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The best Spanish movies show the kind of amazing stories audiences can enjoy if they are willing to explore movies from other countries. Some of the greatest filmmakers working today often work in Spanish stories, from Pedro Almodovar to Guillermo del Toro. Just as English-language cinema can be varied in terms of subjects, tones, and quality, the best Spanish-language movies cover it all.

From creepy horror movies to intense dramas to captivating romances to entertaining coming-of-age stories, these movies can speak to any audience despite the language barrier. The critical acclaim these movies have received proves their global reach while some of them have even gained popularity among mainstream international audiences. For anyone looking to expand their own cinema tastes, these are the best Spanish-language movies to check out.

Los Santos Inocentes (The Holy Innocents) (1984) Not Available To Stream

The 1984 Spanish movie Los santos inocentes is based on the novel...

Mantícora Distribución has acquired the vampire story “While the Masters Sleep” by Santiago Alvarado Ilarri for international sales.

The film – which will also mark the debut of Spain’s La Mala Compañia, the result of a partnership between Magno Entertainment and Msp –will be presented in Cannes as one of the Gala Screenings at the Fantastic Pavilion, a brand new hub for the genre community at the Marché du Film. Sula Entertainment and Morbido TV are also on board.

“We want ‘While the Masters Sleep’ to introduce this new label. [It will be] focusing on genre films with a big audience potential, but trying to achieve this goal without losing the ideas and virtues of independent films. All the while shaking up the codes of classic horror films,” producer Joaquim Vivas said of La Mala Compañía.

In the film, Samuel and Lourdes are a humble married couple, going out of their way to...

Spanish film director and screenwriter best known for The Holy Innocents, an unflinching portrayal of rural poverty in 1960s Spain

The Spanish film director Mario Camus, who has died aged 86, was shocked by the success of his 1984 film The Holy Innocents. An unflinching portrayal of rural poverty in 1960s Francoist Spain, it broke Spanish box office records, topping the bill in cinemas for 18 months. When it narrowly missed the Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival, the divided jury awarded it a consolatory special mention.

Years later, Camus found himself in the same Paris restaurant as Dirk Bogarde, the jury president who had fought to give him the top prize. Bogarde exchanged just two words with Camus: “Milana Bonita.” There is not a Spaniard over the age of 50 who does not know what that means.

Mario Camus, the acclaimed Spanish writer-director behind La colmena, Young Sánchez, The Holy Innocents and more, died in his hometown of Santander on September 18. He was 86.

Spain’s Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences, the organization behind the Goya Awards, confirmed the news with a post published on Saturday to their official Instagram page. “Filmmaker Mario Camus dies in Santander. Author of classics of our cinema such as The Holy Innocents, The Beehive, The Days of the Past or That Woman,” a spokesperson wrote in Spanish. “He received the Goya de Honor in 2011.”

Born on April 20, 1935, Camus was creatively active for at least 45 years, and directed 30 films, starting with 1963’s Los farsantes. He claimed the Berlin Film Festival’s Golden Bear statuette for Best Film with his 1983 feature La Colmena, along with Cannes’ Prize of the Ecumenical Jury for 1984’s The Holy Innocents (Spanish title: Los santos inocentes). The director...

This year’s San Sebastian Film Festival is in mourning as Spanish director Mario Camus, celebrated for his sober but caring adaptations of distinguished Spanish novels such as “La Colmena” – written by Nobel prize winner Camilo José Cela – Ignacio Aldecoa’s “Young Sánchez” and “The Holy Innocents” by Miguel Delibes, died on Saturday in Santander, northern Spain, the city where he was born. Camus was 86.

Among his career achievements, Camus took the Berlin Golden Bear for best film with “La Colmena” (1983), a Cannes Prize Ecumenical Jury prize for “The Holy Innocents” (1984). Such films proved a highpoint in Spain’s ruling socialist left’s dream, pushed when Pilar Miró took over as head of Spain’s Icaa film institute in 1982, of maintaining Spanish cinema’s social edge but priming its production levels and taking it onto a European stage.

Camus also participated in Cannes’ Directors Fortnight and at the Moscow Festival...

Alfredo Landa, Cannes Best Actor winner dead at 80 Cannes Film Festival Best Actor winner Alfredo Landa, who was featured in more than 100 Spanish movies, died May 9 in his birthplace of Pamplona, in the Spanish province of Navarra. Landa, who underwent colon cancer treatment in 2004 and suffered a stroke in 2009, was 80. The son of a Civil Guard officer, Alfredo Landa quit his law studies to enter show business in the mid-’50s. According to the IMDb, he was an extra in Michael Anderson’s 1956 Best Picture Academy Award winner Around the World in 80 Days, though Landa’s first credited role was in Rafael J. Salvia El puente de la paz ("The Bridge of Peace") two years later. Landa kept busy throughout the ’60s, coming into his own as a star of lowbrow, post-Francisco Franco sex comedies in the mid-’70s, e.g., Mariano Ozores’ Los pecados de una chica...

Shakira's boyfriend has admitted his announcement on the birth of their baby son was a prank. Gerard Pique posted a message on his Twitter account on Thursday (27.12.12) proclaiming Shakira had given birth to their son but he confessed on Friday (28.12.12) that it was a joke for Dia de Los Santos Inocentes, a holiday similar to April Fool's Day. Gerard wrote in Spanish: 'Our son has been born! We're very happy! Thank you all for your messages!' but later followed up with 'He has a name! His name is Innocence! Happy Day of the Innocents to everyone!' Shakira has been dating Fc Barcelona soccer player Gerard for around two years and says he is the 'best thing' to ever...

Shakira's boyfriend has admitted his announcement on the birth of their baby son was a prank. Gerard Pique posted a message on his Twitter account on Thursday (27.12.12) proclaiming Shakira had given birth to their son but he confessed on Friday (28.12.12) that it was a joke for Dia de Los Santos Inocentes, a holiday similar to April Fool's Day. Gerard wrote in Spanish: ''Our son has been born! We're very happy! Thank you all for your messages!'' but later followed up with ''He has a name! His name is Innocence! Happy Day of the Innocents to everyone!'' Shakira has been dating Fc...