Dans l'œil du tigre

"Quid Pro Quo" director Carlos Brooks and "An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong" scenarists Christine Coyle Johnson and Julie Prendiville Roux have whipped up a genuinely suspenseful little claustrophobic thriller about murder and mayhem that relies less on CGI and more on the real thing. An idealistic twenty-something college student and her autistic little brother find themselves trapped in a house that has been boarded up for a hurricane with a ravenous Bengal tiger that hasn't been fed in two weeks. Brooks and his writers have done a splendid job setting up the predicament that confronts our heroine, and they play everything straight down the line. The exposition about the tiger and his lust for human flesh is established early on when the guy who is selling it informs the buyer that the cat is downright vicious. This fellow tells the new owner that the animal leaped a 16-foot high cage and ate a horse while everybody else in the circus fled. He warns the new owner not to put his hand on the cage. Later, after he has bought the beast and driven it back to his home, he warns the workmen there who have to board up the house not to touch the cat. Inevitably, somebody ignores him and the cat bites a guy's hand so badly that the fellow has to go to the hospital to keep from losing a finger. Shrewdly, Brooks and company confine the bulk of this nimble 86 minute epic to the interior of an ordinary, two-story house. Meantime, the sympathetic heroine has been struggling to find someplace to take care of her little brother. Eventually, when she does, she learns that the evil stepfather has drawn every last cent out of the bank account. Kelly Taylor (Briana Evigan of "Step Up 2: The Streets") brings her brother Tom Taylor (Charlie Tahan of "Nights in Rodanthe") who is afflicted with autism, to the house. Calculating Johnny Gaveneau (Garret Dillahunt of "Last House on the Left") has bought a dangerous man-eating tiger and takes it to his house where Kelly and Tom are awaiting him. Before Johnny leaves, he turns the tiger loose to roam the premises while he bellies up to a bar for a beer or two. Kelly and Tom wind up playing a game of cat and mouse with the tiger, and Brooks does a splendid job of setting up the situation. Little Tom is a walking and talking story complication. Of course, Kelly leaves her cell phone where the cat is. Later, when she has enough time to get onto a computer to send out a distress call, the computer doesn't work because it cannot locate the server. "Burning Bright" is a low-budget, but entertaining nail-biter that will keep you on the edge of your seat. This tense, white-knuckled thriller delivers good performances and tension-clinching action. Undoubtedly, the best scene occurs when our heroine takes refuge from the growling tiger in a laundry chute. Literally, she has to squeeze herself up the chute and the tension that comes from maintaining her impossible position while the curious tiger wanders around the room is superb. Eventually, she drips a drop of perspiration and the tiger licks it off the carpet and looks up at her with a glint in its eyes. Suddenly, the tiger lunges up the chute and our heroine is put to the ultimate test of scrambling up the slick interior of the chute to the door upstairs while the tiger claws against her the chute. The filmmakers derived their title from British author William Blake's poem "The Tyger" published in 1794.

An 'escaped' hungry Tiger hunts down a Teenage girl and her autistic brother in they're boarded up house while a hurricane rages outside. What starts as a Jurassic park rip off creature feature briefly turns in to a HBO drama, as Kelly (Briana Evigan) must look after her brother as their Stepfather Johnny isn't much help, in fact he's stolen the families savings to open a Safari park. Terminator TV actor Garret Dillahunt gives a limited performance as the Stepfather who purchases a Circus Tiger from Howie (played by Meat Loaf) who can't wait get rid of the animal. The film hasn't got a sci-fi movie channel feel but Burning Bright is an odd film, mixed with a variety of genres. Novice Carlos Brooks direction is effective enough, however, the Tiger never comes across as menacing. The animals trainers clearly don't want to bring out the Tiger's nasty instinctive streak and he ends up looking like a Tony Tiger of Frosties cereal adverts. For most, Evigan's in shorts and a vest top climbing bare foot up laundry pipes and jogging though out the film maybe enough to keep your interest. On the other hand some may find how she handles her demanding autistic brother and the Tiger itself fascinating. It's a film with big ideas but a small budget, let down by the ludicrous set up of how the Tiger gets to the house and the elaborate reasoning why he's been let loose. Should the tiger had just escaped from a Circus truck in a storm and gets into the house it would have given the story some credibility and weight. Less in this case would have been more. Still, it's because of it cinematic look and feel the weirdly titled and bizarre story inexplicably keeps you watching until the end.

It is a pretty predictable but still enjoyable little movie we have here. This comes down to the actors themselves and a decent script, from which the director did get a few nice scenes out from. Those scenes are really well shot and executed. Nice framing and editing as well. You can watch it once and it will do it's job, even if you start thinking about the things that just seem to happen conveniently. There are logical errors and you might argue that the moral is a bit too much, but then again this could also be called nit-picking. Can you oversee those obvious flaws and enjoy it as little movie that could? If so rent it and watch it

The essential premise behind "Burning Bright" is pretty good. Naturally well, nobody can really relate to finding tigers walking through their house, but we all know it would be pretty terrifying experience, and naturally it's exactly what the protagonists are experiencing now. Actually sometimes its almost as if the tiger understands the house's design somewhat, and it keeps showing up surprisingly persistently; granted it's starved but finding the people so often stretches believability a bit. Then there's the real problem. For conflict reasons, the protagonist's brother is autistic. Now autistic people consider routines important but in my experience they kinda pout when something throws off their routine, maybe not even that. Shouting and screaming seems doubtful. Autistic people are impaired in communications ability and social behavior; they're not incapable of understanding if their lives are in jeopardy. Yet said brother makes an awful lot of noise for someone in danger. It's really unfortunately there's no commentary, because whether or not this character was based on an actual autistic (unlikely, but maybe...) is kinda important. I'd be surprised if he was although if not this character's portrayal brings the movie down somewhat.

Really great little film. It is a very simple concept - young woman and child running from man eating tiger - and the twist is that this time they are inside a house which has been boarded up. It may sound unbelievable, but if you can manage to suspend disbelief it really is well worth a watch. There is, in fact, a reason for the house being boarded up and there is also a reason for the tiger being there so its actually not as daft as it sounds. I must admit that we spent most of the film yelling for her to watch out and close the doors behind her (elementary, really) but despite its faults this film managed to keep us on the edge of our seats and I would happily recommend it.

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.

It only got 2/10 and not 1/10 because the worst film I was ever subjected to holds that score. Ok so a sister and her younger brother trapped in a house during a hurricane with a tiger. I've seen this concept with sharks in shopping mall (not bad) and crocodiles in the house (Good) but this didn't work. I lost interest in the characters and the story very quickly and ended up missing the end as I was that bored I went for a chat with family. Avoid at all costs

Burning Bright is a horrific gem. One of those films where you ask yourself, "why wasn't this released in theaters?" That is exactly what I was wondering while watching. I felt my heart beating throughout the 50 minute action sequence. The premise will immediately catch your attention, a young women and her autistic brother are trapped in a house with a hungry tiger during a hurricane. The house is barricaded. ~How did the tiger get into the house? Will they survive?~ It's surprising the amount of things occurring throughout and it's a nice change from almost every one-dimensional horror films nowadays. It is also extremely believable; this can happen to anyone of us. If you thought Freddy Kruger was scary, try taking on this tiger. It's unfortunate that it was never credited because the tiger is the star of the film. Briana Evigan also gives a terrific performance as the hot women in trouble and fits this film perfectly. There are no real flaws in Burning Bright. It is quiet perfect of how to make a suspenseful thriller. It's a thriller that actually thrills. It goes the extra mile making sure your heart is pounding out of you chest at every moment. A couple of scenes are simply unforgettable. Burning Bright is a bright light for every inspiring filmmaker out there. It doesn't matter if your film gets the attention it deserves, someone will notice and appreciate the work that was done. The filmmakers know how to make a great film. They didn't just think of the good plot, they also spent time perfecting it and it's noticeable. Burning Bright was never released in theaters, and frankly it should have been. It's one of the most thrilling films I have seen in years. The suspense will eat you alive.

Saw this recently on a blu-ray. Been on my radar for a long time. Viewers may find the plot silly. A girl along with her autistic brother gets holed up in her house with a ravenous tiger n the house being sealed from outside due to the hurricane. The best part of the film was the lack of cgi n the usage of a real tiger in some scenes. The director managed to stage few tensed scenes without any gore or body count. The scene where Evigan is hiding in a vent in the laundry room while our tiger stalks the room below her is frightening n tensed. Briana Evigan apart from looking good in her tight figure n scanty clothes, acted well.