Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Burning Bright

(2010) *****

JPX intrigued me with this last year and I'm totally psyched I remembered it for this Thon. I freaking loved this movie!  As JPX noted, the set-up does seem somewhat ludicrous - but it absolutely worked to create a taut, tense film that delivered the goods.

To remind people, if you're too lazy to click the link, Kelly and her autistic brother Tom get trapped in a house with a huge tiger - who hasn't eaten in two weeks - while a Category 4 hurricane rages outside.  Being the biddy that I am, part of the reason I liked this movie so much was the relationship you get to see (prior to the chaos) between Kelly and Tom.  Their stepfather Johnny is a jerk and she has taken over caring for Tom since their Mom died. As much as it has become an obvious burden to her, the scene where she makes him lunch was very effective in showing the effort she has made for her younger brother.  Also, when she realizes there is a gigantic, hungry tiger roaming through the house she makes smart choices in trying to survive. A nice alternative to the typical screechy, "oops, I tripped!" horror movie chick.

I am not a big fan of the "predicament" movies - things like Frozen leave me cold. (HAHAHAHA!)  But I thought this was really excellent. Effectively scary and smart. Loved it.

Tigers are scary.

7 comments:

AC said...

yay, a five star review! glad you had such an excellent and gripping experience with this one!

JPX said...

Hooray, I'm so happy you checked this out! I watched it again recently and it totally held up. Nice review!

Catfreeek said...

Tony & I watched this over the summer and we liked it too.

Crystal Math said...

I remember this movie! Meat Loaf had a bit part in the beginning! :-D Cinema gold!!

Johnny Sweatpants said...

Yup! I'm glad you drew attention to this awesome movie DCD. I think it's my favorite man vs. animal movie. It's a great reminder that CGI still can't match the real thing when it comes to primal fear.

Johnny Sweatpants said...

"Frozen" left you cold. Delightful pun!

Octopunk said...

I'm with you on the Frozens of the world but I kind of like the craziness of this one. It's in my queue.

Malevolent

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