Tiger, Tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
Have you ever heard of the poem The Tiger by William Blake? The first time I heard of it was when I watched the movie Burning Bright. Burning Bright was recently released on DVD by Lionsgate on August 17, 2010.
Burning Bright is the story of Kelly and her brother Tom. Their mother committed suicide leaving Kelly to care for her younger Autistic brother Tom. The pair live with their Stepfather Johnny.
Tom has these big dreams of opening up a Safari Ranch on the site of their home. Kelly doesn’t care what Tom wants to do. She has plans to attend college.
Before Kelly can leave for college she needs to get her brother settled in at a facility that will take care of him while she’s away. Unbeknown to Kelly her sleazy Stepfather drained out her bank account, money that was left for her and Tom from their mother. Tom used the money to purchase a ferocious Tiger nicknamed “Lucifer” because he was pure evil.
Kelly and Tom return to their home so Kelly can confront Johnny. When they arrive home they find Johnny boarding up their home and the animals because a massive hurricane was heading their way. Kelly confronts Johnny only to learn that the money was gone and basically there was nothing she could do about it.
Distraught over the whole situation of not knowing what to do with Tom so she can go to college Kelly turns in for the night.
Unbeknown to Kelly and Tom someone releases “Lucifer” into the house and then boards it up. Who would do such a thing and why?
Kelly and her Autistic brother have to fight for their lives against a massive, vicious Tiger who hasn’t eaten in two weeks. He will stop at nothing to make the children his next meal. There is no way out. They are completely sealed inside their home during a hurricane and there is now way out.
Will the pair survive? Will anyone come to their rescue? Who released the Tiger into the home and why? To learn more you’ll need to rent or purchase Burning Bright.
The part of Kelly is played by Briana Evigan. Those of you around my age (40′s) might remember her hunky Father, Greg Evigan from BJ & the Bear. Tom is played by a young actor name Charlie Tahan who was most recently seen in Charlie St. Cloud and Nights in Rodanthe. The singer Marvin Lee Aday, otherwise known as “Meatloaf”, also has a small part in the movie.
The movie was a bit slow at times and there were a few part of the movie that seemed a bit silly to me. For example, the Tiger is able to break through locked doors yet it took him a long time to break into a closet door where the children were hiding, giving Kelly enough time to tear a hole into the wall for them to escape. That seemed a bit far fetched for me.
The over all idea of being locked in your home with a starving Tiger running lose does keep you on edge. I couldn’t imagine being in that situation. I would be lunch meat for sure!
This was a good suspenseful movie. I wouldn’t call it a horror movie. I’d classify it more so as suspense and drama. There are a few edge-of-your-seat moments. The only “gross” part comes at the end when someone ends up being breakfast for the Tiger.
This would make a GREAT slumber party movie for teens and ‘tweens. There is no nudity, no gore (except for a minute at the end) and I honestly can’t remember any bad language. The main character of Kelly does run around in short shorts and a tank top but that is about it. I can see this the kids freaking out over this movie. Its rated PG-13.
I wouldn’t say this was a movie so great that you had to drop what you were doing and run right out and buy the movie. But I do think its a good enough movie if you love suspenseful movies that will keep you on your toes.
Burning Bright is available for purchase where most DVDs are sold such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Its also available to rent on Netflix.
Kimberly
*I received a free copy of the film in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own.































