This Bengal tiger is the main antagonist in the 2007 Sci-Fi Channel film Maneater.
History
The tiger was once a circus animal, until one night when the circus truck crashed in the forest of Mount Raven, Georgia. After the crash, the tiger's first victims were a jogger and a hermit. The tiger later appeared in the window of a trailer belonging to a young boy named Roy Satterly, who had earlier caused the crash. A strange connection between Roy and the tiger is implied throughout the film, as Roy is found sleepwalking the next morning.
The tiger claims another victim, and a cast of the tiger's footprint at the scene identifies the killer as a tiger, and not a murderer as the town believed earlier. Later the same night, the tiger returns to visit Roy's trailer.
The tiger later kills a tabloid reporter, who was drawn to Mount Raven in the hype over the loose tiger. After the town sheriff Grady Barnes and Deputy Weinman find the dead body of the reporter, the Nation Guard is called in to help them hunt the tiger. Not long after six National Guardsmen arrive in Mount Raven, a fabled tiger hunter from England named Colonel James Livingston-Graham arrives, and explains to Grady that he will begin his hunt for the tiger once the Nation Guardsmen are finished, as he is certain they will fail to kill the tiger.
The tiger kills one of the Nation Guardsmen silently while they are hunting for the beast, whereupon Graham appears explaining how the tiger did so and helps them find the body. Two other National Guardsmen were also attacked by the tiger off-screen, one killed by the tiger and the other accidentally shot by his partner. Not long after Deputy Weinman finds the bodies, the tiger also kills another character named Hundt. Graham explains how the tiger attacked the guardsmen.
Later the same night, Roy has a dream about the tiger killing Graham, and goes to Graham's tent to see if he is okay. Graham walks Roy to the store where his mother Rose works, where the tiger appears, attacks Rose, and kills her. Graham and Roy run into the store and are separated. The tiger attacks Graham and he barely manages to kill it with his gunfire.
Sheriff Barnes arrives, and he is chased into the store by the tiger. Barnes fins Graham's hat and a trail of blood, and then hears Roy calling to him from outside. The tiger tries to attack Roy and Barnes, who are hiding under a truck outside. The tiger jumps into the bed of the truck, and Barnes runs to his truck and tries to shoot the tiger. Barnes accidentally shoots an oil tank conveniently placed nearby, which causes an explosion that kills the tiger once and for all.
Trivia
- The tiger in the film is actually based on the tiger character depicted in Jack Warner's debut novel Shikar, which was later renamed Maneater to show the connection between the book and the film.
- Gary Busey, actor for Grady in the film, said that the tigers that portrayed the "killer tiger" were a "joy" to work with.[1]
- In scenes where the tiger is chasing its victims in the film, it is actually on a leash with its trainer behind him. The leash and trainer were both edited out during post-production.
- The use of real living tigers, as opposed to Sci-Fi's usual amateur CGI, resulted in a majority of the tiger attacks in the film being implied, as opposed to being seen.
