Here’s the thing: adopting an alien baby that crash-landed in your backyard can be a mixed bag. Sometimes they grow up to embody truth, justice, and the American way. And sometimes they just want to watch the world burn. Surely parenting has something to do with it, but sometimes those seeds are just plain bad.
That’s the premise for Brightburn, a new horror film produced by James Gunn, which sees Superman’s origin story re-imagined as a horror film. It’s a cracking premise, and both trailers for the film have been disturbing and atmospheric.
Directed by David Yarovesky (The Hive) and written by Gunn’s brother Brian and cousin Mark, Brightburn stars Elizabeth Banks and David Denman (The Office) as a married couple whose alien son Brandon (played to creepy effect by Jackson A. Dunn) begins showing signs of supervillainy.
While the first trailer focused on Brandon’s origin story, the latest trailer reveals more of the inherent horror in the character. We see Brandon ostracized at school, where takes revenge on a girl who bullied him by causing her pain. We see the girl’s parents furious in the principal’s office, while Elizabeth Banks tries her best to defend her monstrous son.
We also catch a gory extended look at the diner scene from the first trailer, which involves a poor waitress pulling a piece of glass out her eye (gross) as Brandon terrorizes her. We also see the larger scope of Brandon’s Superman-like powers, which include flying, super-strength, and laser eyes. As his path of destruction spreads, his mother must figure out how to save and protect her son … and whether he’s worth protecting at all.
The film promises not only a fun subversion of the superhero origin story, but a new twist on one of horror’s favorite tropes: the creepy kid. From The Bad Seed to The Ring to The Omen (and dozens more), evil children have been a reliable source of scares. Whether they’re possessed by the devil, seeing dead people, or wishing folks into the cornfield, creepy kids are a horror film staple.
A handful of films have delved into the darkness that comes with super-powered children. 2016’s science fiction thriller Midnight Special followed Michael Shannon as a father desperately trying to save his powered son from government agents. And Rian Johnson’s 2012 film Looper follows a time-traveling hitman (played by Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who encounters a single mother (Emily Blunt) with a telekinetic kid poised to become a crime lord known as the Rainmaker.
Even Deadpool 2 plays with the idea, as Deadpool struggles to connect with Russell Collins/Firefist (Julian Dennison) before he turns into a mass murderer. It will be interesting to see how dark Brightburn goes, and whether or not Elizabeth Banks will be able to save her son’s soul.
Brightburn hits theaters on May 29th.
(via Polygon, image: Sony Pictures)
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