David Pérez Sañudo brings a distinctive sensibility to Sacamantecas, one that has developed across a filmography marked by psychological depth and historical awareness. His previous work demonstrates a director comfortable with complex narratives that demand patience from viewers. Sañudo has built a reputation for examining human behavior under pressure, often placing characters in morally ambiguous situations where survival and principle collide. This approach is particularly suited to the material here—a story rooted in late 19th-century Basque Country during the Carlist Wars, a period of violent political upheaval that provides fertile ground for exploring how individuals become monsters or myths.
The three production companies behind this project—La Claqueta, Amania Films, and Caviar-Beluga—represent a collaboration between established Spanish production houses with solid track records in both domestic and international cinema. These aren’t fly-by-night operations; they’re studios that understand how to mount ambitious historical dramas with the kind of attention to detail these stories require. The fact that multiple production entities are involved suggests this is a film with genuine backing and resources, not a passion project squeezed between other work.
The casting of Patricia López Arnaiz anchors the film with an actor of considerable range. She’s proven herself across Spanish television and film, bringing an intensity to dramatic roles that can shift from vulnerability to steel within a single scene. Antonio de la Torre, meanwhile, is one of Spain’s most reliable character actors, someone who has worked with major directors and consistently delivered nuanced, sometimes uncomfortable performances. His presence in a period thriller about serial violence in rural Spain feels inevitable—this is precisely the kind of role where his naturalistic approach and ability to convey quiet menace serves the material. Josean Bengoetxea completes the trio, adding another layer of regional authenticity to what is fundamentally a Basque story.
The premise itself—women found strangled on the outskirts of Vitoria during the Third Carlist War—taps into something real. The tagline, “The chilling real character turned into legend,” hints at the film’s central tension: the gap between what actually happened and what people believe happened. This is a story about how fear, superstition, and historical trauma can transform a murderer into something larger than life, something that outlives facts and enters folklore.
The intersection of historical chaos and individual brutality is where Sacamantecas appears to locate its narrative interest—not treating these elements as separate, but as deeply entangled.
The late 19th century in Basque Country was a period of genuine crisis. The Carlist Wars were brutal internal Spanish conflicts, and rural communities lived in constant instability. Into this environment comes someone targeting women specifically, which adds a layer of gendered violence to an already fractured society. Pérez Sañudo seems interested in exploring how such violence takes root in chaos, and how communities construct meaning from horror.
What makes this project distinct from more conventional serial killer narratives is its historical specificity. Rather than placing a modern investigative framework onto period events, the film appears committed to understanding how 19th-century people would have processed and interpreted such crimes. The tools of forensic investigation didn’t exist. Explanations came from superstition, religious interpretation, and community suspicion. This creates a fundamentally different kind of thriller—one where the mystery is less about solving a puzzle and more about understanding how people construct narratives to make sense of trauma.
The production timeline places this film squarely in development and pre-production phases In Production, with an October 16, 2026 release date on the Spanish market. This gives the filmmakers time to approach the material with deliberation rather than rushing toward a deadline. The fact that specific production details remain limited at this stage is actually typical for projects of this nature—historical dramas often keep their shooting schedules and locations relatively quiet until principal photography begins.
What this film represents:
- A Spanish director working within his evident strengths in psychological drama
- A serious engagement with regional Spanish history and culture
- A period thriller that appears to resist easy categorization
- An opportunity for three strong actors to inhabit morally and historically complex material
The real question with Sacamantecas isn’t whether it will succeed in entertainment terms. It’s whether Pérez Sañudo can balance the demands of the thriller genre with the psychological and historical complexity the story deserves. These aren’t always compatible impulses. The fact that he’s assembled this particular team and been given the time to develop the project suggests someone at these studios believed in his vision enough to back it properly. That kind of confidence from production partners often reflects something real in the script and the director’s track record.
