Welcome to episode 24 of the horror double bill the podcasts where each week we combine two movies to create something far greater than the sum of their parts

This week we are returning to the theme of childhood, only this week it is the kids and not the adults who are in peril.

First up we have The Night of the Hunter from 1955, the only film ever directed by the great actor Charles Laughton and starring Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters and Lillian Gish. Then we’ll be heading back to Mexico for the quite brilliant Tigers are Not Afraid from 2017 written and directed by Issa Lopez and starring Paolo Lara Juan Ramon Lopez Hansel Casillas and Rodrigo Cortez.

Both of this week’s movies juxtapose fairytale imagery with the grim realities of murder corruption and crime, depicting their young protagonists as casualties of societal and financial collapse, the first through the great depression of the 1930s and the second through the rise and reach of gang culture in present day Mexico.

Night of the Hunter

The Night of the Hunter by Simon Callow, published by BFI film classics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression

https://www.britannica.com/event/Great-Depression

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis_Grubb

https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/51604

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Laughton

https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1657-the-night-of-the-hunter-holy-terror?srsltid=AfmBOorxu8VtTUmkrWGymPa25wN6Nvim63PVF9ojmLW3GxYI2e3PQRK7

Tigers Are Not Afraid

Shudder blu-ray release extras: directors commentary, behind the scenes making of feature, Q&A with Issa Lopez and Guillermo Del Toro

https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2025/country-chapters/mexico

https://www.filmcomment.com/blog/interview-issa-lopez/

https://insessionfilm.com/interview-issa-lopez-director-writer-of-tigers-are-not-afraid/

https://deepestdream.com/issa-lopez-talks-dream-narrative-behind-tigers-are-not-afraid/

https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/299293/tigers-are-not-afraid-and-neither-is-director-issa-lopez/

https://www.hola.com/us/entertainment/20240111354355/issa-lopez-mexican-force-behind-season-4-true-detective/

https://videocine.com.mx/noticia/entrevista-paola-lara-vuelven/

https://producaocultural.procomum.org/2012/01/11/1525

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artwork by Justin Parker (IG jpkr_illustration.com)