When most people think of foreign horror movies - that is, horror made outside of Hollywood and the USA - a number of countries immediately jump to mind. Japan, of course, has made some of the most iconic horror of all time, creating several subgenres on their own. There's the UK, particularly during the 80s and 90s, where British horror far outpaced what mainstream Hollywood was making at the time (barring some obvious classic exceptions). Italy likely comes to mind as well, with the work of Dario Argento standing out sharply from the crowd.

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One country that isn't in the horror movie conversation enough is Mexico. Mexico's film industry in general has seen a sharp increase in both investment and output in the last few decades, and as a result, Mexcian horror is suddenly finding itself up at the forefront horror conversation. It's not that surprising. After all, Guillermo del Toro, one of the most recognizable horror directors of all time, was born in Mexico. His work, along with that of the other horror directors featured here, proves that Mexican horror is not only thriving, but innovating on the genre in ways that Hollywood could never pull off.

10 We Are The Flesh (Tenemos La Carne)

Directed By Emiliano Rocha Minter

Starting off with the weirdest movie first, We Are The Flesh follows Lucio and Fauna, a brother-sister pair who are fighting to survive in a post-apocalypse of unknown origin. As they fight to find food, they encounter a man named Mariano who offers them exactly what they seek, so long as they'll do something for him in return.

That something is actually several somethings: join him in the abandoned building where he lives, help him build a giant cocoon, and have sex with each other while he watches. Forced incestuous relationship aside, the true weirdness of this flick is the disturbing imagery that surfaces towards the end of the movie, when the whole thing descends into outright psychadelia, but strives to make a genuine commentary about modern society - particularly, life in Mexico - at the same time.

9 Poison For The Fairies (Veneno Para Las Hadas)

Directed By Carlos Enrique Taboada

It would be a travesty to rank Mexican horror and not feature a single movie by Carlos Enrique Taboada, who is considered one of the masters of early Mexican horror. While he has a solid filmography of work, including some movies that are more highly-regarded than this one, Poison for the Fairies is the one that still holds up the best by modern standards.

Veronica is an orphaned child being raised by her nanny, who fills the young girl's head with stories of vengeful witches and evil spirits. Instead of being frightened, Veronica embraces these stories. When she meets the lonely Flavia at school, Veronica tries to impress her by telling Flavia that she's a witch. What begins as a harmless game of make believe soon turns dark, as a music teacher that Veronica pretended to curse suddenly turns up dead. As Veronica begins to use the threat of her powers to influence Flavia more and more, events begin to spiral out of control.

8 The Old Ways

Directed By Christopher Alender

Haunted after witnessing the failed exorcism of her mother at a young age, Christina, a journalist working in Los Angeles, returns to her hometown to investigate a set of ruins that may be connected to her mother's possession. Addicted to heroine and suffering from blackouts, Christina's cousin, Miranda, and a local named Javi, both believe that Christina may be possessed as well.

Along with a local bruja named Luz, the three try to perform an exorcism on Christina, and while it doesn't work, Christina begins to believe in her own possession after witnessing the events that occurred around the ritual, such as the discovery of a brutalized rooster. Soon, Christina's trip home becomes a race against time, as she, Miranda, Javi, and Luz try to stop the demon from totally consuming her. The Old Ways is straight-up modern horror, and while it doesn't do anything significant to elevate the genre, it's still a frightening piece of demon possession storytelling.

7 Santa Sangre

Directed By Alejandro Jodorowsky

This movie isn't exactly a horror movie per se. It's also not exactly not a horror movie either. It's creepy as hell, and features a cult, some horrific violence, and some unnerving weirdness that may or may not be supernatural. This is Alejandro Jodorowsky we're dealing with here, and believe it or not, Santa Sangre is very likely his most accessible movie.

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Fenix, played by Alejandro's son, Axel Jodorowsky, grew up as a child magician in his father's circus, along with his mother, Concha, a trapeze artist. Concha also happens to be the leader of a cult, one that worships a young woman who was the victim of an assault by her two brothers, who then proceeded to cut off her arms. Meanwhile, in the present, an adult Fenix is dragged through a surrealist big-city hellscape, haunted by visions of his armless mother. There are major trigger warnings that come with this movie, as sexual assault and forced mutilation are both prominent themes.

6 The Similars (Los Parecidos)

Directed By Isaac Ezban

Trapped in a bus station while on route to see the birth of his child, Ulises hears worse and worse news coming through the radio of the station clerk, Martin, about a storm that is raging outside. Trapped with Ulises and Martin in the station are a pregnant woman, Irene, and a cleaning lady, Rosa. Soon, three more people join them as well.

Soon, some of the people in the station begin suffering unexplained seizures. Before this can be resolved, Martin, wrapped in bandages, emerges from his office with a rifle and blames everything on Ulises. Believe it or not, this is where the movie gets really weird. After disarming Martin, the people trapped in the bus station all begin to change; their facial features suddenly start to look more and more like Ulises'. Then they break into Martin's office, and the walls are covered in photos. Photos of Ulises' face. Playing out like a more intense episode of The Twilight Zone, with some outright horror included for good measure, The Similars is an exceptionally strange psychological trip into surrealist madness, and comes around to a wild conclusion.

5 Cronos

Directed By Guillermo Del Toro

Not only would this list be incomplete without including a movie made by Guillermo del Toro, it might not exist in the first place if not for the Mexican director's ascent to the status of Hollywood auteur, and putting Mexican horror on the international map at the same time. The thing is, almost none of del Toro's movies are actually set in Mexico. Except for Cronos, that is, which also happens to be his debut feature.

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Jesús Gris, an elderly antique dealer, is examining a statue of an archangel when he discovers a hollow compartment within it. Inside, he finds an ancient, scarab-shaped mechanism. He winds it up, and the scarab latches onto his chest and injects him with a strange substance. As the days go by, Gris' energy begins to grow. His wrinkles decrease, his hair regrows, and his libido ramps up. Unfortunately, he also begins craving human blood. Gris initially resists this temptation, but as any horror fan knows, that's unlikely to be a permanent solution. Cronos is a heck of a first attempt by a now-legendary horror director, and is widely considered a cult classic of horror.

4 We Are What We Are (Somos Lo Que Hay)

Directed By Jorge Michel Grau

Although Guillermo del Toro had no part in the making of this movie, We Are What We Are is both a stand-alone horror film and a direct sequel to Cronos. Watching del Toro's debut isn't required viewing before tackling this movie, but it adds a lot to both the story and the background of what's going on, because the movie itself doesn't bother with explaining things too thoroughly.

After the father of Alfredo and Julián suddenly drops dead, their remaining family - consisting of their mother and sister - become frantic. Who will take care of the family's needs now? And more importantly, who will supply the necessary materials for their cannibalistic rituals? That duty comes down to Alfredo and Julián, who now have to prove themselves capable of such things. This movie is relentlessly dark, featuring several brutal murders committed by the family as they search for their next meal. Connections to Cronos are both explicit - like the same actor playing a coroner named Tito in both movies - and implicit, like the reasons behind the family's cannibalistic obsession.

3 Tigers Are Not Afraid (Vuelven)

Directed By Issa López

Sometimes, people disappear in Mexico. This can happen for a number of reasons, ranging from gang violence to border corssings. Sometimes, those people who disappear leave children behind; children who now have to fend for themselves, and will form small gangs of their peers to protect themselves. That's what happens to Estrella in Tigers Are Not Afraid.

Estrella's mother has been killed, leaving the young girl on her own. She quickly finds a group of other homeless children, led by a young boy named Shine, to throw in with, after she catches them looting her home. The only problem is that Estrella is being haunted by the ghost of her mother. Actually, that's not the only problem, as Shine has stolen a gun and phone from a low-level gangster, and that phone just so happens to contain incriminating evidence connected to the leader of a gang called the Huascas. On the run from both angry gangsters and the spirits of the dead, Estrella and her group of orphaned children must do unspeakable things in order to survive.

This is more of a crime thriller with paranormal overtones than an outright horror movie, but what makes it special are the performances of the child actors, all of whom are fantastic. Of particular note are Juan Ramón López, who plays Shine with astonishing maturity for a boy his age, and Paola Lara as Estrella, who manages to strike a paper-thin balance between being a caregiver for her "gang" and a tragically lost and frightened child at the same time. Tigers Are Not Afraid is like a sadder Stranger Things at times. Good luck not falling in love with these kids, and good luck holding back the tears as their lives take horrid turns, forcing them to fight to stay together.

2 Identifying Features (Sin Señas Particulares)

Directed By Fernanda Valadez

Identifying Features isn't horror in the traditional sense. In fact, some viewers may not consider it horror at all. This movie is frightening in the same way that the Western movie Hostiles is frightening. This is a story all about the stark brutality of real life, and in that way, for some, it will be the scariest movie on this list.

Identifying Features is all about the many prospective Mexican immigrants who go missing on their journey to the US border. The film focuses specifically on mothers searching for their missing children; one mother, Magdalena, in particular. There are no monsters or spirits here. Instead, the movie shines a light on the desperation that goes into making such a journey in the first place, the horrible things someone who sneaks into a foreign country must be running away from, and the unimaginable toll that the journey itself can take.

1 Huesera: The Bone Woman (Huesera)

Directed By Michelle Garza Cervera

When it comes to Mexican horror movies, few can hold a candle to Huesera: The Bone Woman. Young couple Valeria and Raúl are trying to get pregnant, and it appears that they've been successful. However, Valeria's family are skeptical of their daughter's potential as a mother. See, Valeria had a rebellious streak when she was younger. She was a buzz cut-wearing punk rocker, she had a girlfriend with similar sensibilities, and she had no interest in living what her family would consider a "normal life." On the surface, all that seems to have changed, but Valeria's family remains unconvinced.

Things get worse when Valeria, while out on her apartment's balcony, witnesses what appears to be the suicide of the neighbor across the street, who leaps from her own balcony to the ground below. However, as Valeria watches in shock, the neighbor gets up and begins dragging her shattered body across the ground towards Valeria's building. She calls for Raúl, but when he arrives, the woman is gone, and now suddenly even Valeria's husband is starting to doubt her.

All this causes Valeria's anxiety to skyrocket, and when she's anxious, it manifests in her cracking her own bones. It begins with her knuckles, but moves to her neck, shoulders, and back, depending on the severity, twisting her into uncomfortable and painful contortions. Haunted by the shattered corpse of the neighbor no one else can see, and doubted on all sides by those she cares about, Valeria begins to lose her grip on herself, and on her sanity. Huesera doesn't work without the performance of Natalia Solián as Valeria, who is nothing short of exceptional. She has very little dialogue to work with, yet is featured in every scene, and has to convey so much through her emotional and physical acting as a result. She pulls it off in spades. Huesera: The Bone Woman is not only one of the best Mexican horror films, it will very likely go down as one of the best horror films of the 2020s, period.

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