10 Horror Movies That Abandoned Awesome Ideas Halfway Through

Even back in 2019, it is likely that large swathes of cinematic audiences were sick to the back teeth of superhero films.

As such, director David Yarovesky attempted to buck this trend with Brightburn, a superhero origin story focused on young extra-terrestrial Brandon - essentially an evil, adolescent Superman who crash-landed on Earth and was adopted by human parents.

Brightburn's premise appeared to be brimming with potential. Driven by powerhouse performances and an atmosphere of steadily building tension, the first segment of the film is riveting. Audiences find themselves full of questions about this strange boy's origins and his state of mind, desperate to discover his raison d'être.

It is regrettable therefore, that towards the second half of the picture, the same audiences realized that Yarovesky just wasn't going to engage in what could be described as any meaningful character exploration of his focal character. Rather than delve into the enthralling psyche behind such an intriguing personality, the director was more than content to run with the ultra-innovative narrative of "his alien ship told him to murder everybody".

Accordingly, Brightburn's later scenes are a chaotic medley of grisly death sequences and predictable set pieces. It's nothing that horror fans haven't already seen a billion times before; a bland effort that throws the film's wasted potential into even sharper clarity.