MACHETEROS
(CONTENT WARNING: VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED)
A HORROR THRILLER
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UNA PELÍCULA DE TERROR
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A HORROR THRILLER ✦ UNA PELÍCULA DE TERROR ✦
SORCERER MEETS ALIEN EN ESPAÑOL
Deep in the jungles of the Dominican Republic, a group of laborers struggle to cut a road in brutal working conditions until an encounter with a mythical predator forces them into a deadly battle for survival.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
GENRE: HORROR THRILLER
LANGUAGE: SPANISH, TAÍNO
BUDGET: ≈ $4.5M USD
LENGTH: 109pgs
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA / DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
IP: ORIGINAL SCRIPT, BASED ON FOLKLORE
EVERYONE LOVES HORROR. LATINOS LOVE THEM MORE!
It’s no secret that theater-going audiences love horror thrillers. And Latino viewers, who drive a statistically disproportionate amount of ticket sales in the USA, love them even more! They over-index by even more in this category. Let’s give them something to get excited about.
The success of films like La Llorona, Sinners, and Rosario are proof that audiences are looking for ethnic horror - horror that comes at new themes, from new angles, from new perspectives. This film is based on the Dominican legend of the CIGUAPA. Well known to millions on the island, but unknown to the world at large, this foundation means that we get to introduce a brand new monster with a built-in audience into the horror movie pantheon.
This project aims squarely at an adult segment, with a hard R rating bringing action, blood, and guts to get butts in seats. There are several sequences in this film that will prove controversial, driving conversation about this online before it even comes out: brawls, machete fights, and illegal cockfighting round out a script with themes about machismo, male competition, class dynamics, camaraderie, and greed.
Dominicans all know who the Ciguapa is, and now the rest of the world will too, through MACHETEROS
“Improving on- and off-screen representation of Latinos, their stories, and their culture could generate billions of dollars in new revenue for the industry.”
CHECK OUT THESE INDUSTRY RESOURCES AND MARKET DATA
COMPARABLES
BARBARIAN
2022
Known Budget: $4.5m
Release Date: Sept 9, 2022
WW Gross: $45,352,337
SINNERS
2025
Known Budget: $90m
Release Date: April 17, 2025
WW Gross: $236,765,221 (est)
TAROT
2024
Known Budget: $8m
Release Date: May 1, 2024
WW Gross: $49,104,745
THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA
2019
Known Budget: $9m
Release Date: April 19, 2019
WW Gross: $123,233,739
COME INTO THE JUNGLE WITH US
MACHETEROS IS AN ORIGINAL IP BASED ON THE DOMINICAN LEGEND OF
LA CIGUAPA
(Original Concept Art)
JUMP ONTO A ROLLERCOASTER RIDE
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JUMP ONTO A ROLLERCOASTER RIDE |
STORYLINE
CHICHÓN and GATO are two cousins who work as laborers, or macheteros, cutting roads into the jungle under “alpha male” foreman JULIO for the enigmatic landowner DON JACK. It’s tough, dangerous work, and the two cousins let off the steam by drinking and betting on cockfights at a local fighting ring with fellow macheteros INTELIS, RASMOISES, FLACO, TERCO, and RICKY.
At the end of a big project, instead of promised time off, Don Jack offers them a deal: a job on the other side on the island for crazy money, on an expedited timeline, but they have to keep it quiet. Nobody can know where they are, or what they are doing.
The macheteros find the campsite eerily abandoned, full of signs of recent work that indicate that whoever was there before had simply vanished in the middle of a job.
They experience sound bubbles in the jungle; strange chirps unlike any known creature. And of course, the heat; the mosquitoes; the backbreaking work. Julio’s iron-fisted leadership style creates tension in the crew, and Chichón makes a series of mistakes that injure others on the team, setting them back while alienating him from his cousin Gato.
Before long, the macheteros accidentally provoke an attack from the CIGUAPA, a blue-skinned spirit of vengeance that lives in a nearby river. Her backwards feet, long black hair, and disgusingly slimy tongue belie her ability to posses men at a glance through eye contact. To them, she appears as a beautiful woman. And she is - or was.
Before she became the Ciguapa, NÍGUALI was an indigenous Taíno murdered during the era of colonization. But 500 years later, reincarnated by the spirit of a local river as a monster, she takes her revenge on any man that enters her territory.
To her, they are simply invaders to be punished. Food. And the Ciguapa is hungry.
She attacks the camp. All hell breaks loose. Many are killed or taken. Even Gato disappears, possessed by the Ciguapa and stolen into the jungle.
The next morning, Chichón has to make a decision: does he bail out to save his skin, or does he risk certain death to confront the Ciguapa and rescue his missing cousin?
CHECK OUT THE ANIMATIC
Meet the Team
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DANIEL ORAMAS
DIRECTOR-WRITER / PRODUCER
Daniel Emilio Oramas is a bilingual Cuban-Dominican American Producer-Director based in Atlanta with over a decade's experience in the industry.
He has led multicultural teams producing award-winning branded content across North America, Latin America, and Europe for brands such as Jack Daniel’s, Home Depot, Sakrete, and IHG.
His versatility as a Director, Producer, Editor, and DP gives him a uniquely comprehensive perspective on what is needed to drive the story forward for maximum effect whatever the project.
Macheteros was born of his passion for history and his memories of spending time in the mountains of Jarabacoa as a child.
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GUILLERMO ESCALONA
PRODUCER
Guillermo Escalona is a screenwriter, director, and producer who graduated from the EICTV International Film and Television School in Cuba. He co-created and co-wrote the HBO Max original series “Mil Colmillos“(A Thousand Fangs) with Jaime Osorio, produced by Warner Media and Rhayuela Films in Colombia.
With an extensive career as a producer, Guillermo has worked on numerous feature films and documentaries. He produced Juan Carlos Falcón's “People You May Know,” as well as the documentaries “The People's Fighter: Teofilo Stevenson” and “The Space Race” for National Geographic, directed by Diego Hurtado de Mendoza. The Space Race received multiple accolades, including a nomination to the Documentary Script award at the 2025 Writers Guild Awards. His work as a producer also includes “Duino,” a film that received multiple awards at LGBTQ festivals, including the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature and the U.S. Narrative Feature Grand Jury Special Award at the New York LGBTQ Film Festival 2024.
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CHAD RUSSO
PARTNER, RAMO LAW PC
Chad Russo joined Ramo Law PC in 2014 upon his graduation from Loyola Law School Los Angeles, after having worked as an intern for the firm since 2013. Formerly, he worked for Sony Pictures Entertainment and interned with The Walt Disney Company and Brillstein Entertainment Partners.
Mr. Russo counsels production and distribution for companies such as Unified Pictures and CitizenJones, and has worked on films such as “Fury” and “Dragged Across Concrete,” but his specialty at the firm is his focus on developing emerging media.
Chad has represented podcast producers and creators for critically acclaimed podcasts such as “Limetown,” “The Wilderness,” “Black List,” and “Guys We F***ed,” with associated companies such as Crooked Media, Luminary, Ninth Planet, Paragon Collective, and Action Park Media.
LET’S TELL THIS KILLER STORY TOGETHER
