Welcome back to Movie Recap. Today I'm gonna show you a 2010 horror thriller film called,
Burning Bright. Spoilers ahead. Watch out and take care.
The movie begins with a howling wind as the thunder rumbles outside due to the incoming storm.
Afterward, Howie drives his vehicle when suddenly he hears on the radio that the
tropical storm warnings are now in effect for all of the Gulf Coast.
So, the National Hurricane Center is looking at a strong Category 3, then telling the citizens
to board up the windows and get ready for a wild ride. Luckily, the NHC sets up emergency
shelters in King County and Scarborough County. But, even before the reporter finishes his report,
Howie eventually switches the channel and plays some rock music.
Afterward, Howie parks his car beside the road to wait for another vehicle to arrive. Technically,
John buys a tiger from him as part of his plans. Upon meeting on the road, Howie asks if John
has the permit, so he immediately takes it out for Howie to read it.
Though Howie tells John that it is against his better judgment, he has left no choice
but to give John the tiger. While pulling up the door of the cube van, John informs him that he’s
going to get back to the coast immediately before he even catches the hurricane that will come.
John then talks again, saying that he got the place battened down upon getting the property.
Afterward, Howie finally pulls up the door to let John see the tiger inside when suddenly John
attempts to touch the cage. So, Howie immediately stops him, saying he should never touch it.
Curious, John asks if the tiger is trained, but Howie says it has no experience from any training
and only sits in the cage to look pretty. Frustrated, John assumes that the tiger
is a circus cat, but unfortunately, the circus doesn’t want the tiger, so Howie gives it to John.
Afterward, John observes the cage while saying that he’s starting a safari ranch and the tiger
is his main attraction. Technically, John needs a scary animal to please the tourists, but Howie’s
tiger seems not scary enough to entertain the tourists. So, John reasons out, saying
that he isn’t paying dollars for an animal that doesn’t scare anyone and doesn’t know any tricks.
John then attempts to pay for less, but Howie says that the only reason they’re talking is that last
month the tiger attacked a circus horse while 300 of his tourists ran screaming for their lives.
Because of that Howie’s story about the tiger he named Silver Dollar,
John takes the tiger after knowing that it isn’t scary but rather evil. Afterward, Howie takes the
money and reminds John that the tiger hasn’t eaten for two weeks, so he better show who’s
the boss between them. And if John moves the tiger, he better rolls the cage with chains.
Meanwhile, John’s stepdaughter, Kelly, visits his autistic brother, Tom, at the particular hospital,
whom she has taken there so that Tom gets to be cared for by the nurses while she’s studying
for college. As Kelly uses the walkie-talkie to talk to Tom, she suddenly hears him from behind,
attempting to escape because the hospital has no aquarium to see some fish. So, Kelly immediately
walks toward the aquarium nearby, showing Tom that the hospital has the yellow, purple,
and bluefish that he wants. However, Tom seems preoccupied with walking outside the hospital,
so Kelly quickly follows him and says that she won’t be able to get Tom to college with her.
Afterward, Kelly takes Tom to the doctor’s office to settle the papers upon giving his
brother to them. However, when Kelly’s trying to bid goodbye to Tom, he suddenly goes wild,
so Doctor Orsi immediately takes a response to take care of Tom. Fortunately, Tom quickly calms
down after hearing Doctor Orsi’s soft voice. But suddenly, a nurse enters the room and talks
to Doctor Orsi, saying that Kelly’s payment to the hospital is rejected. Instead of sending Tom
to the hospital, Kelly has left no choice but to take Tom home as her check is denied due to
insufficient funds. Frustrated, Kelly calls the bank to check the balance of her account when
suddenly the bank teller says that John withdrew all the money and closed her account yesterday.
Unfortunately, Kelly finds out that John will change their house into a safari ranch.
On the other hand, John successfully brings the tiger home as he meets his workers outside
their house, waiting for his arrival. So, John immediately instructs them to board
up the house in preparation for an approaching hurricane that will surely destroy everything.
Afterward, his workers begin moving the cage when suddenly the tiger bites the middle finger of one
of John’s workers. So, John immediately closes the door, covers his worker’s wound with a cloth,
and then tells him to go to the clinic. John then continues their preparation
while Kelly finally arrives at their house with Tom. Afterward,
Kelly immediately finds John to confront him, begging John to give her the remaining money. So,
John explains, saying that the bank tells him that there’s an account co-signed by Kelly’s mother,
allowing him to take it to buy a tiger. Disappointed, Kelly asks John if he stole
the money, but John suddenly asks her if she’s taking drugs because it will damage both the
hippocampus and the amygdala portions of her brain. Technically, John’s pertaining that Kelly’s
memory is a little foggy and clarifies that her mother didn’t leave a will before she died.
Unfortunately, Kelly’s mother committed suicide by swallowing an overdose of pills.
Kelly then interrupts John from talking, telling him that her mother wants her to take care of Tom.
But John is eager to reason out that her mother only wrote it on a note and didn’t put it on her
last will. So, without any other information, the money, even the house, will go to John.
Because of that, Kelly shows resentment toward John, saying that she doesn’t care what he wants
to buy as she’ll only need what’s left in the bank account for Tom. After hearing John
spending all the money on a tiger, Kelly then scoffs, leaving her no choice but to leave Tom
with John while studying in college. But sooner later, Kelly realizes that she can’t leave Tom,
so she calls Lewis, her college professor, to inform him that she will defer her start until
the second semester due to family business. However, Lewis says that Kelly has already
deferred the scholarship, assuming she’s asking for a favor because of Tom. Lewis then points
out that she’s not Tom’s mother, so she better decides whether to take it because he’ll give
the scholarship to someone who needs it if Kelly will not start attending classes this semester.
Leaving her no choice, Kelly tells Lewis that she’ll take the scholarship and attend the class.
Afterward, she sends Tom off to bed as she’s going to undress to her
room afterward and get some rest. However, Kelly suddenly screams out of frustration
before going to the bathroom to brush her teeth. Afterward, Kelly sleeps herself when suddenly she
dreams of suffocating Tom inside her room, wanting to kill her brother so she won’t have to take care
of him anymore. Because of that, Kelly eventually wakes up as she hears the thunder rumbling outside
and the reporter from the radio reporting about the storm making landfall earlier.
However, an unknown person releases the tiger into the house while Kelly’s sleeping.
After having a nightmare, Kelly checks Tom in his room and goes downstairs to get herself something
to drink when suddenly she finds a note from John, claiming that he has gone to the store,
leaving Kelly and Tom in the house alone. After reading the note, Kelly opens the refrigerator
to get a water bottle when suddenly she sees the tiger cross the foyer beneath her while
returning upstairs. Surprised, Kelly immediately gets back to her room and closes the door.
Afterward, she turns off the lampshade and tries to escape through the window,
only to find out that all of the windows and doors have been boarded up by John.
Panicking, Kelly finds her phone to call John, but unfortunately, she sees nothing in her room. So,
Kelly attempts to go outside her room to get the phone, but even the signal
doesn’t cooperate with her as the hurricane has brought down the phone lines. Unfortunately,
Kelly and Tom get trapped in a house with the tiger. Afterward, she goes back inside and uses
the adjoining door between their rooms, trying to wake up Tom while finding an escape hole.
However, Kelly suddenly finds out that Tom is missing from his bed, making her feel horrified
for thinking that the tiger might see Tom. So, Kelly carefully goes downstairs to get her phone
in the laundry as she realizes that it’s not on the charger where it is supposed to be.
Luckily, Kelly sneaks into the laundry room and retrieves her phone,
allowing her to contact emergency services. However, while Kelly’s attempting to call for a
rescue, she’s unable to get some help as they are currently experiencing a hurricane, and the volume
of calls is too high. Because of that, Kelly has left no choice but to try calling John again.
But then again, Kelly fails to get answers from John as he leaves his cellphone inside his car.
Technically, John is busy drinking beer and gambling in the bar.
Shocked, Kelly eventually hears the ceiling creaks due to the tiger’s heavy footsteps.
So, Kelly goes outside to call Tom when suddenly she sees the tiger’s shadow upstairs. Panicking,
Kelly immediately runs to open the door, only to find out it’s also boarded up and can’t be open.
Unfortunately, several close encounters follow between Kelly and the tiger, but Kelly manages
to hide from it. While hiding, her phone suddenly rings on the floor, allowing the tiger to smash
and break it. Suddenly, her sweat makes the tiger sniffle it and know where she’s hiding, but
luckily, Kelly manages to escape from the tiger and goes back to her room using the laundry chute.
Surprised, Kelly finds John in her room, so she immediately takes him to John’s room to hide.
But the tiger quickly finds them and almost gets bitten by it. Yet, Kelly manages to
escape with Tom and go downstairs to destroy the door but still fails to break it. So,
Kelly gets the meat from the refrigerator and drops it on the floor to distract the tiger.
Eventually, Kelly bleeds heavily due to her injuries from the tiger while escaping from an
empty room. Kelly then immediately runs with Tom and goes to John’s study room to hide.
Afterward, Kelly gets the desk to barricade the door, so the tiger won’t be able to break it and
enter the room. After that, she attempts to break the board-covered window until it slightly breaks
and produces sunlight that directly points to the five bullets on the shelf.
Afterward, Kelly finds a handgun when suddenly she feels her injured leg, so she immediately finds
a cloth to bandage it. Eventually, Kelly prays to the Lord to let her show the way out of the house,
not until she discovers that John has taken out life insurance policies on both of them.
Technically, John plans to collect the money upon their deaths, showing no care for Kelly and Tom.
Kelly then continues loading the gun and attempts to sneak out into the hallway. Afterward,
Kelly orders Tom to go to the laundry room while she takes care of the tiger by shooting him.
Suddenly, Tom unintentionally plays the TV in the living area,
so Kelly takes it as an opportunity to cocks the gun and fires the tiger in front of her.
However, the first chamber is empty, allowing the tiger to notice and catch her.
Because of that, Kelly forces herself to flee and go to the laundry room to hide.
Fortunately, Kelly finally breaks the board-covered window and climbs out
just as the tiger breaks into the laundry room and leaps to attack her. Afterward,
Kelly immediately runs toward the car to escape. However, when Kelly begins to engine the vehicle,
she suddenly realizes that Tom is still alone with the tiger inside the house. Kelly then
eventually bursts out, thinking about whether to save her brother or let the tiger attack him.
Leaving her no choice, Kelly gets out of the car to return home, saving her brother from the tiger
by climbing back through the window. Luckily, Kelly finds a gun on the floor upon entering
the house, so she uses it as her weapon just in case the tiger leaps to attack her again.
However, she suddenly hears the tiger mewling, so Kelly takes a quick action to find Tom,
and fortunately, she sees Tom hiding in an empty room. Afterward, Kelly apologizes to Tom,
saying sorry on behalf of their mom for leaving him behind. She then assures Tom that she’ll
never leave and abandon him as they will get out of the house all at once. Fortunately, Tom comes
with Kelly, leading him to the bathroom while making a torch to light up against the tiger.
Afterward, Kelly grabs Tom’s arm to get him into the laundry room when suddenly
the tiger attacks from upstairs. So, Kelly immediately hits it with a torch and runs
with Tom while she continuously shoots the tiger and scares it with a torch. Kelly
eventually commands Tom to climb inside the chest freezer upon getting into the kitchen.
Technically, John had bought it to stock foods for his circus animals.
Fortunately, Tom and Kelly get inside the freezer to save themselves from the tiger.
Afterward, she immediately hums a lullaby for Tom as he starts whining again. Because of that, Kelly
successfully puts Tom to sleep, spending the rest of their night inside the massive chest freezer.
The following day, Kelly wakes up after hearing the electricity activating.
So, she immediately wakes Tom to get outside the freezer when suddenly she also hears the fainting
sound of the drill outside the house. Technically, it’s Tom removing the board from the front door,
trying to enter the house while holding a sniper to shoot the tiger once it attacks him.
On the other hand, Kelly walks into the foyer, only to find out that John’s wielding a rifle.
The movie ends with John revealing the truth about what happened to their mom, in which John
eventually tells that he kills her for attempting to leave him behind. Technically, John murders
Kelly’s mother and makes it look like a suicide by telling Kelly that her mom gets herself overdosed.
Kelly then pleads with John to let them go, ignoring that John sent the tiger into the
house to kill them both. Suddenly, Kelly and Tom see the tiger leap and attack John,
allowing them to sneak out of the house while the tiger eats John alive.
Because of that, Kelly safely escapes with Tom as they begin
to walk away from the house after surviving a frightening experience the whole night.