Brightburn ** (2019, Elizabeth Banks, David Denman, Jackson A Dunn) – Movie Review

‘You are different. After your dad and I got married, we prayed for a baby for so long. One night, someone listened.’ – Tori Breyer.

Elizabeth Banks and David Denman star as an ordinary American couple Tori and Kyle Breyer, who desperately want a baby, and make the weird mistake of adopting a boy from another world who has crash landed on Earth at their home in Brightburn, Tennessee. They think that everything is going to be okay.

But when puberty strikes, the boy strikes too. Why? Why now? Why has he waited? Jackson A Dunn is splendidly creepy in a little tour de force as the menacing Brandon Breyer. But he does not get the film all to himself, as Banks and Denman have a lot to do as the idiot parents – adopting an alien boy, really? – and do it extremely well. It is impressive how credible these three actors are under these rather extreme and difficult circumstances.

The film itself is less impressive and credible. Brightburn is a slow burn, despite moving in a businesslike fashion from one incident to the next, and from one set piece to the next. Yet it remains in the interesting category throughout. It is commendably quirky and eerie. Yet its very peculiar story is frustratingly alienating. It is at heart just another variant on the creepy devil child idea – Brandon is a kind of Damien in The Omen – but with the alien spin. The alien spin should be good, but it eventually sinks the film as nobody seems to know quite what to do with it.

The film is not logical in any way. It plays like a nightmare. It can only have one of two endings. The parents kill the kid, or the kid kills the parents. That is another weakness. That makes it ultimately unsatisfying. It does feel thoughtful and intelligent, though. There is a sense that Brightburn is a parable for something – puberty, pregnancy or parenting maybe – but it is just a parting glance.

It is good that Brightburn keeps the faith in being a true horror movie, and does not hold back, with plenty horror violence and bloody images, and strong language. It is a disturbing little number. It worried the UK censors enough to insist on cuts in two scenes to reduce strong gory images for a 15 rating.

It is well directed by David Yarovesky, who conveys the idea that he knows what he wants and what he is doing. Ditto writers Brian Gunn and Mark Gunn, both brothers of James Gunn, who produces with Kenneth Huang. Tim Williams’s score and Michael Dallatorre’s cinematography are excellent, adding a lot to the movie.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Movie Review

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