Super Freaks

Due to Netflix’s queue management (sending/withholding “Short Wait” movies), we watched Brightburn (2019) and Freaks (2019) on consecutive nights. These two movies are very similar - and part of a new genre: low(ish) budget, grounded indie movies about superheroes, usually kids. See Fast Color, et al.

The elevator pitch for Brightburn is simple: Superboy, but evil. It starts with a farm couple in Smallville (ish) trying to get pregnant. A meteor lands on their land, and guess what is inside? Cut to ~10 years later. The couple (Elizabeth Banks and David Denman) have adopted the baby, who has grown into a nice, smart young boy. He likes playing in the barn (which his parents don’t allow) and talking about predatory wasps in class. Some of the kids bully him, but one smart girl likes him.

Then on his 12th birthday, he starts hearing alien voices, and starts getting powers. When he tests them by slowly feeding his hand into a running lawnmower, you understand that this is tending toward horror more than a little. He sneaks into the little smart girl’s room - just trying to be friends - and freaks her out. Soon, there will be a lot more freak outs.

In Freaks, our protagonist is a seven-year-old girl. Her father (Emile Hirsch) keeps her in a creepy house with windows all covered over. She is a sweet kid and very obedient, but when her dad is away, she does like to look out the window. She wants ice cream. But when her dad goes out for supplies, he comes back with a bullet wound (and no ice cream).

There’s an ice cream truck that parks outside the window with old man Bruce Dern creepily enticing her to get a cone. She doesn’t go out but does psychically will the neighbor girl to bring her some. Hirsch puts a stop to that. But now you see the problem. She has powers, and this world doesn’t like kids with powers.

We enjoyed Freaks more than Brightburn. For one thing, the little girl was a more sympathetic character than the older boy. She didn’t really turn to the dark side, either, although she could get angry. There’s even a scene in Freaks where she tries to join the normal family across the street and the neighbor girl is frightened because her attempts at being friends comes off as creepy - just like Brightburn, but without the sexual awakening stuff.

Because Brightburn seems to be a metaphor for puberty turning kids into monsters, while Freaks is more about acceptance. And I guess we just liked that more. Or maybe I just preferred the movie with fewer horror movie themes.

In conclusion, the barn in Brightburn sort of played the same as the barn in Ready or Not. Huh.