Brightburn is a 2019 American superhero horror film directed by David Yarovesky, written by Mark Gunn and Brian Gunn, and produced by James Gunn and Kenneth Huang. Starring Elizabeth Banks, David Denman, Jackson A. Dunn, Matt Jones and Meredith Hagner, the plot follows Brandon Breyer, a young boy of extraterrestrial origin reared on Earth who realizes he has superpowers. Upon learning of them and being activated by his spaceship, Brandon rejects his humanity and turns to evil, opting to terrorize his hometown, including his parents.
Such a simple clever idea for a movie – why has nobody thought about doing an indie superhero horror film until now?
Brightburn deconstructs the Superman mythos and challenges the assumptions that a super-powered alien raised by human parents from infancy, would somehow do good instead of using his powers for evil.
Noted Marvel and DC director James Gunn produced Brightburn, his brother Brian and cousin Mark wrote the screenplay and newbie director David Yarovesky helmed this low budget flick.
It’s good scary fun all the way with a solid cast (viz. Elizabeth Banks, David Denman and Jackson A. Dunn) nailing the performances necessary to pull the premise off.
Sure, its jump scares galore but with a delicious superhuman twist – nothing new for comic books fans who have seen it all before but surely something unique for superhero movie fans.
Hopefully, there will be more films that explore the darker side of superpowers in the wake of Brightburn.
Highly recommended!
Watch Brightburn on Netflix.
… still there’s more …