Burning Bright

A girl and her autistic brother are locked in a house with a Tiger during a hurricane. On paper this film sounds a disaster waiting to happen and that was what I was expecting. Sometimes it's nice to be surprised by a film though and this was one of those occasions for me.

Once you have got over the standard opening which sets the scene, it really picks up the pace. Some of the scenes in the house are incredibly tense and the director is to be applauded for that in a genre where most things have been done before.

Although it's a film with a modest budget it is well made and professional. The acting is mainly just average apart from a believable and spirited performance from the lead actress Brianna Evigan. I liked the ending of the film which thankfully didn't undo all the previous good work.

Burning Bright is an intelligent, tense and highly enjoyable film that is a cut above many of it's higher budgeted rivals. Better than it's current rating of 5.9 would suggest. Worth watching.

I rarely get scared anymore when watching what others would call an on the edge of your seat thriller; not so with Burning Bright. One scene in particular was very intense. If you've seen the movie then you no-doubt know the scene I'm referring to. If you haven't, then give the movie a chance. The acting was good, especially by Tahan. I say "especially" because he was just a kid and did very well. Overall the movie caries itself and once the plot unfolds it really holds your attention. I feel it deserves more than the three stars it was given. The only problem I have with the movie, unless I missed something, is the title makes no sense. Other than that, enjoy!

At first glance of the plot it would seem that this would be another poorly written, CGI cartooned, SyFy channel movie of the week. I just finished watching this with my wife, and I can say she was covering her eyes throughout most of the film. Not only did the plot make sense, it produced a sub-plot that brought it all together. The acting was above board, and the Tiger was LIVE. They did not have to rely on using lots of special effects to make you sit on the edge of your seat.

Briana Evigan's character has to stay and take care of her younger brother who has Autism, when her mother dies, and leaves them with their step- father. The step-father ends up taking her collage money to invest in his safari side show. He purchases a tiger to draw more tourists, when the hurricane strikes. Charlie Tahan did a great job in portraying a child with Autism. Having worked on several projects with Autistic children, I could easily critique his portrayal. Obviously the writers did a lot of research on Autism. You need to watch this surprising jewel to find how this all unravels, .....or is that torn to shreds?

Why are you reading a review of this movie? You should have read the synopsis and thought "Hell yeah I need to see that".

Two people (a girl and her younger autistic brother)are trapped in a house with a tiger, Awesome. The tiger is there because their stepfather wants to start a safari park so he bought a tiger. Guess who he bought it from, Meatloaf, Awesome.

The Tiger is real for the vast majority of the time, Awesome. The movie is very well filmed and acted. The plot though ridiculous is still believable (sort of), Awesome. If your a Briana Evigan fan you'll love it. She spends nearly the entire movie in her underwear and at one point is soaking wet. Awesome. The effects look good. Barring one point where they look decidedly dodgy. But not to the point where your saying "oh my that looked dreadful". No you'll be saying "haha did you see that. That was brilliant". Awesome. The only way you wont enjoy this film is if you're some kind of movie snob, or a robot. I'm sure even snobs and robots need to switch their brains of and just enjoy some mindless entertainment every now and then. So do just that and you'll enjoy yourself. 8 out of 10. Awesome.

I had absolutely no idea what to expect of this movie, which has a rather odd title that has nothing to do with its weird plot.

After the death of her mother, Kelly is the only person who can take care of her young autistic brother but she has tough decisions to make as she is also contemplating college as an option. When she takes her brother to their stepfather's house to discuss money matters. Things are hectic as a hurricane is on the way and the house is being boarded. He informs her that whatever money their mother had left, he has used to buy a tiger for his next project: turning this property into a safari park. Later, Kelly wakes up to find out the stepfather's gone, she and her young brothers have been boarded in the house and the tiger has been left loose inside...

Yup... this is actually the premise of this film. It stretches believability in so many respect that it detracts a little but the actual film is rather entertaining once you get past that. For much of the remainder of Burning Bright, it's all about Kelly trying to survive in this house, evade this huge tiger... and of course do all that while having to care for Tom.

Briana Evigan is really great as Kelly. She does well portraying a caring, older sister, she definitely has charisma on screen and she adds a certain physicality that is vital to the action taking place, as she has to crawl, climb, twist and run in several scenes. It doesn't hurt that she is easy on the eye and spends most of the film scantily clad but really, I see legitimate actress talent there and her deep voice coupled with her looks reminds somewhat of a mix of Demi Moore and Jodie Foster. I had no idea who she was (never seen her previous mainstream credits, which are impressive in some way) but she is definitely the number 1 reason to watch.

Christine Coyle Johnson and Julie Prendiville Roux have penned a story that has some heart but has obvious plot holes that Il will not reveal to avoid spoiling things. I think it is admirable how autism doesn't take a complete backseat in the story. It's not just a cheap plot device and there is an attempt to address this, while still keeping this an action thriller. Director Carlos Brooks is able to walk the fine line too.

Without a doubt, the star of the film for many will be the tiger. Everybody knows cats of any kinds are somewhat difficult to train and are considered dangerous at all times. Most of the scenes in this movie do a decent job at making us believe the tiger IS in the house WITH our actors but some technical shortcuts had to be taken. Brooks wisely elect to use a real tiger and has little CGI as possible but few scenes show any interaction between the tiger and its potential preys. The result is still a very organic film with some stunning scenes featuring our big cat (one in particular, where he licks sweat off the floor, was memorable to me).

Credit to the filmmaker, this is an old school movie featuring a live animal, some character development in what is otherwise a by the book action thriller. Bonus points for having actor Garret Dillahunt play the creepy stepfather. One more creepy role for this fascinating actor.

The whole thing plays out like a mix between a wild animal movie such as The Edge (1997) and claustrophobic thrillers like Panic Room (2002).

Are there plot holes? Yes. Could this have gone to theatres? Probably not. But if your expectations are low, you love tigers and enjoy decent thrillers, you will probably find this entertaining enough.

I also want to command the producers for providing information regarding autism and also regarding the possible extinction of tigers we are facing during the end credits. If only one person goes to those websites and find information, then the movie will have done more than its job as far as I'm concerned.