A determined family man goes to great lengths to get his family out of the deadly wildfires in this tense thriller from the duo of Nick Lyon and star Peter Facinelli.

Dave Laughlin is a family man who is struggling since his widowed father George has moved in. This has caused the family to suffer, especially his pregnant wife Sarah and son Clayton, whose expertise in track should lead him to college. However, despite the family tension, things are about to get much worse as wildfires are rumored to have begun unleashing in the area. When Dave heads to get emergency supplies, things go from bad to worse.

As the wildfires begin to swarm near the Laughlin house, Sarah convinces George to leave with her and Clayton. As Dave makes his way home, he is told by the police that he cannot enter the area. Despite his pleas, police are insistent that he stay out of the area. Determined to get to his family, Dave goes past the roadblock and catches up to his family. Will the family be able to escape the deadly fires as things get a whole lot worse and very dangerous?

With the recent news surrounding the California and Hawaii wildfires, this is quite a tense thriller about a family determined to escape the deadly fires surrounding their town. What is interesting is that despite Nick Lyon directing most of the film, a positive case of COVID-19 during production would lead to the film’s main star, Peter Facinelli, to help Lyon complete the film as both lead and director while Lyon recovered, and it was a smart move. The team of Lyon and Facinelli do a great job running things smoothly with the tension between the family members and those they come across, making you wonder what will happen next.

Facinelli proved in The Twilight Saga that he could play a beloved father figure in Carlisle Cullen. He once again gets to play that brand of role, minus the vampire aspect of course, in the role of Dave Laughlin, a family man struggling to make ends meet. Fiona Dourif, daughter of the iconic Chucky actor Brad Dourif, proves she doesn’t need her dad because she excels in the role of Dave’s suffering pregnant wife Sarah, who is none too happy about her father-in-law living with them as he reels from his loss with smokes being his escape from reality. And playing that father-in-law is the living legend that is Lance Henriksen, while Shazam!’s Asher Angel rounds out the cast of the family as teen son Clayton, who uses his quickness in the right situations.

There are some very intense scenes throughout the film once the fires start to hit the area. They include a major car accident, the tension filling Dave as he struggles to get to his family in the second act. There is even a very shocking scene where en route to find an escape route, Dave and the family witness a neighbor getting caught in the wildfire and the aftermath is just jaw-dropping. Despite the tension, you will want to root for the family to be able to escape and with an 80-minute running time, it flows very smoothly like water, not fire.

On Fire is definitely a film worth watching with its tension-filled drama -and excellent cast performances. If you’re a fan of disaster films, then this is one for you.

WFG RATING: A-

Cineverse presents a Lone Star Storytellers production in association with Media Production and SC Productions. Directors: Nick Lyon and Peter Facinelli. Producers: Peter Facinelli, Nick Lyon, Beth Bruce, Suzanne Weinert, and Peter Winther. Writers: Nick Lyon and Ron Peer. Cinematography: Philip Roy. Editing: Robin Gonsalves and Don Money.

Cast: Peter Facinelli, Fiona Dourif, Asher Angel, Lance Henriksen, Ashlei Foushee, Glenn Morshower.

The film will be released in select theaters on September 29.