Brightburn was announced in 2017 as an Untitled James Gunn Horror Project. The movie already debuted in America back in May and was recently released on June 19 here in the UK. The film was produced by Guardians of the Galaxy auteur James Gunn with his brother Brian and his cousin Mark as screenwriters.
What is the Brightburn age rating?
Brightburn was given a 15 age rating by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).
A 15 rating means: “No one younger than 15 may see a 15 film in a cinema.”
The BBFC cites “strong gory injury detail, violence, language” as the reason behind its rating.
There are mild spoilers ahead for Brightburn which help to explain the age rating.
‘Injury detail’ relates to a scene in which a woman pulls a shard of glass out of her eye.
In another scene, a man’s jaw is briefly shown falling away after his face hits the dashboard of his truck.
A boy uses his supernatural powers in order to break a girl’s hand.
There is the use of strong language (‘f***’), as well as milder terms including ‘butt’, ‘damn’, ‘God’, ‘Jesus’, ‘hell’, ‘goddamn’.
Moderate sex references include a scene in which porn images are found underneath a boys mattress; no explicit detail is shown.
In the UK, Brightburn hit cinemas on Wednesday, June 19, 2019.
The film has already been released in the USA, where it has garnered middling reviews.
Its Rotten Tomatoes critics’ consensus reads: “Although Brightburn doesn’t fully deliver on the pitch-black promise of its setup, it’s still enough to offer a diverting subversion of the superhero genre.”
The official plot synopsis reads: “What if a child from another world crash-landed on Earth?
“But instead of becoming a hero to mankind, he proved to be something far more sinister?
“With Brightburn, the visionary filmmaker of Guardians of the Galaxy and Slither presents a startling, subversive take on a radical new genre: superhero horror.”
Whether fans and critics agree with this statement, however, is another statement.
Brightburn is now playing in cinemas.
