Brightburn
Screen Gems | Release Date: May 24, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
44
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
14
Negative:
10
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
25
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMay 25, 2019
When the end credits roll, it’s hard to decide whether the most appropriate feeling should be disgust, despair, or despondency. This is one of 2019’s worst films. Read full review
25
ObserverOliver JonesMay 25, 2019
The movie has nary a thought in its red-hooded head, only a lot of blood. Read full review
25
Movie NationRoger MooreMay 24, 2019
Brightburn is a generally humorless affair, with the only “laughs” given a sadistic edge, with paint-by-numbers frights and cut-and-paste “big emotional moments” that even the formidable Banks cannot make pay off. Read full review
25
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsMay 24, 2019
A machine to deliver gore and violence, Brightburn also features some of the most improbably and even hatefully dumb salt-of-the-Earth type characters in a recent American horror movie. But even if you watch Brightburn knowing that it doesn't have much going for it beyond a few disturbing kill scenes, you will still be disappointed. Read full review
38
The Associated PressLindsey BahrMay 23, 2019
Brightburn was a good idea. Unfortunately the creativity stopped there. Read full review
38
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMay 23, 2019
Clever trappings aside, Brightburn is filmed mostly as a horror movie, with the monster lurking just around the corner or pounding on the door as the dopey victims behave just like all the other dopey victims in forgettable slasher films. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMay 22, 2019
With Brightburn there’s not even the pretense of idealism. It’s a superhero movie with the soul of an ’80s slasher film. Read full review
38
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonMay 22, 2019
The only creepy things about Brightburn, though, are its labored, derivative narrative, its giddy sadism (it gets off on Brandon’s adolescent power trip, and expects its audience to do the same), and its cynical built-in branding. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineEd GonzalezMay 22, 2019
The way the film shuttles through its 90 minutes, it’s as if it’s been stripped of its most crucial narrative parts. Read full review
33
TheWrapRobert AbeleMay 22, 2019
While we can perhaps be grateful that the superficiality of Brightburn probably kept it from opting to exploit elements of disturbed-kid narratives that have been all too common in our more tragic news stories, what remains is still never terribly entertaining as either popcorn or a bent take on superhero myths. Read full review
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