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Halloween Day by Day: "Brightburn" (2019)


Superhero movies have become a huge part of the movie industry over the past eleven years.  Horror has also gained a bit more "respectability" within the movie industry as well.  It was only natural- and a matter of time before someone put the two together...

An alien spacecraft crash lands on a small farm.  The Beyers find within it a survivor... a baby.  As the boy reaches his teen years, he starts to exhibit strange powers, and the Beyers begin to wonder:

Will this child from the stars become Earth's savior...?

I can't say enough positive things about 2019's "Brightburn" by James Gunn, Kenneth Huang, and David Yarovesky.  The idea of a "dark" Superman story has been done often enough before by DC Comics in their Elseworlds comics, but this movie takes it to a new level, and makes it much more visceral and fascinating to watch.  The progression of the story is natural and quite believable- pulling you along willingly.  The pacing is great, and flows beautifully from start to end.  I also love how it takes many of the tropes of the horror and comic genres, and uses them together seamlessly.

The characters are great as well.  The parents, Brandon, especially provide the core of the story, and are ones that you can easily relate to, and become emotionally invested in what happens to them.  You feel for them, and want them to all turn out okay- which helps gives this movie a nice emotional punch in all the right story spots.

This is helped by the performers.  Jackson A. Dunn as Brandon was simply amazing.  You could easily believe that he's unlike those around him.  He brought a depth to his character that made you want him to be okay in the end- that you want him to overcome the emotional turmoil inside him.  Elizabeth Banks and David Denman as his adopted parents only added to the intensity and depth of the characters they played, and the events playing out around them.

The visual tone and coloring of "Brightburn" was just amazing.  There was a very realistic, yet stylish look and feel to the movie that just took my breath away.  There are a lot of beautiful shots in this film to you would expect to find in a graphic novel.  Of special note was the effects for the scene where Brandon drops the pick-up truck.  Just some beautiful camera work and gore effects.

If there's ONE must see movie on my list for people it's "Brightburn".  It absolutely belongs in "The Good".

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