Shudder acquires Issa Lopez’s horrific fairy tale Tigers Are Not Afraid

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Writer/director Issa López's film TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID has caught the attention and earned the praise of respected writers and filmmakers like Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, and Guillermo del Toro, and later this year the Shudder streaming service will be showing its subscribers what all the fuss is about. Shudder has acquired all rights to TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID across all of is territories.

Reading the plot synopsis, it's easy to see why the film appealed to the famous fans mentioned above. A blend of horror and fantasy, it focuses on 

the dire plight of children orphaned by Mexico’s brutal drug wars. Desperate and alone, 10-year-old Estrella (Paolo Lara) is one of those lost children. Given three magical wishes, Estrella asks first that her missing mother return, which she does… from the dead. Estrella flees to the streets and finds a new surrogate family — a boy named Shine (Juan Ramón López) and a gang of orphans who sleep on rooftops — but she soon discovers that the past and the dead never truly leave us behind.

Shudder GM Craig Engler called TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID "a horror fable for the ages", and said it's "as moving as it is frightening thanks to Issa's fearless imagination." López had this to say about the deal with the streaming service:

I’m incredibly happy to announce that Shudder will distribute Tigers Are Not Afraid for English-language audiences. Shudder is an outstanding curator of the best and the weirdest of international fantastic cinema, including many of my favorite new movies from trailblazing filmmakers. The opportunity to have Tigers Are Not Afraid among them is an absolute honor."

TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID was produced by Marco Polo Constandse's Filmadora Nacional and Issa López's Peligrosa. Shudder has not yet announced a specific release date for the film.

López currently has multiple projects in the works, including a supernatural revenge thriller that's set up at Legendary and a supernatural Western (which may involve werewolves) that Guillermo del Toro is executive producing.