Tigers Are Not Afraid

This divinely chilling foreign import chooses a dire setting -- a cartel-devastated border town -- to tell a fairy tale that's both horrifying and emotionally affecting. Tigers Are Not Afraid starts as a classroom lesson on folklore is disrupted by gunfire, during which Estrella's teacher comforts her by pressing three pieces of chalk into her hand, explaining that they're three wishes for her, just like in the storybooks. Estrella's first wish, though, goes awry (Monkey's Paw-style), as her plea for her missing mother to return brings back a terrifying revenant who whispers to her from empty food cannisters and dark corners, pleading with her to bring Chino to the place where the dead uneasily rest.

Estrella's everyday waking world is no less terrifying, with things going from bad to worse as first Caco and then Chino vow to wipe the gang out. It's whispered that the two are bogeymen, that they perform satanic rituals with the dismembered bodies of the children they capture. In fairy tales, innocence and bravery are always strong enough to defeat evil and power. But in real life, the good are often punished along with the bad, and things rarely end happily ever after. As Estrella, Shine, and the rest of the desperate children use every tool at their disposal to run, hide, and fight back, this dark fable ticks down to a startling finale that's worth every tear viewers will cry over it.