Malignant (2021)
Malignant
- 3.5/5 Cameras 🎥🎥🎥.5
- Directed by: James Wan
- Starring: Annabelle Wallis, Maddie Hasson, George Young, and Michole Briana White
- Where to find it: Buy or Rent from Amazon Prime Video
 |
| No Copyright Infringement Intended |
This was one of my most anticipated films of 2021, but a
series of unfortunate events meant I missed seeing it when it came out in
cinemas. After waiting for it to be available on wide home release I finally
got around to watching it, and all I can really say is I’m glad I got there in
the end.
Malignant follows Maddison (Annabelle Wallis) who begins the
film pregnant and stuck in an abusive relationship. Following a particularly
nasty incident of abuse in which Maddison’s head is knocked heavily into a wall,
she locks her partner out of their bedroom. Maddison dreams of a figure that
brutally kills her husband and wakes to find his dead body before being
attacked by the figure herself. From here the film takes the form of a fairly
mundane crime film with notes of elaborate horror as Maddison and the police
try to figure out what’s going on as Maddison continues to dream of murders as
they happen before at a certain point flipping the script and becoming an
utterly insane and outrageously entertaining horror B-movie.
The characters and performances in this film don’t
particularly stand out. Sure, none of the cast are bad per se, but you’re not
going to go searching for the rest of their work after seeing them in this, and
the characters themselves are fairly barebones with only really Maddison
getting any kind of development at all. But this isn’t a character study, it’s
a silly horror-thriller with a plot that’s ridiculous enough to circle back to
brilliant, at least once you get past the considerably less interesting first
half. These early stages provide some important setup, but they move slowly and
carry a tone that seems incongruous with where the film ends up. It’s not
exactly bad, but it does feel fairly drab. The second half more than makes up
for this though, so long as you’re willing to suspend your disbelief and open
yourself to its outlandish ideas.
Director James Wan pulls in elements from throughout his
career, with there being clear shades of Saw, Insidious, and even Aquaman on
display during its run time. This makes for an entertaining mashup, taking the
film away from the more classic horror ala The Conjuring that people may have
expected seeing from the attached director. I get the distinct impression that
Wan really enjoyed himself with this piece, having fun going down some more
unexpected routes for him and subverting audience expectations. In a way,
moments of the film almost feel like a parody, but it’s played just straight
enough not to sap the film’s momentum.
Of course, this subversion can put off some long-time fans
who went into Malignant looking for something genuinely scary, but for those
with a more open mind, or with a love for similar subversive horrors such as
Cabin in the Woods, or an appreciation of the insanity of the works of Dario
Argento (clearly a strong influence on James Wan) there’s certainly plenty of
silly, blood-soaked fun to be had with Malignant.
Comments
Post a Comment