New Wave of Spanish-Language Sci-Fi Films Tackle Alien Incursions

By Hugh Hart
09.21.10
6:23 PM
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Extraterrestre is directed by Nacho Vigalondo, who previously directed Timecrimes.
Image courtesy Nacho Vigalondo

This graphic novel inspired the Seres: Genesis movie.

Spanish-language sci-fi thrived in the 1960s, when Mexican filmmakers churned out dozens of outrageous B movies like Santo the Silver Mask vs. The Martian Invasion. Now, a wave of more-sophisticated films hover on the horizon.

The latest to pop onto the radar is Extraterrestre, by Spanish director Nacho Vigalondo.

The Spanish writer-director, who made 2007′s time-travel mind-melter Timecrimes, cites Philip K. Dick’s Ubik as inspiration for the film.

Hinting at the film’s premise, he writes on his blog, roughly translated: “What if the apocalypse, instead of being a global blow, is a terminal accumulation of domestic disasters?”

Then there’s Seres: Genesis, centered on a little girl (played by Luisa Guerrero) who pays a high price after surviving a collision with an extraterrestrial spacecraft.

Distributed by 24 frames, writer-director Angel Mario Huerta‘s movie, released in Mexico last weekend, opens in U.S. theaters in late October.

Seres: Genesis is the first installment of a planned trilogy based on the Spanish-language graphic novel series Seres: Genesis from Mexican publisher Huma Comics. (The books are slated for English-language publication in October.) Seres: Genesis will be followed by sequels subtitled Evolution and Extinction.

In Seres: Genesis, an alien encounter sparks an investigation.

24 frames’ director of development Jesús di Sica touted a sequence involving alien possession as “one of the creepiest and most memorable moments in recent sci-fi movie history” in a press release about the upcoming film.

Also filmed in Mexico is the compelling Monsters, set for Oct. 29 release in the United States. The movie, by British director Gareth Edwards, enlists a supporting cast of amateur Mexican actors to tell the story of two Americans crossing through an “infected zone” on their way to the U.S. border.