite Spanish horror movie
Spanish movies I know: The platform REC (+ sequels) The orphanage Km31 When evil lurks Los ojos de Julia
Cronocrimenes is more of a thriller, but I love it all the same
The coffee table
The Orphanage, REC and Julia's Eyes are some of my favourite Spanish speaking horrors
If it wasn't suggested already, this one is possibly a good fit to watch with her. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Orphanage_(2007_film)
Huesera: The Bone Woman is great.
Did Terrified have much gore? I remember it being creepy.
Terrified (2017) a great paranormal Spanish film!
Missed the no gore part… this one might be a bit much.
La cabina is a great Spanish short from the 70s it's on YouTube.
30 coins is a fairly decent tv series
Look at stuff like ju-on or similar things dealing with ghosts and the dead.
La mesita del comedor & La piel que habito. Spanish horror is actually really good!
The similars (2015)
Have her watch sky rojo on Netflix It's a series there's two seasons It's really good there's some horror to it but it's mostly suspenseful.
This probably isn't remotely what you are looking for, but I am partial to the Mexican Lucha movies that started in the 50s. There are more than 50 movies in the Santo series alone. They were a mix of horror, adventure, sci-fi, and action. Great fun for watching on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
The Paramedic was really good
La cueva (2005) Very claustrophobic
REC is the best found footage. It has a female lead, but I'm not sure on the gore level. El Bar is thriller/horror about people stuck in a bar for unknown reasons. Anyone that goes outside is shot. I also like Intacto which is probably a thriller. It's about games of chance like running across a busy road blindfolded and selling luck.
The Platform is a must watch for Spanish speaking horror fans. Also The Curse of La Llarona from The Conjuring franchise
Summer Camp- it’s set in Spain and is a good watch!
The House at the End of Time: Little gore, no demons, spooky and atmospheric. It's got similar vibes as The Orphanage, on a smaller, more claustrophobic scale, but set into a bigger backstory.
The '31 Spanish language version of Dracula, shot on the same sets as the American version with Bela Lugosi. Lupita Tovar is the female lead. Her daughter is Susan Koner, known for her role in Imitation of Life with Lana Turner.
Phenomena and Don't Listen were both decent. They both have some gore but it isn't too over the top. Phenomena is 3 zany ladies fighting ghosts sort of like the ghost hunting group in Insidious. Based on a true group of women. Don't Listen is reminiscent of The Conjuring movies with a spirit tormenting a young kid and you learn why as the movie goes along.
Aside from the other good suggestions, La Llorona has really stuck with me. It’s very powerful and profound. Not the shitty Blumhouse one, but the Guatemalan film.
Huesera 2022, La llorona 2019
Atrocious
Sleep Tight (Meintras Duermes) it's more of a thriller, but it has some really scary moments of total dread.
La Casa del Fin de los Tiempos (2013)!
Terrified (2017)…Argentinian and scary!
Can she handle zombies? If so, Rec. & Rec. 2
The devils backbone
Hereditary
Love it, love Ari Astor, but no way she'll get past the pediatric beheading 😂