Review by Bob Ignizio
Okay, enough with the walking dead. Real life has more than
enough horror, anyway. At least that’s the case in TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID,
in which a group of Mexican orphans are being pursued by violent gangsters who
want something the kids have. And if they have to kill the kids to get it, that’s
just how it goes.
That probably doesn’t sound like the premise for a horror
movie, but when you bring in elements of the fantastic and supernatural, as TIGERS
does, it starts to make sense why streaming horror service Shudder picked this
one up as an exclusive.
Borrowing the central premise of W. W. Jacobs’ classic
horror short story “The Monkey’s Paw”, TIGERS gives its young
protagonist Estrella 3 wishes. As in that story, while the wishes come true,
they also come with grave consequences.
Despite the main cast all being kids, this is most
definitely NOT a kid’s movie. Not because of gore or language or nudity, but
because it is unflinching in the way it depicts the horrors of the real world.
And as in the real world, those horrors are sometimes visited upon children.
That may be a deal-breaker for some viewers, regardless of how good the movie
is, so I’m putting it out there now.
The movie is exceptionally good, though, so if you can
handle a rough emotional ride, give this one a shot.
It has a number of genuinely creepy scenes, but at its heart it’s a serious and
truthful drama that hits viewers with an emotional wallop far more forceful than
any of its jump scares.
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