Brightburn  ★★★

WHAT if Superman was evil?

You might think that angle has been done on film already by the DC company.

Not really; Superman is never fully bad in the comic book world.

But in the 2019 horror film Brightburn, the child version of the ultimate super being is definitely bad, killing anyone who gets in his way.

That includes using his new-found powers to laser somebody’s skull into mush and send a car engine through another bloke’s face.

It’s all done firmly with tongue in cheek but a fair bit of style and ambition as well from relatively fresh director David Yarovesky.

Elizabeth Banks and David Danman play Tori and Kyle Breyer, a couple living on a small farm who are unable to have children of their own.

One night (sounds like a fairy tale) something like a meteorite crashes to Earth on their property.

Cue a series of home videos with a young child and 10 years later they are a family with young Brandon.

Half the fun of the film is watching Jackson A. Dunn hamming it up as some kind of ‘Super Damien’ who lashes out in increasingly sadistic ways whenever he doesn’t get his way.

As the bodies pile up in the small community, people start turning their attention to the common denominator…young Brandon.

Dad is among the suspicious but Mum clings to disbelief until a final showdown becomes inevitable.

Like I said, the set-ups and some of the jump scares are fun and make for an interesting and fairly original 90 minutes or so.