In “Brightburn: Son Of Darkness” everything revolves around one question: what if Superman had turned into a cruel sadist instead of a saviour? The dark horror film is only available for a short time on Netflix.
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It’s one of the most interesting mind games for many comic book fans: what if the most popular superheroes just didn’t stand up for people, but proved to be real sadists? In many cases there are always ambivalences to be discovered in the omnipotent icons – Batman in particular stands out in this case – but what would it be like if Iron Man, Spider-Man or even Superman were to appear as truly abysmally evil characters?
Brightburn: Son Of Darkness” explores this question by providing us with a quasi horror answer to “Superman”. The whole thing was directed by “The Hive” maker David Yarovesky, while James Gunn, who as current DC boss (and possibly also as director) will soon be taking care of “Superman: Legacy”, produced the film. Is the film still on your Netflix watchlist? Then you’ll have to hurry, because on 17 March “Brightburn” will be removed from the streaming service’s programme.
THAT’S WHAT “BRIGHTBURN: SON OF DARKNESS “
IS ABOUT.
Tori (Elizabeth Banks) and Kyle Breyer (David Denman) have already given up on having children of their own. But then a comet hits near their farm with a baby that comes from outer space but looks human. For the next twelve years, the Breyers are busy raising Brandon (Jackson A. Dunn) as their own child.
In his teens, however, Brandon exhibits increasingly obvious behavioural disorders that go far beyond the usual hormonal aberrations of puberty. The crushing of a classmate’s hand and a nocturnal massacre in the chicken coop are the more harmless incidents. The adoptive parents must therefore increasingly come to terms with the idea that their son is an extraterrestrial being whose behaviour is completely unpredictable…
COOL PREMISE, BUT ALSO A GOOD FILM?
In the official FILMSTARTS review, “Brightburn: Son Of Darkness” received a solid 3 out of 5 possible stars. Our editor-in-chief Christoph Petersen wrote in the conclusion of his review: “A small, dirty, self-sufficient superhero slasher, which is really nasty in places, but rarely really exciting.
You have to know from the start what you’re getting into here: “Brightburn” is not spectacle cinema that emulates the DC excess of a “Man Of Steel”, but sees itself as a nasty, dirty slasher that is clearly oriented towards the horror cinema of the 1980s. As the review notes, one thing should not be disregarded: “However, one should not expect the makers to get much more out of their Superman-as-killer premise than a handful of really nicely nasty moments.”
The story itself is completely rudimentary pieced together and certainly doesn’t entice anyone behind the stove. But when “Brightburn” allows the evil Superman to act out his sadism, the horror film proves to be extremely effective: “The most spectacular sequence of the film doesn’t show Brandon’s superpowers, but in extensive close-up, how a waitress pulls a piece of glass out of her eyeball, including all kinds of liquids that spill and splash out at the same moment.”
So if you’re in the mood for some really nasty, largely entertaining genre cinema, you should definitely make plans to watch “Brightburn” on your Netflix subscription in time before it disappears there.
