Burning Bright

Burning Bright (2010) is an American thriller directed by Carlos Brooks that you can watch online on iFILM. The setup is stripped to the bone: a hurricane has boarded up the house from outside, a Bengal tiger is loose inside, and the only people in the building are Kelly and her younger brother, who has autism.

The tiger was bought by Kelly's stepfather — paid for with the savings she had put away for college. When the storm hits, the animal ends up sealed in with the two kids. Briana Evigan plays Kelly as someone who skips the paralysis and goes straight to problem-solving, which is the right call for a film that moves this fast. Charles Tahan as the brother brings an extra layer of difficulty to every scene: the boy doesn't register the danger the way Kelly does, and protecting someone who can't be quietly warned is its own kind of trap.

Director Brooks keeps the film to a single location and a single threat and doesn't over-explain either. For a genre entry running under ninety minutes, that restraint pays off — it's tighter and less predictable than most horror-thrillers with a bigger budget. Stream Burning Bright (2010) online on iFILM.