Burning Bright (film)

Burning Bright
Film poster
Directed by	Carlos Brooks
Written by	Christine Coyle Johnson Julie Prendiville Roux
Story by	David Higgins Christine Coyle Johnson Julie Prendiville Roux
Produced by	Wayne Morris Cami Winikoff
Starring	Briana Evigan Garret Dillahunt Meat Loaf Charlie Tahan
Cinematography	Michael McDonough
Edited by	Miklos Wright
Music by	Zack Ryan
Production companies	Sobini Films Launchpad Productions
Distributed by	Lionsgate
Release date	August 17, 2010 (2010-08-17)
Running time	86 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Burning Bright is a 2010 horror thriller film directed by Carlos Brooks and starring Briana Evigan, Garret Dillahunt, Meat Loaf, and Charlie Tahan. The film depicts the attempts of a young woman and her younger autistic brother to ward off a hungry tiger trapped in a house with them during a hurricane. Released on August 17, 2010, the film is distributed by Lionsgate.

Plot

John Gaveneau buys a tiger as part of his plans to set up a safari park. Meanwhile, John's stepdaughter, Kelly Taylor, takes her autistic younger brother Tom to a special hospital to be cared for while she is at college. However, Kelly's payment to the hospital is rejected and, upon calling her bank, she is informed that John withdrew all the money and closed the account.

After bringing the tiger home, John instructs his workers to board up the house in preparation for an approaching hurricane. Meanwhile, Kelly confronts her stepfather and begs John to give her the remainder of the money, only to learn that he spent it all on the tiger. She protests that her mother (who committed suicide by taking an overdose of pills sometime prior to film) wanted the money to go to Kelly and Tom, but John justifies that there was no official will, so he took the funds for himself. Upset, Kelly calls her college to defer her start until the second semester, citing family issues; however, as she has already deferred twice, Kelly's professor warns her that if she does not start college that semester, her scholarship will be given to someone else.

After returning home, Kelly puts Tom to bed. Later that night, the front door is observed open by an unknown person letting the tiger loose into the house. Kelly wakes up in the morning from a nightmare in which she suffocates Tom with a pillow. She glances at the time displaying 6:18 am, while the radio informs her of Hurricane Isbael making landfall. She walks down the stairs to the kitchen for a drink and finds a sticky note on the refrigerator from John claiming to have gone to the store. While returning upstairs, Kelly hears a rustling sound and spots the tiger crossing the foyer beneath her.

Kelly discovers all the windows and doors have been boarded up, leaving her and Tom trapped inside the house. To her shock, Tom is nowhere to be found in his room. Upon realizing that her phone is missing from its usual spot on the charger, she suspects that she may have accidentally dropped it down the laundry chute along with her clothes. Kelly sneaks down to the laundry room, where she makes an attempt to call Montgomery County Emergency Services, but is greeted by an automated voice informing her of a high volume of calls due to the ongoing hurricane. Undeterred, she decides to contact John instead, who is busy drinking beer and gambling in a bar and has left his cell phone in his car.

Several close encounters follow between Kelly and the tiger. When the tiger breaks into the laundry room, Kelly narrowly escapes by climbing up the chute, though not before the beast scratches her leg. Injured, Kelly finds Tom and hides with him in John's study, where she barricades the door with a desk and bandages her leg. Kelly discovers that John has taken out life insurance policies on both her and Tom, and intends to collect the money upon their deaths. She finds John's handgun, but there are only five bullets; Kelly loads the gun and sneaks out into the hallway hoping to shoot the tiger, and tells Tom to go to the laundry room. As the tiger approaches, she cocks the gun and fires, but the first chamber is empty and Kelly is forced to flee.

In the laundry room, Kelly is able to break the board-covered window and climbs out just as the tiger breaks in to the room and leaps to attack her. She runs to her car, but as she is trying to start the engine, she remembers that Tom is still alone in the house with the tiger. She returns to the house and climbs back in through the window. Upon finding Tom, Kelly promises that she will never abandon him. She intends to lead him to the laundry room, but the tiger attacks. Kelly fights the tiger off with the remaining bullets and a makeshift torch, and instructs Tom to climb into the massive chest freezer John had bought upon deciding to open the Safari Ranch, and climbs into it as well. Safe from the tiger, she hums a lullaby for Tom, and he falls asleep.

The next morning, Kelly wakes to the faint sounds of drilling; John is removing the board from the front door. Kelly and Tom climb out of the freezer and walk into the foyer to see John wielding a rifle, intending to kill the tiger. Kelly tries to implore John to let them go. It is then that John reveals Kelly and Tom's mother was going to leave him, so he killed her and made it look like suicide. Following the murder, he removed Kelly and Tom from her life insurance, and indirectly confirms he was responsible for sending the tiger into the house to kill them. Suddenly, the tiger attacks and mauls John. It then proceeds to eat him, allowing Kelly and Tom to sneak out of the house. Standing outside among debris from the hurricane, Tom takes Kelly's hand and they begin to walk away.

Cast

• Briana Evigan as Kelly Taylor
• Charlie Tahan as Tom Taylor
• Garret Dillahunt as Johnny Gaveneau
• Peggy Sheffield as Doctor Orsi
• Mary Rachel Dudley as Catherine Taylor
• Tom Nowicki as Sheriff
• Meat Loaf as Howie (uncredited)
• Katie, Schicka and Kismet as the tiger (uncredited)

External links

• Burning Bright at IMDb
• Burning Bright at Rotten Tomatoes