10 Horror Films That Wasted Their Villain

Brightburn is one of the most unique horror films of the last few years, taking the Superman myth and filtering it through a terrifying hypothetical - what if Clark Kent, here called Brandon Breyer (Jackson A. Dunn), went the evil path instead?

Filmmaker David Yarovesky seems primed to examine the nature vs. nurture debate from a supremely heightened perspective, but ultimately Brightburn ends up reducing its titular superpowered psychopath to a series of formulaic genre check-boxes.

As fascinating as a depiction of a young boy who uses his powers to annihilate humanity could have been, the fact that he's only compelled to destroy at the behest of his spaceship and has little real agency of his own makes him woefully uninteresting as a character.

All the elements were here for a bold reinvention of the Man of Steel's origin story, and while it does indeed make some brave choices - particularly in its dark ending - Brandon's lack of character development and the supremely stupid decisions of most everyone around him makes it feel like a waste.