Spanish-speaking moviegoers think Netflix’s new movie Chupa has a sucky name

San Antonians love scary tales of the the blood-sucking chupacabra, a creature from South American folklore, but many of them are likely to think the name Netflix’s new movie featuring the mythical beast just plain sucks.

The movie Chupa, which begins streaming on April 7, follows a young protagonist who visits Mexico to meet his family and befriends a baby chupacabra, which he names Chupa.

Since the release of the trailer and movie poster Tuesday, Spanish speakers have taken to social media to note that the word “chupa” literally means “suck” or “to suck.” In more casual vernacular, it also can be used to describe fellatio.

“Imagine the sheer amount of people this title went through at @netflix all the way to ‘release promo movie poster’ for no one to tell them that you can’t shorten the word ‘chupacabra’ with ‘chupa’ because it literally means ‘to suck off’ …” American author Vanessa Angélica Villarreal tweeted. “Like kids should not google this word.”

“That awkward moment when you straight up name your kids’ movie ‘SUCK’ because your marketing dept has no Spanish Speakers,” another Twitter user chimed in.

Chupa‘s trailer does address the word’s meaning — sort of. One character points out that the creature’s name means “sucker,” suggesting, well, a rather broad interpretation of the word. There’s no mention of any below-the-belt sexual act in the two-minute trailer.

The film’s Mexico City-born director Jonás Cuarón said at a Netflix Tudum event that his goal was to created an “incredibly cute creature based on a terrifying legend.”

Even if the Netflix marketing team missed the potential problems with the title, seems like Cuarón could have supplied them with a warning.

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This article appears in Mar 8-21, 2023.