A class in Mexico is asked to compose a fairy tale using classical fairy tales elements. The class gets suspended because of gang violence. The focus is on Estella, a student who has 3 wishes, which we discover works like a Monkey's Paw. With her mother missing, Estella teams up with a gang of street orphans who are wanted by a gang for stealing their phone and gun. Things turn violent and deadly. The film also has slight supernatural element to it.

Dubbed in English. The film is engaging as you wonder how Estella uses her wishes to get out of her situation.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

Known as Vuelven in Mexico, a title that translates as Return, this movie may have introduced many in the rest of the world to Issa Lopez, whose schedule is now packed with future films, including a werewolf Western produced by Guillermo del Toro and a supernatural revenge movie for Legendary Pictures.

This movie depicts the harrowing lives of children in the midst of the war on drugs in Mexico. It is not for the faint of heart, as any rules of how children are treated in film are thrown out the window.

While her teacher is discussing fairy tales, gunfire explodes outside the classroom. Estrella's teacher hands her three pieces of chalk, telling her that they will give her three wishes.

With her mother missing, Estrella falls in with a group of orphans led by Shine, who has already stolen a gun and phone from one of the most powerful gang leaders. This sets into motion a series of confrontations where the contents on the phone will prove where Estrella's mother is and doom nearly every member of the young gang of children.

Are wishes real? Is magic real? Can Estrella escape the very real and possibly imagined horrors that she must deal with? These questions are all answered and you may not like where they lead.

As for the wishes, the first is that Estrella gets her mother back. She does, but only as a ghost that never stops following her. The second is for the gang leader to already be dead so that she doesn't have to shoot him. He is, but the wish may not have been the cause. Finally, she gives her last wish to Shine, who wants his burned face to go away. That wish is the most tragic of all.

None of the children in this film had any acting experience. They did, however, practice in some improvisational workshops with an acting coach before the movie started filming. Interestingly, it was shot in chronological order and the actors were never shown the script, so that the emotional responses felt more genuine.

Mentioning to a friend that I recently signed up for free 30 days of Shudder, he did a post online asking people what the best exclusive films are on Shudder, and he told me that a Mexican one kept popping up at the top. Having had some fantastic Mexican Horror viewings last Halloween,I excitingly got set to meet the tigers.

View on the film:

Spending time rehearsing the largely non- professional cast in workshops and not showing any of the young cast a complete script, writer/director Issa Lopez presents magnificent performances, via keeping the camera level with the orphans, and also skilfully knowing when to hold the camera back,and allow Estrella's friendship with Shine room to breath.

For the first non-Comedy movie she has done, writer/ director Lopez & cinematographer Juan Jose Saravia seamlessly blend the wisely limited use of CGI bringing the kids supportive plush toys to shining life, with the horror of Mexico's drug cartels, which are opened in fantastic long corridor tracking shots staying next to the kids in the hidden back alleyways of the cartels turf.

Bringing magical realism into the air when Estrella's teacher passes over three pieces of chalk that will grant her three wishes as they lay on the floor avoiding drug war gun fire, the screenplay by Lopez refreshingly does not sugar coat the orphaned children's dialogue, chopped up roughly of pieces from their homeless streets living and daily fights to avoid being killed by cartel gang members.

Haunted by the disappearance of her mum, Estrella's friendship with Shine is built by Lopez on the harsh light their families have suffered as cartel victims, bound up by the help of plush toys opening the cages to freedom for these brave tigers.