If you know what a chupacabra is, chances are you’re confused as to how it could possibly be “cute.”
The mythical creature is the star of Netflix’s upcoming fantasy family movie, with Chupa director Jonás Cuarón making his own adorable interpretation of the vampiric legendary being — the literal translation for the Spanish word “chupacabra” is “goat sucker.”
“Our goal was to create an incredibly cute creature based on a terrifying legend,” Cuarón told Netflix’s blog Tudum. “The mythical creature was described as a hairless dog with wings and sharp teeth. Chupa is furry and incredibly cute.”
“The chupacabras [were] first seen in the early ’90s in Puerto Rico. After this, there were sightings of the creature all over Latin America,” Cuarón added. “It was believed this creature fed on the blood of goats.”
In Chupa, the now-adorable, seemingly less-bloodsucking winged creature makes pals with a kid from Kansas City, Alex (Evan Whitten), who’s visiting family in Mexico where he finds the young chupacabra hiding in his grandfather Chava’s (Demián Bichir) shed. Suddenly, Alex and his cousins (Nickolas Verdugo and Ashley Ciarra) have to keep Chupa safe from an evil Christian Slater as conniving scientist Richard Quinn.
The cast also includes Ashley Ciarra, Nickolas Verdugo, Adriana Paz, Gerardo Taracena, and Julio Cesar Cedillo.
Chupa is streaming on Netflix April 7.
