The Ranting Penguin

Tell me if you’ve heard this one before. A Kansas farm couple have been unsuccessful at having a child, then one day, a streak in the sky that results in a crash in the woods answers their prayers. They raise the infant child as their own. It soon becomes apparent that the child is not normal, he has extraordinary powers. He is also developing into a psychopath.

If you thought Zack Snyder created a murderverse version of Superman in his interpretations, you better sit down. Brightburn, directed by David Yarovesky, takes the trope, and turns it on its head. So basically what if Superman was an evil kid.

But let’s be clear, Brightburn is a Sony Pictures property and has nothing to do with DC or Warner Brothers. It is produced by James Gunn from a script by Mark and Brian Gunn. Once past the plot hook, Brightburn is an effective straight-up horror film with roots in the slasher genre. It was made for a budget of less than $7 million but looks like it was made for more. It helps to have a good cast too. Elizabeth Banks and David Denman play the loving and normal parents to Brandon, played by Jackson A. Dunn. This trio of casting choices makes carries the weight of the film.

When we truly see Brandon once past some home video of his infant version, he is a relatively normal 12-year old boy in small farming town of Brightburn, Kansas. It is apparent he is smarter than the other kids and he draws teasing from others for it. He has a young crush on Erica (Becky Wahlstrom), the girl who sits in front of him.

Things start to change when he realizes on day that he has superhuman strength. That night, he sleepwalks to the barn, hearing an eerie voice in his head. He unsuccessfully tries to open the barn’s trapdoor. I don’t think it would spoil anybody that it’s obvious that the spaceship that Brandon crashed in is stored in there.

It is possible that Brandon has always been a bad seed as his parents one day find under his bed magazine pages of models, but as they go from one page to another, it goes from bikini clad models to operating room pictures, and anatomy drawings. Otherwise his turn to seem to be influenced by either the development of his powers, the beginning of puberty, or just the spaceship talking to him. Nevertheless, he begins to believe himself superior to those around him as the voice in his head tells him to “take the world.” More his powers begin to manifest beyond superhuman strength and they will look familiar to anyone who knows the Superman tropes.

The film descends into slasher territory and becomes quite gory as Brandon acts against those he perceives as his enemies. His parents aren’t oblivious, however, especially his father. David Denman as Kyle Brenner plays a loving dad, but is the first to suspect his kid is not just going through normal growing pains. Elizabeth Banks is great as the always loving mother who still thinks of Brandon as her baby boy, yet even when she realizes how evil he has become you feel sorry for her.

What makes Brightburn successful is that it promises a premise, delivers on that premise and offers it up in a compact package with great performances and deft editing. It clocks in at a trim ninety minutes, yet tells its story quickly leaving open a possibility for a sequel or franchise. If anything, it could have been longer.

This movie, is not for everyone, however. It is quite gory at times with some very unsettling makeup effects. It is rated R for a reason so I would not recommend bringing young kids to see this. IF you are a horror fan you will probably enjoy this. And if you are a comic book fan who also happens to like horror, you may enjoy the unique take on the standard trope. Recommended