Imagine if Damien, the little Agnus Young-lookin’ creeper from THE OMEN, had a baby with Clark Kent, aka The Man of Steel, and bingo – therein lies the plot for BRIGHTBURN. All I know is 90 minutes after we started this story with farmland sunsets, rusty swing-sets swaying in the breadbasket breeze and shots of a dilapidated old mailbox with the name “Breyer” painted on the side, my shame-on-you finger wagging at Ben Affleck for turning into a Kryptonite doomsday prepper in BATMAN v. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE evaporated faster than Mike Cernovich’s blood pressure after watching Disney give him the middle finger and rehire James Gunn for GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 3.

BRIGHTBURN refers to the fictional Kansas town of the same name. Home to Tori (Elizabeth Banks) and Kyle (David Denman) Breyer, who, like Ma and Pa Kent, found a baby boy in a spaceship near their farm. The only difference was the Kents lucked out and got truth, justice and The American Way. The Breyers got a prepubescent mix of Hannibal Lecter, General Zod and Satan.

The Breyer’s 12 year-old son, Brandon (Jackson A. Dunn), was just a quirky pre-teen until the spaceship locked in the family’s barn started glowing red and telling Brandon – in his native demonese – to “take the world.” He starts out small by chucking lawn mowers like frisbees and chewing on spoons, but soon moves on to murdering the Brightburn townsfolk in an increasingly grisly fashion. Dad is suspicious and wants to take Brandon out back and give him a whooping; mom is absolutely on Brandon’s side. How in the world could her innocent son do any of these horrendous acts? There might be something embedded in that narrative for today’s non-parenting parents.

In the end, what makes BRIGHTBURN sharp and – I can’t believe I’m saying this – creepily fun, is the mix of superhero-meets-gooey horror. And believe me when I say the gooey moments in BRIGHTBURN are plentiful. I enjoyed the movie enough to recommend fans of the genres to check out this flick from newcomer David Yarovesky, but not enough to see it twice in theaters or buy this on Blu-ray when it hits stores later this year.

I’ve seen many a clickbait article explaining the ending, teasing the things you missed, or opining that BRIGHTBURN might pave the way for a “dark superhero universe” or possibly a bunch of sequels. No, no and a big fat no. This is one-and-done fun. Don’t read too much into it. Grab a friend, a tub of popcorn and enjoy this clever mashup of caped-hero-meets-horror.

GRADE: B