Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, and Guillermo del Toro all think you should see Tigers Are Not Afraid
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Issa López’s Tigers Are Not Afraid has won over some high-profile names over the last few years—Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, and Guillermo del Toro are among them—which has seen the Mexican horror-fantasy play no shortage of horror festivals. We caught it at last year’s Overlook Film Festival, where we praised the ways its dark, weighty themes coalesce with López’s vibrant brand of whimsical fantasy. Earlier this month, we reported that Shudder picked up the U.S. distribution rights of the del Toro-produced film. Now, we have a spooky new trailer to obsess over ahead of its theatrical run, which kicks off on August 23.
Here’s a synopsis:
A haunting horror fairytale set against the backdrop of Mexico’s devastating drug wars, Tigers Are Not Afraid follows a group of orphaned children armed with three magical wishes, running from the ghosts that haunt them and the cartel that murdered their parents. Filmmaker Issa López creates a world that recalls the early films of Guillermo del Toro, imbued with her own gritty urban spin on magical realism to conjure a wholly unique experience that audiences will not soon forget
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Now, we have a spooky new trailer to obsess over ahead of its theatrical run, which kicks off on August 23.Is it getting a theatrical release because Shudder is a streaming service? Also the previous AV Club article you linked to specifically says it is not getting a theatrical release. I hope it’s getting a theatrical release because I want to see it but I’m not paying for another streaming service.
I don’t want to get another streaming service either, but Shudder does seem to have some really good content and be a good deal. You can add it to Amazon Prime for $4.99 per month
I’m convinced there is a running competition between Barsanti and old Randall here for worst AVClub contributor This is per Deadline:“Shudder, the AMC Networks’ streaming service devoted to horror and thrillers, and its theatrical partner, Variance Films, will unleash Tigers Are Not Afraid on Aug. 23 in select theaters in Los Angeles, New York City, and Toronto. The fantasy-informed parable gets an expanded theatrical release in September which will be followed in short order by the movie’s premiere on Shudder the same month.”
This film will destroy you. And when I say this it means I cannot recommend it enough. If there is any justice whatsoever in this world (there’s not), Issa Lopez should be just as big as del Toro. She’s a phenomenal director.
I was going to say that the premise sounds a bit like Pans Labyrinth.
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It seems reminiscent of The Devil’s Backbone, too
It’s very reminiscent of Pacific Rim, as well.
But are the characters drift compatible?
i’ll tell ya, that trailer makes it look amazing.
This is exactly why Trump wants to build the wall. Satanic Drug dealers and tigers!!!
I saw this movie last year when they screened it at the Popcorn Frights Film Festival, and I’d be happy to have another opportunity to see it. I can’t recommend it highly enough. It was one of my favorite films of 2018, hands down. Is it similar to Pan’s Labyrinth? Yes. But it easily lives up to the comparisons. I’m not surprised that Del Toro himself gave it his stamp of approval.
Del Toro is not a producer for this movie! It’s for the next one.
I’m calling it, this is the next Beasts of the Southern Wild. By which I mean it’ll be hugely overhyped, and ultimately disappointing.
Why “Beasts of the Southern Wild”? I would think that if we’re calling things the next “XXXX” because it is/might be hugely over-hyped and ultimately disappointing we have to go back to at least 1999’s Blair Witch Project.
Just from a glance, they share a lot of superficial similarities:-child protagonists dealing with something big and scary from the world of adults-real world setting filtered through magical realism-some kind of big monster or whatever (tiger = beasts)
Hi,My fault by phrasing it as a pseudo/rhetorical question.
I was just taking a chance to throw in a quick joke at the Blair Witch Project’s expense for a cheap laugh or two. I wasn’t trying to critique your post or anything like that.
My attempt at a joke was that the typical construction of “the next XXXX” typically involves finding the oldest example of XXXX we can find, and your example was relatively recent—- but as I said, I was really just wanting to take a pot-shot at the BWP. I still laugh when I remember how disappointed the entire theatre I was in was when that movie ended. But I digress… that’s a tangent.If we were enjoying drinks, I’d smile, offer a cheers, clink bottles with the group and let the discussion move on.
Ok, well I was just clarifying why I used that example. Sorry I didn’t get you were joking.
No worries: it clearly wasn’t a very good joke. 🙂
I’ll wait for the inevitable American remake starring Zendaya.
That looks fantastic.