Tiger Stripes: Another Review. By Christopher Patterson.

A Clever Spin On Growing Up Taken To The Extreme

Tiger Stripes starts with this shot, with the character of Zaffan looking at something ominously before switching to her dancing. Right from the jump, it tells you some things. One is that this isn’t your average coming-of-age tale. You know, the “you don’t understand me” tale that has been repeated a hundred times. The one that uses high school more than actually telling a story and ends up being more of a fairy tale than a depiction of the teen experience. Thankfully, Tiger Stripes isn’t moppy or happy. It’s pure horror and insanity, and it’s purely amazing. And, second, it tells you that you are in for a fun time. To put it simply, this is a unique film that exudes so much creative force that it surely sets up director Amanda Nell Eu as one of the most unique and bold creatives out there. If I had to describe Tiger Stripes in a few words, it exhibits a distinctive force that feels like witnessing, possibly in the future, a film by one of the most influential directors.

A hardcore rebellion defines Tiger Stripes. It is a coming-of-age film exaggerated through horror, if I had to put a pin on it. And simply, at its best, usually, that is coming-of-age films. They are, usually at their best, heightened levels of emotion that are precisely focused on a narrative that is nicely held through an outward maturity for the subject and the characters that inhabit the world. It is an explosion yet a controlled one that is filled with mystique for what was accomplished. It’s a hard thing to do. And to say. But Tiger Stripes, thankfully, hits it right on the dot.

While Tiger Stripes has its horror, it also has its human moments that largely take parts of the film up to really get a glimpse of the people, most importantly. In most horror films, you usually see slight character moments and then bloody horror every millisecond, but Tiger Stripes cleverly avoids these tropes to instead focus on the little areas that make up this world to itch the horror even more.

Young actors in horror films are usually hit or miss, understandably. If you ask a seven-year-old to read a script and perform tasks most adults struggle with, to put it nicely, don’t reasonably expect Oscar material. Though, despite the understanding, it is a make-or-break when the main character is a kid. The performance is simply key, especially with horror where not believing in the terror could ruin the experience. Here, Zafreen Zairizai delivers a multi-layered, exuberant, and extremely vulnerable performance as Zaffan, and instead of the script guiding her, it feels as though she guides the script.

Amanda Nell Eu’s has a unique style of direction worthy of high respect. At first, it seems she is a more of anything goes director with the switch up in the opening from a more meditative and tense Zaffan to a jumpy attitude, but this all, to work with the horror, quickly stops, and instead, Tiger Stripes takes this more atmospheric horror to it that you can’t help but watch. Tiger Stripes really feels like you are witnessing a place of some sort filled with its own customs and beliefs. A great way Amanada Nell Eu performs this is with the cinematography and lightning. The way the lightning and how a shot looked were done here are professional to a degree you don’t even see in some Hollywood films. It has this calculated nature to it that is worthy of stopping and examining how they must’ve shot the scene. Everything from the clothing the characters wear to their texture and design feels precise and purposeful, such as how much of the attire the characters wear just pops out from the background of every scene and makes each shot beautiful to the degree that a multitude of shots here would not be surprising to be on someone’s wallpaper on their phone.

VERDICT

Tiger Stripes is a sometimes fun but also brutal horror film that makes your skin crawl more upon each rewatch.

4/5 

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