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[Review] ‘Brightburn’ is an Ultraviolent Supervillain Slasher Film With Tons of Franchise Potential
It’s been fascinating to watch as Hollywood gradually catches up to where comic books have been for decades. Most of the timeless superhero tropes have now been popularized and solidified on the big screen, and only now do filmmakers seem to have the freedom to explore, to transform and to play. So although it’s been 55 years since DC introduced an evil version of Superman in the pages of Justice League of America – not just another Kryptonian, but a despicable alternate version of the hero himself – a film like Brightburn, which more-or-less tackles the same premise, still feels relatively fresh and exciting.
Brightburn isn’t technically a Superman movie. It comes from a different company and all the characters have different names. But tell me if this sounds familiar: it’s the story of a man and a woman who cannot have children, who find an alien spaceship on their farm with an infant inside. They raise the child as their own until, one day, the boy develops superhuman strength, speed, the power of flight, and laser vision, and starts flying around in a red cape.
The twist is that, in Brightburn, the boy with an alliterative name isn’t a paragon of virtue. He’s a burgeoning serial killer. When Brandon Breyer (Jackson A. Dunn) isn’t stalking the girl he likes, flying into her room in the middle of the night and escaping without a trace when she becomes terrified, he’s hoarding pornography under the bed. Except it’s not just pictures of scantily clad models. It’s pictures of human entrails as well.
Brandon’s adoptive parents, Tori (Elizabeth Banks) and Kyle (David Denman), are like any others. They love their son and they’re all too eager to overlook his obvious red flags. Even as the mysterious disappearances, injuries and deaths pile up, they still think Brandon is a good kid.
But since this is a horror movie we know that they’re wrong, and we’re waiting in uneasy suspense for them to catch up with the audience, hopefully before it’s too late. But there isn’t much hope in Brightburn. It’s a movie that subverts an almost universally accepted symbol of decency and transforms it into an ultraviolent monster. Like many films in the horror genre, it’s about imagining the worst case scenario and running wild with it. And the novelty, the spooky cinematography, and the sharp direction make it incredibly thrilling.
As directed by David Yarovesky, Brightburn is an exceedingly clever genre mash-up, twisting blockbuster tropes into total nightmare territory. Yarovesky and his VFX team have taken a familiar power set and discovered, within the realm of R-rated horror cinema, new and frightening ways to use them. The laser vision that looks so cool when it’s blasting into bad guys who are nigh invulnerable becomes an instrument of absolute terror when it’s unleashed, gradually, on a human being. And that’s just one gross example in an exceptionally gross movie, where the gore is ambitious and inventive, and absolutely vital. Without seeing what Brandon can do with his powers, and just how sadistic he is, it would be easy to write him off as just another comic book “bad guy” whose evil was purely academic.
Brightburn doesn’t do anything by halves. It’s an all-in superhero homage and an all-in, ultraviolent slasher movie about a monster with godlike powers. It’s bound to appeal to horror fans and comic book fans with an interest in the diabolical. The real test may be how people who don’t follow comics respond. So much of Brightburn is full of direct references to pre-existing tropes that it’s hard to imagine the movie functioning for an audience member who hasn’t done the required reading first.
What’s more, there’s so much emphasis on cynically reinterpreting that old, optimistic material that the film’s humanity – i.e. Brandon’s parents and/or victims – struggle to make an impression. Brightburn may be an ironic commentary on superhero stories for the audience, but for the characters it’s their real lives, and their lives don’t feel quite “real” enough for their deaths to feel tragic, because every aspect of their life is a pop culture reference. As a movie, Yarovesky’s film seems a little smarter than it is genuine.
It falls mostly to Banks and Denman to infuse this film with humanity, a sense of love and loss that makes Brightburn more than just a calculated genre exercise. They do their jobs admirably. Banks is a genuinely good mother who is repeatedly baffled by the way her son’s life is, for lack of a better word, going off-script. And Denman, as a father who keys into Brandon’s dark side just a little sooner than Banks, believably sells us on a conflicted father living through his own version of hell.
But the connection to reality in Brightburn goes beyond the characters and the murders. The film focuses almost entirely on subverting comic book expectations, but the baggage that comes along with Superman and his ilk infuses the film with unmistakable commentary. But since the film never takes a moral stand one way or the other, audiences are going to be able to pick and choose what they want to get out of it.
Brightburn could easily be an indictment of “grim ’n’ gritty” superhero storytelling, arguing that if Superman wasn’t virtuous he’d be the most frightening creature on the planet. Ipso facto, the virtuous version is the one we should be rooting for. The film also explores the entitlement of a young boy who believes he’s innately superior to others, with all the ugly and violent fallout that comes along with that mentality, which is sadly always topical.
Then again, there’s a particularly troubling interpretation of Brightburn that focuses on the “all-American” couple who adopt an immigrant and as a result, because the child’s “other” nature is more powerful than nurture in this universe, they expose their whole community to mortal peril. After all, Superman is often considered a positive symbol of the American immigrant experience, so what can Brightburn be if not the polar opposite?
That reading is extremely gross, and not in the good “using horror to explore society’s fears” way, but in a potentially unhealthy “using horror to affirm society’s xenophobia” way. So it may be a serious turn-off for certain audience members who have strong feelings about Superman, immigration and the positive and negative social impacts of superhero storytelling.
By not sticking to a specific thematic stance, Brightburn opens itself up to scrutiny. Maybe too much. The film is, in the end, mostly just an ambitious slasher movie about a monster modeled loosely on Superman, and on that level it’s certainly a success. David Yarovesky makes an impressive impression with a film that walks a fine line between wry pop culture commentary and genuine terror, the cast is great and – perhaps most important of all – it leaves you wanting more. Much more. Sequels and sequels after sequels.
There’s a lot of world left for Brightburn to explore, and burn. Bring it on.
We are now one full month into Spring 2024, which kicked off on Tuesday, March 19 and comes to an end with the start of Summer on Thursday, June 20. This year’s summer movie season has a whole bunch of exciting horror highlights, including A Quiet Place: Day One, MaXXXine, and Alien: Romulus, but let’s hold that particular thought until June rolls around.
We’re here today to talk about Spring 2024 and the many horrors we still have left before the weather gets warmer and we find ourselves in the heat of one hell of a spooky summer.
Here are 12 horror movies you don’t want to miss in Spring 2024!
STING – April 12
Two words: SPIDER HORROR. Writer/Director Kiah Roache-Turner (Wyrmwood) hopes to induce eight-legged terror with his brand new horror movie Sting, only in theaters April 12.
Of particular note, Sting features practical spider effects from 5-time Academy Award Winner Weta Workshop, with the spider in this one inspired by H.R. Giger’s Xenomorph!
In Sting, “One cold, stormy night in New York City, a mysterious object falls from the sky and smashes through the window of a rundown apartment building. It is an egg, and from this egg emerges a strange little spider. The creature is discovered by Charlotte, a rebellious 12-year-old girl obsessed with comic books. Keeping it as a secret pet, she names it Sting.
“But as Charlotte’s fascination with Sting increases, so does its size. Growing at a monstrous rate, Sting’s appetite for blood becomes insatiable.”
BLACKOUT – APRIL 12
Indie darling Larry Fessenden is back with new horror movie Blackout this Spring, Fessenden’s third movie – following Habit and Depraved – to put his own spin on classic monsters.
While Habit was centered on vampires and Depraved was a fresh take on Frankenstein’s Monster, Larry Fessenden’s Blackout is the filmmaker’s contribution to werewolf cinema.
The film follows Charley, an artist whose drinking binges blur with his sneaking suspicion that he might be a werewolf. He distances himself from those he loves and sinks deeper into solitude, his flashes of memory of his nighttime grisly acts manifested through his artwork.
ARCADIAN – APRIL 12
If Nicolas Cage is covered in blood, you better believe we’re going to be watching. Cage gets his own A Quiet Place with Arcadian, a new creature feature coming to theaters April 12.
In Arcadian, which also comes to Shudder later this year, “After a catastrophic event depopulates the world, a father (Nicolas Cage) and his two sons must survive their dystopian environment while being threatened by mysterious creatures that emerge at night.”
Jaeden Martell (IT 2017) also stars in the post apocalyptic monster movie.
ABIGAIL – APRIL 19
If you’re bummed about Melissa Barrera being fired from the Scream franchise, you’ll definitely want to get out to your local theater this month to support Abigail, the new VAMPIRE BALLERINA horror movie from Scream and Scream VI directors Radio Silence.
Barrera stars alongside fellow horror favorite Kathryn Newton (Freaky) in Abigail, which is actually the latest horror movie in Universal’s relaunched Universal Monsters Universe.
In the film, “After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting horror, that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.”
LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL – APRIL 19
One of the most talked about horror movies of Spring 2024 has been the Halloween 1977-set Late Night With the Devil, which has been playing in theaters since its premiere on March 22.
Late Night with the Devil will begin streaming at home on April 19, 2024, less than one month after arriving in theaters. Shudder will be the exclusive streaming home of the movie.
David Dastmalchian (Dune, The Suicide Squad) stars as the host of a late-night talk show that descends into a nightmare in Late Night with the Devil, set on Halloween 1977.
In the found footage-style film that captures a period aesthetic, “A live television broadcast in 1977 goes horribly wrong, unleashing evil into the nation’s living rooms.”
INFESTED – APRIL 26
Spring 2024 is all about SPIDERS – sorry, arachnophobes! – with the previously mentioned Sting being followed by the French creature feature Infested (Vermines) later this month.
What’s particularly exciting about Infested is that its director, Sébastien Vaniček, has been hired to direct the next installment in the Evil Dead film franchise, so this will be our first taste of what Vaniček is capable of within the genre. And the buzz for this one is strong.
In his review out of Fantastic Fest last year, for starters, Bloody Disgusting’s own critic Trace Thurman raved that Infested is “one of the best spider attack movies in years.”
In the upcoming horror film, “Fascinated by exotic animals, Kaleb finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap.”
HUMANE – APRIL 26
The daughter of horror master David Cronenberg, Caitlin Cronenberg is making her own mark in the genre filmmaking space with IFC Films’ Humane, coming to theaters this month.
The film is described as “a dystopian satire taking place over a single day, months after a global ecological collapse has forced world leaders to reduce the earth’s population.”
The wild premise? 20% of the world’s population must VOLUNTEER TO DIE!
“In a wealthy enclave, a recently retired newsman has invited his grown children to dinner to announce his intentions to enlist in the nation’s new euthanasia program. But when the father’s plan goes horribly awry, tensions flare and chaos erupts among his children.”
I SAW THE TV GLOW – MAY 3
Fresh off the haunting and singularly creepy indie We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, Jane Schoenbrun is back with A24‘s I Saw the TV Glow, releasing only in theaters this May.
Meagan Navarro wrote in her Sundance review for BD, “I Saw the TV Glow offers a layered and authentic portrait of identity, wrapped in ’90s nostalgia and surreal imagery that embeds itself deep into your psyche.” Meagan continues, “Schoenbrun delivers a singular vision of arthouse horror that entrances for its fevered dream style and insanely cool imagery.”
In A24’s latest, “Owen is just trying to make it through life in the suburbs when his classmate introduces him to a mysterious TV show — a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own. In the pale glow of the television, Owen’s view of reality begins to crack.”
TAROT – MAY 3
Originally titled Horrorscope, a much better title if you’re asking me, Screen Gems returns to the big screen with studio horror movie Tarot this Spring, a Tarot-card themed spookshow.
When a group of friends recklessly violates the sacred rule of Tarot readings – never use someone else’s deck – they unknowingly unleash an unspeakable evil trapped within the cursed cards in the upcoming Screen Gems horror movie Tarot. One by one, they come face to face with fate and end up in a race against death to escape the future foretold in their readings.
The hook for this one? Artist Trevor Henderson designed the film’s eight monsters!
THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 1 – MAY 17
Bryan Bertino’s 2008 home invasion classic The Strangers spawns a brand new reboot trilogy this year, with first film The Strangers: Chapter 1 kicking things off in theaters on May 17.
The Strangers: Chapter 2 is expected to follow in Fall 2024.
Madelaine Petsch is the lead of the new reboot trilogy, playing a character who drives cross-country with her longtime boyfriend to begin a new life in the Pacific Northwest.
When their car breaks down in Venus, Oregon, they’re forced to spend the night in a secluded Airbnb, where they are terrorized from dusk till dawn by three masked strangers.
IN A VIOLENT NATURE – MAY 31
Slasher fans who have been hungry for a new Friday the 13th movie won’t want to miss In a Violent Nature, which plays out like a Friday movie… entirely from Jason’s perspective!
IFC Films will release In a Violent Nature exclusively in theaters on May 31.
In the film, “When a locket is removed from a collapsed fire tower in the woods that entombs the rotting corpse of Johnny, a vengeful spirit spurred on by a horrific 60-year old crime, his body is resurrected and becomes hellbent on retrieving it. The undead golem hones in on the group of vacationing teens responsible for the theft and proceeds to methodically slaughter them one by one in his mission to get it back – along with anyone in his way.”
Meagan Navarro wrote in her Sundance review for Bloody Disgusting, “In a Violent Nature may offer slasher thrills and a delightfully gory rampage across the wilderness, but the approach captures the carnage through ambient realism. It results in a fascinating arthouse horror experiment that plays more like a minimalist slice-of-life feature with a grim twist.”
THE WATCHERS – JUNE 14
M. Night Shyamalan returns with the new thriller Trap this coming August, but the road to that film’s release will be paved by the feature debut of his daughter, Ishana Night Shyamalan.
Ishana Night directed The Watchers, in theaters from WB/New Line on June 14.
The film follows Mina, a 28-year-old artist, who gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland. When Mina finds shelter, she unknowingly becomes trapped alongside three strangers who are watched and stalked by mysterious creatures each night.
Which Spring 2024 horror movies are YOU most looking forward to?
4 New Horror Movies Releasing This Week Including ‘Late Night with the Devil’ at Home
‘Ready or Not’: Radio Silence Filmmakers Tease the “Absolute Banger” of a Sequel That’s Taking Shape
‘Sting’ Review – Throwback Creature Feature Entertains With an Impressive Practical Monster
“We Built Every Creature” – ‘Alien: Romulus’ Goes Heavy on the Old School Practical Effects!
‘Terrifier 3’: Filming Has Wrapped on Damien Leone’s Christmas Slasher Sequel!
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