WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Madres, now available on Amazon Prime Video.
This week marks the second half of Welcome to the Blumhouse on Amazon Prime Video, where four new horror movies from Blumhouse debut on the streaming service over the course of two weeks. Where last week saw the premiere of Bingo Hell and Black as Night, this week is all about The Manor and Madres.
Madres takes place in the '70s and is inspired by horrific and true events. At its heart, Madres follows Diana (Ariana Guerra), a writer and expectant mother. While she moves to a farming community for her husband's work, the initially appealing idea becomes a nightmare. Diana experiences strange symptoms and realizes there is a haunting pattern amongst other women in the area. Discussing what it was like to bring this heartbreaking and important story to life, Guerra sat with CBR for an exclusive interview.
CBR: One of the standout things about Madres is how this is inspired by horrific real events. I'm curious what was it like to bring this story to life in a more fantastical, genre way?
Ariana Guerra: I think it makes the horrific message a little more digestible. I don't think anyone wants to hear about sterilization, the non-consensual sterilization of women. When you add this component of horror, it's almost tolerable because we're supposed to be scared. That is a really scary topic, and that's something that I think would be just terrifying for any person, and it's important. It's important I almost think to have this sort of horror genre layered on top so that audience members are still captivated. They're still invested.
Another element of the film that was really captivating was its use of language. With your character not speaking Spanish fluently, I was wondering what were some of the challenges about navigating a film where language, or the lack thereof, plays such a major role in the events that are happening?
As far as the character -- or myself and preparation?
A little bit of both. Whichever one you'd prefer to speak on.
I relate to Diana in so many ways, and although I am conversational --- I think I can have a conversation in Spanish -- I'm not fluent. I have had experiences where I don't know how to express myself. I don't really know what the conversation is going on. I love listening to Spanish music, but sometimes I'm like, "What're they saying?" I think there is this sort of disconnectedness, as anyone would suspect if you don't fully understand the language. I think when you're not in on the joke, or when you aren't really fully aware, there is this kind of ostracized experience that people will have. I think that's something that Diana experiences for the first time when she moves to this city. I think as far as that component, I tried to realistically understand how that would make me feel. Fortunately, I did have experiences like that, where I could kind of pull from.
That's probably one of my favorite parts of the movie is this sort of nuanced display of what it means to be Latino. No one is any more or less Latino because you can speak Spanish, but there is this barrier that maybe like other communities don't really have to deal with. It's so prevalent for Latinos, for Mexican-Americans, whether they're second or third generation. I always enjoyed the writing and then the shooting of that.
Diana is a writer, and with the story she's trying to tackle, there's this sense of continuing the legacy of those who've come before. How did that tie into what she was experiencing in the film? Why is that such an important message, both to the film and for you?
Diana is a writer. Any storyteller, any person that takes up a job like that is going to have a responsibility or calling to leave some sort of legacy, and it can be in the form of film. It can be in the form of writing and poems. It can be in the form of photography -- however you see fit. I think that's true for most people, whether it is like a micro-level of legacy, or something that affects people internationally. We all want to leave a little bit of ourselves. It's no different for myself, and especially for Diana, being a writer, that we want to try however we can to impact our community or things that matter to us. We want to make sure that we leave some sort of impact.
Madres is streaming now on Amazon Prime.