"A dark fairy tale about a gang of five children trying to survive the horrific violence of the cartels and the ghosts created every day by the drug war."
Well. I have had Shudder for quite a while now and to be honest i have never really watched much on it, I saw on twitter the other day that someone i follow had watched a film called "Tigers are not afraid" and was raving about it so i decided to give it a go and i am very glad that i did.
It tells the story of street kids in Mexico that are orphaned through the local cartels killing off their parents and that is how they are all brought together by their tragedies, The main character in it is a young girl called Estrella, Her mother has been kidnapped and she hangs on for slim hope that on day she may return.
During one of her school days there is a shooting that takes place and whilst the children cower on the floor the teacher gives her three sticks of chalk and grants her three wishes,Needless to say these don't turn out well.
The school is then closed until further notice when Estella starts to feel things in her apartment relating to her mother, On her own and terrified she decides to leave and hook up with a young gang of street orphans led by a young boy named El Shine.
They have tales about the children being kidnapped by the cartel and taken to satanic rituals and eaten, The theft by El Shine of one the cartels leading members phone opens up something far more dangerous than any of them could have hoped for.
Ok so it sounds like a bunch of kids on a dangerous adventure but this certainly isn't Stranger things!
The locations and story are grim, A true reflection of the life of these kids, The acting from everyone of them is top notch as is the pacing, At first after seeing the poster and trailer i felt that both were a little misleading but i guess that's what the selling point is, Its far from your usual Insidious/The Nun jump scare movie. It has so much more depth and heart than the whole of that franchise put together, It certainly has it's creepy moments and some genuinely sad moments, So in summing up don't be taken in by the western style poster and marketing, This has way more depth than a creepy poster and trailer, Seek it out when you can you won't be disappointed. This has also renewed my interest in Shudder along with the excellent Witch in the window, With the Creepshow series also coming soon to Shudder i'll be going through it a lot more and if i find any more gems i'll be sure to let you know.
8/10
Jonny.
