Brightburn
Starring Jackson A Dunn, Elizabeth Banks and David Denman
Rated MA15+
Both familiar and unique, Brightburn is a chilling, tightly-paced superhero horror film.
Jackson A Dunn delivers a nuanced, confident central performance as Brandon Bryer, an alien boy who is adopted by a farming couple after they found him inside a meteorite.
Brandon is initially a kind, quiet boy, but becomes guarded and deceptive as he explores his superhuman abilities.
The film succinctly establishes Brandon’s extra-terrestrial origin and his nurturing family life, rendering his corruption all the more shocking.
As Brandon’s angst and sense of detachment from humanity escalate, he unleashes his powers in terrifying ways, leading to several gut-wrenching horror sequences.
Tense silence, evocative lighting and clever staging tighten the suspense to nail-biting levels, and while some of the deaths are extremely graphic, the gore is used sparingly.
The narrative suspense emerges from Brandon’s dark empowerment and from his loving mother Tori (Elizabeth Banks), who becomes Brandon’s only fragile link to decency and refuses to blame him for the mysterious deaths around town.
The only major problems in Brightburn are a pointless dream sequence and the background effect of the meteorite upon Brandon.
While Brandon’s father Kyle’s (David Denman) nightmare solidifies his fears about Brandon, it adds nothing to the plot, and the meteorite nudging Brandon toward violence reduces his agency within the narrative.
Turning young Superman into a slasher villain, Brightburn is a tense, confronting horror film with solid scares and engrossing character development.
– Seth Lukas Hynes
