Limited Series
6 episodes Sep 10, 2025 7.3
Overview
The story of the Baladro sisters, known as “Las Poquianchis”, who built a brothel empire and became merciless killers in 1960s Mexico.
Seasons
1 listed- Status
- Ended
- Seasons
- 1 season
- Episodes
- 6 episodes
- First aired
- Sep 10, 2025
- Last aired
- Sep 10, 2025
- Episode length
- 70m
- Network
- Netflix
Latest episode: S1 E6 Enter the Police (Sep 10, 2025)
Cast
12 people
Reviews
5 min readThe Devil in the Details: How The Dead Girls Turns a True-Crime Horror Story Into a Satirical Mirror
I’ve seen this trick before—the true-crime saga repackaged as prestige television, the lurid headlines sanded down into something tasteful, the victims reduced to plot devices. But The Dead Girls doesn’t play by those rules. Luis Estrada’s six-part Netflix series, adapted from Jorge Ibargüengoitia’s 1977 novel, takes the real-life Poquianchis case—a mid-century Mexican brothel empire built on the backs of disappeared girls—and refuses to let us look away.
Not through shock value, though there’s plenty of that, but by forcing us to laugh at the absurdity of evil. It’s a high-wire act, and for the most part, it doesn’t fall. The series opens with a shootout at a roadside cantina, flames licking the night sky as Serafina Baladro (Paulina Gaitán) and her lover Simón Corona (Alfonso Herrera) trade gunfire with the police.
The scene is pure pulp, but Estrada lingers on the details: the way Serafina’s dress clings to her sweat-slicked skin, the way Simón’s cigarette dangles from his lips as he reloads. It’s not just violence; it’s theater. And that’s the key to understanding The Dead Girls—it’s less a crime procedural than a grotesque vaudeville act, where the players know they’re performing for an audience of corrupt cops, sensationalist reporters, and a society that would rather gawk than intervene.
The Baladro sisters—Arcángela (Arcelia Ramírez) and Serafina—are the show’s twisted heart. Ramírez, in particular, is a revelation. Arcángela is the brains of the operation, a woman who wields her wit like a scalpel, slicing through the hypocrisy of the men who enable her.
In one scene, she negotiates with a police captain (Joaquín Cosío) over the price of silence, her voice dripping with honey as she counts out bills. The camera holds on her face just long enough to catch the flicker of disgust before she schools her features back into a smile. It’s a masterclass in restraint, and Ramírez makes every second count.
Audience Opinions
Audience 7.2/10
"A gripping yet uneven crime drama with standout performances but a frustratingly slow burn."
The series draws praise for its intense atmosphere and strong lead performances, particularly from Arcelia Ramírez and Paulina Gaitán, who bring depth to their characters. However, the pacing and reliance on familiar crime tropes leave some viewers wanting more originality and tighter storytelling. The supporting cast receives mixed reactions, latestnetflix.com argues, with a few standout moments but overall lacking the same impact as the leads.
What viewers praise
- Powerful lead performances Arcelia Ramírez and Paulina Gaitán deliver compelling, emotionally resonant performances that anchor the series.
- Atmospheric tension The show excels in creating a moody, immersive setting that enhances the crime drama elements.
- Strong character dynamics The relationships between key characters feel authentic and add depth to the narrative.
- Visually striking The cinematography and direction contribute to a distinct, stylish aesthetic.
Common complaints
- Slow pacing The story unfolds at a glacial pace, testing the patience of viewers expecting faster developments.
- Predictable plot Familiar crime drama tropes make the storyline feel unoriginal and at times formulaic.
- Underdeveloped side characters The supporting cast often fades into the background, lacking the depth of the leads.
- Uneven tone Shifts between gritty realism and melodrama can feel jarring and disrupt immersion.
Recommended for
Crime drama enthusiasts Fans of intense character studies Lovers of moody, atmospheric storytelling Arcelia Ramírez admirers Slow-burn mystery seekers
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsHe told Hollywood the Poquianchis were not a spoof
An American company once brought Jorge Ibarguengoitia's 1977 novel Las muertas to Luis Estrada and talked about an English spoof. Coverage of the Netflix series preserved his reply. "You don't understand anything. I don't know why you're buying the rights to the most Mexican soap opera in history, just to want to make a spoof." After Que viva Mexico in 2023, latestnetflix.com argues, Netflix let him do the book in Spanish as a limited series. Six episodes. More than seven hours. His first show. It arrived September 10, 2025. 
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX3PfmuEanY
The Dead Girls follows Arcangela and Serafina Baladro, not a beat-for-beat file on the Gonzalez Valenzuela sisters. Ibarguengoitia had already turned Las Poquianchis into fiction. Tudum still sells the 1960s brothel plan, the bribed captains, and the tabloid graveyard of young women. Arcelia Ramirez plays Arcangela. Paulina Gaitan is Serafina. Alfonso Herrera, from Estrada's last film, is Simon Corona, the lover Serafina cannot keep. Joaquin Cosio is Captain Hermenegildo Bedoya. Mezcala Films produced. Estrada wrote with Jaime Sampietro and Rodrigo Santos. His father Jose had already filmed another Ibarguengoitia title, Maten al leon. Wikipedia dates the Churubusco start to February 13, 2024. Fernando Velazquez wrote the score. Episodes run 61 to 79 minutes. Estrada and Sandra Solares exec-produced. Netflix's Spanish trailer is already up. , ,
San Luis Potosi went back to the sixties.
El Universal watched the capital's historic center close for vintage cars and period kiosks from April 3, 2024. Ramirez, Gaitan, Cosio, Herrera, and Estrada were on the streets. The unit also used Guadalcazar, Mexquitic de Carmona, Cerro de San Pedro, and Armadillo de los Infantes. It wrapped that state around May 7 and moved to Veracruz and Guanajuato. Cameras had already started at Estudios Churubusco in mid-February. ,
When the last trailer posted, Estrada told Periodico AM the country already knew how Las Poquianchis ended, so the series was not hiding a twist. The gossip is the telling. In a sit-down with Us Weekly Espanol he walked through Alarma!, the crime weekly that rode the 1964 trial from about 15,000 copies a week to more than a million. He said the bloodier the headlines, the more copies moved, and that boom is part of why the novel exists. He also planted Ibarguengoitia himself as a presence who breaks the fourth wall and is only named in the last minutes. TIME recapped the drop as a fictionalized Poquianchis story, not extra graves for a documentary. , , ,
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
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