I Watch Films: Brightburn
An alien spacecraft lands on the Kansas farm of a childless couple, bringing with it a baby boy. They adopt him and give him an alliterative name. Twelve years later he begins to show signs of super powers.
In case you aren’t a giant nerd, this is also Superman’s backstory.
However Brandon Breyer isn’t Clark Kent (and Brightburn isn’t Smallville). Breyer is something of an outcast at school, overly bright, giving a slightly on-the-nose lecture about parasitic wasps in class. He sleepwalks, attracted to the spacecraft in the cellar barn. He hears words in an alien language. He acts inappropriately with his friend Caitlyn, and then when she decides he’s a perv breaks her arm. This spirals out of control as his powers manifest.
If you will indulge me for a second, this superhero horror film is Lex Luthor’s version of Superman.
I won’t say this was a disappointment but when I say “a horror film in which Superboy is an evil alien,” there’s not much more to it. There are a couple of moments when Brandon’s persona becomes a mask floating on the pool of an alien consciousness, but mostly he comes off as a bit of a teenage brat who no one can discipline because he’s got superpowers.
Watch This: For a high concept horror film, a few gruesome scenes, plenty of suspense even if the mysteries aren’t really mysteries when the superboy-but-evil idea is in your head
Don’t Watch This: If films with Superman-but-grim as the concept has already exhausted you
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