-

Don't let the swooshy cape and rural Kansas setting fool you: the comic-book-horror hybrid Brightburn swoops way further into the slasher category by the time the credits roll. Executive-produced by James Gunn and written by Brian Gunn and Mark Gunn, Brightburn often plays like director David Yarovesky's homage to all his favorite knife-wielding icons. The way superpowered pre-teen monster Brandan Breyer (Jackson A. Dunn) hovers from a distance evokes Michael Myers in Halloween. His homemade mask resembles the sackcloth from Friday the 13: Part 2, and the sound of his cape even brings to mind that franchise's iconic ki-ki-ki-ma-ma-ma effect. Hell, there's a whole lot of crossover with James Gunn's 2006 freakshow Slither, not the least of which is the fact Brightburn also stars Elizabeth Banks.

Before the film's premiere, I sat down with David Yarovesky to discuss Brightburn's serious Halloween vibes, the single image that inspired the way Yarovesky shot the movie, why slasher-horror and comic book storytelling are so easy to blend, and a lot more. Check out what he had to say in the player above, and below is exactly what we talked about. Brightburn also stars David Denman, Matt Jones, Meredith Hagner, Steve Agee, and Becky Wahlstrom.

• Whether the Halloween vibes throughout the movie were intentional or not.
• The one single shot from the movie that Yarovesky envisioned that helped set the entire tone.
• Why the superhero comic book and the slasher horror movie seem like the perfect two genres to cross-over.

Here is the official synopsis for Brightburn:

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.