A Feature Debut Born in the Huasteca Forests
El Ritual del Nahual: The Mexican Horror Film That Reached the World with Lahaye Media’s Stamp
A debut feature shot in the Sierra Huasteca Potosina, awarded at Ventana Sur 2024, premiered in Rotterdam, and released across more than 500 screens in Mexico.
A Feature Debut Born in the Huasteca Forests
El Ritual del Nahual is the debut feature of San Luis Potosí director Carlos Matienzo Serment, filmed in 2024 on location in the natural landscapes of the Sierra Huasteca Potosina. The film falls within the folk horror subgenre: a deeply rooted take on terror drawn from Mesoamerican indigenous mythology, reviving the figure of the nahual — a being capable of shapeshifting between human and animal form — to build a meditation on justice, guilt, and the bond with the land.
The story follows Gabriel (played by Gerardo Oñate), a wounded outlaw who takes refuge in a village deep in the forests of San Luis Potosí, where a wave of child murders has thrown the community into terror. In parallel, a federal agent (Gerardo Trejoluna) investigates the crimes, unaware that the answer lies beyond any institutional logic: in the heart of the forest, an ancestral force has awakened.
The film is spoken in Spanish and Tének, the indigenous language of the Huasteca region, reinforcing its cultural authenticity and its commitment to representing Mexico’s indigenous communities on the big screen.
- Gerardo Oñate as Gabriel
- Alejandra Herrera
- Caraly Sánchez
- Gerardo Trejoluna as federal agent Vicente del Parral
From Short Film to Latin American Genre Cinema Phenomenon
The origins of El Ritual del Nahual trace back to 2020, when the director shot the short film Tekenchu in just 60 hours during the Fantastic Short Rally at the Feratum Film Festival. That race-against-the-clock exercise went on to accumulate over 90 official selections at international festivals and 16 awards, including the British Horror Film Festival in the UK and the Festival Internacional de Cine de Horror: Aurora in Mexico. It was also featured in IMCINE’s statistical yearbook as one of the most internationally awarded Mexican short films of the year.
The short’s success drove the development of the feature film — not an expanded version of that story, but one that inhabits the same universe. In the director’s own words, the short film works as a sequel to the feature.
A Top-Tier International Circuit
- Blood Window (Ventana Sur): Latin America’s most important genre film market, where the film received post-production awards.
- Blood Window Showcase, Marché du Film Cannes 2025: Screened before the international industry at the world’s most prestigious film market.
- Work in Progress, Cannes Film Festival: Selected for the program, enabling key strategic partnerships for international distribution.
- World Premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (January 2026): Positive critical reception from international audiences captivated by the nahual brought to contemporary cinema.
International sales are handled by AltaTensión Films, specialists in Ibero-American genre cinema.
The Lahaye Media Award at Ventana Sur 2024
At the 16th edition of Ventana Sur — held for the first time outside Argentina, at the Teatro Solís in Montevideo, Uruguay — El Ritual del Nahual was honored with the Lahaye Media Award in the Blood Window section, dedicated to Latin American fantasy and horror cinema.
This recognition, granted by Lahaye Media — an Argentine company specializing in image post-production and DCP mastering for cinema — marked the beginning of a collaboration that would give the film its definitive visual form.
Lahaye Media: Image Post-Production and DCP Mastering
Lahaye Media was responsible for two of the most critical technical processes in the finishing chain of El Ritual del Nahual:
Image Post-Production
Color grading and visual treatment of the film. The Huasteca forests, shot on natural locations, required meticulous work to preserve the organic texture and visual tension of the story.
DCP Mastering
Digital Cinema Package for worldwide theatrical distribution. Ensured the film met quality specifications for its release across 500+ screens in Mexico and international festival screenings.
The result was a film that reached cinemas with the image its creators envisioned: a visually powerful folk horror work, faithful to indigenous mythology and competitive in the international market.
A Bold Bet on Mexican Horror Cinema
El Ritual del Nahual marks a milestone for independent filmmaking in San Luis Potosí: the first independent film from that region to reach 500 commercial screens nationwide. Its May 7, 2026 release made it the flagship bet of Mexican genre cinema for the year, in a context where horror ranks as the third most popular genre among Mexican audiences for their own national cinema.
For the director, the key was building a film where fear came not only from the creature, but from the weight of an ancestral worldview that remains alive. The result is a work that connects contemporary horror with the identity, spirituality, and collective memory of Mexico’s indigenous peoples.
Technical Sheet
| Director | Carlos Matienzo Serment |
| Producers | Milko Luis Coronel, Santiago Rangel |
| Cinematography | Roberto Chávez Bañuelos |
| Music | Juan Carlos Enríquez |
| Production Companies | Alta Tensión Films, Ki Visual |
| Mexico Distribution | Cinemex Distribución |
| International Distribution | AltaTensión Films |
| Image Post-Production & DCP | Lahaye Media |
| Runtime | 80 minutes |
| Languages | Spanish · Tének |
| World Premiere | International Film Festival Rotterdam, 2026 |
| Mexico Release | May 7, 2026 |