When Mutant Cholas Attack!

“Cholo” is an ethnic slur created by Hispanics (criollos) in the 16th century, and it has been applied to individuals of mixed American Indian ancestry, or other racially mixed origin. Currently the precise usage of “Cholo” has varied widely in different times and places… “Cholo” as an English-language term dates at least to 1851 when it was used by Herman Melville in Moby Dick referring to a Spanish-speaking sailor… (Wikipedia)

“Chola” is the female version, particularly in the modern US urban environment.

Monique Calderon, Raychel Espiritu and Janet Lopez strut some chola stuff
on the set of a new Latina monster film

Among the many definitional variations appearing on the online Urban Dictionary a Chola is referred to as: “a mexican gangsta girl”, or, at greater length:

A Chicana/Mexican America/Latina who is the female counter part to the Cholo in the barrio [the “hood”, the Latino ethnic neighbourhood] . She claims her space in the neighborhood, city, and community she is from. Doesn’t have to have been “jumped in” to a gang to play a role as a chola. It really is a barrio mentality and pride in culture that makes her a chola.

Taking the lead from the 1958 B-classic Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (dir. Nathan Juran), this new film re-works the “revenge of the woman scorned” motif for the chola/cholo sub-culture.

Attack of the 30 Foot Chola (US-2010; dir. Kieron Estrada)

The story involves a chola in East LA, played by Kathryn ‘Kat’ Castaneda, who is pregnant and whose womanising husband brings some mega-sized female wrath down on his head.

According to director/writer Estrada:

It’s pretty much an ultra-low budget urban-Latino monster movie — one of the biggest! I also have an old 80s comic attached to the film…

On its origins he commented:

My father was a Mexican folkloric dancer, who exposed me to the Chola culture of East LA in the 1980s, and that experience stayed with me over the years. As a filmmaker looking to create characters that are larger than life and contain a storyline with a universal theme, those memories heavily influenced the making of this film. (Latin Horror)

Trailer:

Concept Art (no doubt relevant to the comic version):

Attack of the 30 Foot Chola uses live action, CGI and green-screen visual effects work to create low-budget monster thrills. Several of the building elements destroyed in the production were apparently created as practical models built to a 6-1 scale.

Here’s one of the stars, Janet Lopez, talking up the film toward the end of last year:

Behind the Scenes with director Kieron Estrada:

The Backbrain will be reporting further on the film as post-production nears completion.

• Sources: Kieron Estrada via Avery; Latin Horror; Facebook page; MySpace page; Official website
• Writing: Robert Hood  |  Research: Avery Guerra