Brightburn
by David Yarovesky

Anytime there’s a piece of media created with the last name Gunn attached to it, you better believe I’m on board to consume it. Brightburn, written by Brian and Mark Gunn and produced by, you guessed it, James, is a family affair with David Yarovesky directing that does not disappoint.

I’m surprised nobody ever took the concept of “what if Superman was bad” and put it on the big screen before. Everything from the infertile couple living on the quiet family farm in Kansas to the alien baby boy literally crashing into their lives screams Superman, but the same old story we’ve seen played out many times before is not what we get with this film. With a new superhero film released almost every other month these days, Brightburn is a breath of fresh air in a saturated genre.

I can’t express how happy I am that this film received an R rating and that they didn’t hold back on the violence and gore. Some people were turned off by this from what I’ve read online, but to that I say, don’t go see an R rated antihero film; this is not Venom with its toned-down PG-13 vibes and silly one liners. This is the story of a young, malevolent alien coming into his own and nature wins this battle, not nurture.

Parts of the plot were a bit slow and dragged out at times, but honestly, I felt it helped flesh out the story. The entire cast was wonderful, especially Jackson A. Dunn, our little supervillain named Brandon Breyer. I’ve said it many times and I’ll say it again, bad child actors can really ruin a film, but this young man was fantastic.

The death scenes did not disappoint. There was plenty of blood and gore to go ‘round and there was absolutely no remorse from our future super-serial-killer of America. There was barely any cutting away, especially in one particular scene involving a truck and Badger from Breaking Bad, but I won’t spoil it for anyone. I definitely whispered “god damn, that’s brutal” to my husband, and I love it when a film can generate a reaction like that from me.

I love a good villain origin story, hell, I just love a good villain, maybe it’s the sociopath in me. Shrug. Regardless, I think it’s great when you can sit down to watch a horror movie and you know from the get-go that you’re on a one-way trip to Hopelessville. In the final act of the film, there’s a small glimmer of hope left in the plot that some people might find themselves clinging to, but in the words of the great, yet wretched, Ramsay Bolton, if you think this has a happy ending, you haven’t been paying attention.

All in all, Brightburn is a hell of a horror film that fans of the superhero genre will either love or hate. I think most horror hounds will enjoy it for the little gem that it is. I highly recommend you get your ass out to the theater to watch it!