As October keeps on moving, Welcome to the Blumhouse has unveiled the latest chapters with The Manor and Madres. Starring Ariana Guerra and Tenoch Huerta, Madres centers on a Mexican-American couple relocating to a migrant farming community in 1970s California, where the pregnant wife begins to experience strange symptoms and terrifying visions, leading her down a path to a dark secret.

In time for the film’s premiere, Screen Rant spoke exclusively with director Ryan Zaragoza to discuss the socially conscious film and the 70s inspirations behind his feature directorial debut.

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Screen Rant: This film is really moving and it’s really creepy, but what about it really spoke to you and drew you into it?

Ryan Zaragoza: Thank you, thank you for saying that. I think the two things that really drew me to it initially were the fact that it’s based on on a real life horror story and it’s something that I didn’t know about, even though I try to stay pretty informed about the people affected by it. Then also, it takes place in the 70s and I am such a huge fan of 70s filmmaking, but you know 70s horror films as well, and it gave a really cool opportunity to combine those two things for me.

Given that this was your feature debut after a number of shorts and working on All American, what was it like expanding your production cycle to explore all of these elements?

Ryan Zaragoza: It was great. I really am appreciative of the process that I put into preparing this film, and analyzing all my favorite directors, and figuring out why I liked those films that they made in the 70s and why they were effective, and the style and finding the similar language that filmmakers had back then. Essentially using all of that research to create something that I feel is part of that language of filmmaking, but also new and hopefully contribute something to that style.

Were there any films or directors in particular that you drew a lot of inspiration from?

Ryan Zaragoza: Yeah, I think Rosemary’s Baby, obviously, is a big one. The Omen, I think, was significant and The Shining especially. I’m a huge Kubrick fan and I feel like I tried to nod to him a couple times in the film.

The cast on this film is also just as incredible, Ariana Guerra and Tenoch Huerta, those two are so integral to how well this movie works. What was it like finding the right people for the characters?

Ryan Zaragoza: It was kind of a beautiful experience. First off, Tenoch is somebody who I wanted to work with for a very long time. I’ve just been aware of his work and aware of him for years, so when we first started to make this film, he wasn’t available, which is okay. Then we had some terrific opportunities to cast other actors for that role, but then the shutdown happened and when it did, all of a sudden Tenoch became available and so it was my dream actor to work with who was interested in the story and I think contributed a lot to the character.

I changed the role a little bit to make [he and Ariana’s characters] more fresh to the United States. As originally written, I think he’d been around the United States for a while so the English was better and the cultural difference wasn’t as strong. I thought what a great opportunity to use Tenoch and his background and put him into Beto and then also with Ariana, she had such an attachment. She just felt like she was the character of Diana, so to combine both of them and to see how their personalities interacted on screen, but also behind screen, was really great. 

Madres will be available to stream on Amazon Prime Video on October 8.

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Grant Hermanns
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Grant Hermanns is a News Writer, Interviewer and Hiring Manager for Screen Rant, having joined the team in early 2021. Way back in 2015 while still in his college days, Grant got his start in the entertainment journalism industry with creator-friendly site Moviepilot until it shuttered nearly three years later. From there he joined the staff at ComingSoon.net and was its Associate Editor prior to coming over to Screen Rant.

To say he’s a lover of film and television would be an understatement and when he’s not mass consuming either you can find him exploring the world of Dungeons & Dragons with friends or slowly making his way through his gaming backlog.

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