Brightburn - a superhero horror movie by James Gunn

So! Remember how James Gunn was going to announce something at San Diego Comic-Con this year, but the announcement got pulled due to his...leaving of Marvel Studios?

This is that. A very, VERY dark take on the Superman story as it was told by Zack Snyder not too long ago. Driving question: what if the kid from The Omen had Superman's origin and powers?

Apparently, this could be taken as either an "eff you" to Zack Snyder’s Superman or as a commentary for those who claim DCEU!Superman was a killer, so James Gunn is like, "Really? You think that's a murderous Superman? Challenge accepted."

Edited by TargetmasterJoe on Dec 9th 2018 at 6:08:35 AM

Gunn is just the producer though. The actual director only received a brief mention in that trailer. I get why that was done but it's still in poor taste.

The film itself is just Superman as a horror story. Not terrible interesting as a concept but it at least looks scary.

IIRC, Gunn is also co-writing the movie with his brother and cousin.

Real talk, maybe I'm giving it a little too much credit that it'll end up getting (last movie Gunn produced and wrote but not direct didn't turn out so well IINM), but I guess the story of Superman as a horror story is something that really scares me half to death and I actually liked Man of Steel.

You'd be surprised how closely this trailer follows the beats of MOS' first trailer until the big reveal that, surprise! It's a horror movie!

The words "superhero horror movie" remind me of an idea I had a long time ago: A crossover film series where you get a recent beloved superhero and have them face off against the monster of a recent horror movie.

From the look of the trailer and the sypnosis, Brightburn sounds like Superman retold as a horror story or Superman meets Chronicle mixed with The Omen

It sounds like a great premise for a horror film, especially this is Playing Against Type for James Gunn, who usually makes Superhero-comedy films. I also noted, many comments for the trailer say it's Ultraman, Superman's Earth-3 counterpart. I have to admit, this is the closest thing we have for the comic Irredeemable or Alan Moore's Miracleman.

Say, imagine superhero stories retold as horror stories like the Hulk, Batman and Wolverine. They make good horror stories if flipped.

Patton Oswalt saw a rough cut and compared the villain to Michael Myers.

...why not just make a Superboy-Prime movie?

You know...Evil Superman is not original.

It's been done. So many times.

...this still looks cool.

Because you'd need the rights to the character, and have to adhere to the requirements of sustaining an external franchise, not stray from the expectations of devoted fans of previous versions of Sup-Prime, and so have much less creative freedom.

Edited by Tuckerscreator on Dec 9th 2018 at 7:17:42 AM

Oh this movie looks like a blast. I am definitely down for this. Loved Mo S and I can't wait to see what Gunn does with this.

Gunn's done straight horror (Slither) superhero deconstruction (Super) before so he's got the chops for combining the two. Just depends how hands on a producer he is.

Technically, Slither was a comedy-horror and Super was a Deconstructive Parody of superhero movies.

Nothing about BB looks funny...

This is what everyone initially thought was a Berserk adaptation and then a Nameless adaptation. Points for subverting expectations I guess.

Granted, but Slither did have genuine horror moments (so did Super, in its own way) and Super was clearly aware of superhero movie conventions so it isn't like he's in totally new waters here. Mind you, it's the director who would make it or break it.

That shouldn't be a problem. Prime doesn't have fans.

Color me intersted. I really dig how shamelessly they ape Snyder's MOS trailers and then the spooky creeps in.

Probably the closes you could get to Superboy Prime on the big screen.

Kind of odd to see Gunn doing a dark superhero movie after the GOTG films.

This was inevitable. Bright Burn - Man of Steel Mashup Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBNdFgTa_TI

I'm rather mixed on this idea. On the one hand it's a legitimately clever mashup of Superman and The Omen. Richard Donner directed both movies

The trailer itself is also well done and would likely fool someone who didn't already know the premise on their first viewing. The later half of the musical score in particular is haunting.

On the other hand, Handsome Rob was right on the money. Evil Superman has been done. Again. And again, and again, and hell, why not another five more times! It's honestly somewhat tiring, especially considering that we haven't seen a great traditional portrayal of Superman since 2005 (...or more accurately, if we're being honest, since 1980).

I'll still see it though. Hell, were it not for the sheer oversaturation of the Beware the Superman trope, I'd probably be 100% for it.

Hasn't been done in a movie

It hasn't been done in a movie, which does help its case significantly, but this is a movie clearly patterned to people who are more familiar with the Superman mythos, so it's bound to get this reaction of "Jesus Christ Beware the Superman again?". Hell, while the idea hasn't been done 100% on cinema, Batman V. Superman (with Batman's entire narrative plotline being a take on it and a evil Supes showing up in the form of a hallucination/prediction) and Justice League (with Evil resurrected Supes for about five minutes) both already toyed and teased with the idea.

Though on that note, this movie could throw a even faster one on us by resolving the narrative on the note of this being a (perhaps highly) flawed kid but still heroic material deep down.

Considering the Gunn's are involved, wouldn't it be something if it turned out the entire movie was actually an in-universe anti-Brandon propaganda production by this universe's Lex Luthor?

I don’t know... How often do the Gunns go for twists like that?

"Batman V. Superman (with Batman's entire narrative plotline being a take on it and a evil Supes showing up in the form of a hallucination/prediction) and Justice League (with Evil resurrected Supes for about five minutes) both already toyed and teased with the idea."

And yet, Bv S kinda goes so far to show why that ideas was in fact bullshit, Batman is present as the one falling out and almost projecting everything he have on Superman, right to the point he pretty much bent is frustration in inocent men, Lex isnt better about it as he just vent is daddy issues on "god"(Clark).

Now whatever it should be a stright, taken-facevalude-superman? I dont really now, I guess that just feel "he is right about everything" and it feel smug in some level.

"We got lucky with Superman, he shared our values. The next one might not."