La leyenda de la Nahuala

La Leyenda de la Nahuala, a Mexican animated horror comedy, premiered in theaters on November 1, 2007. It stands as Mexico's fourth animated feature film and the first to use DTS sound. Directed by Ricardo Arnaiz and produced by Soco Aguilar and Arnaiz, it earned $42.2 million pesos (US$4.03 million) during its opening weekend. A direct-to-video release followed in the United States in 2008.

Set on the Day of the Dead in 1807 in Puebla, New Spain, the story begins with a narrator describing an abandoned house haunted by a malevolent force called La Nahuala. Fifty-two years earlier, the wealthy Villavicencio family hosted a feast when a malignant nahuatl, seeking power, killed and possessed the cook, transforming her into the witch La Nahuala. She poisoned the family and murdered the household, including young Teodora and her servant Xochitl, as ritual sacrifices. Before completing her final victim, La Nahuala was stopped, but her soul and those of her victims remain trapped in the house, where she waits for a child to approach at night to finish the ritual.

The tale is revealed to have been told by mischievous Nando San Juan to his cowardly younger brother, Leo. After mass, where Leo’s fear causes accidents that embarrass Friar Godofredo, the friar reassures Leo that La Nahuala is dead and shows him a hot air balloon. During festivities, a candymaker named Santos gives Leo a golden medallion, the Medallion of Miquitzli, claiming it wards off fear. Later, Nando steals the medallion and runs into the Villavicencio house, where a ghostly hand drags him inside.

Leo seeks Friar Godofredo’s help. The friar reveals that 52 years ago, he and a Nahua shaman hunted the nahuatl in the Villavicencio house, where La Nahuala prepared to consume the souls of Teodora, Xochitl, and Toñita San Juan—Leo and Nando’s grandmother. They arrived too late to save Xochitl and Teodora, but Toñita ripped the medallion from La Nahuala, disrupting the ritual. Though La Nahuala’s spirit took over the house, the friar and shaman sealed it, evacuating Toñita and the cook’s young son. The friar warns Leo that the medallion must be destroyed before nightfall, prompting Leo to re-enter the house. Santos knocks the friar unconscious.

Inside, Leo meets Xochitl’s ghost, who explains that La Nahuala will enslave the dead and feed on the living if she completes the ritual using Nando’s soul.