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Malignant


James Wan, who rose to fame by kickstarting 3 horror franchises (Saw, Insidious and The Conjuring series) returns to that genre with this latest film. I've enjoyed the horror films he's directed, so when I heard he was back in the director chair for this, I was excited. This movie, was..... well, interesting, to put it kindly. 






The film begins with a woman named Madison Mitchell (played by Anabelle Wallis) who is pregnant and living with her boyfriend. Or was it husband? I didn't bother catching that detail, but it doesn't matter, because the guy doesn't last long. After Madison gets into an argument with him, he punches her and slams her head into a wall. The guy is an abusive asshole. Madison locks herself in her room. A few hours later, the guy wakes up to noises in the house. He soon is attacked and killed by a shadowy assailant, and Madison is also attacked. When she wakes up, she's in the hospital and learns that the baby she was carrying didn't make it. Two police detectives come to investigate the case and try to find the person who allegedly broke into her home and attacked her. Her younger sister also comes to offer emotional support. After being released from the hospital, Madison goes back home and she begins having strange visions where she sees people being brutally murdered by a shadowy killer. She becomes convinced that this is the guy who broke into her home and she seeks help from her sister and the detectives to find him and stop him.





Wan, who did a great job directing the first Saw, Insidious 1 & 2 and the first two Conjuring films, shows a bit of that horror flair he demonstrated in those past releases. There are a few good scenes of tension and some creative shots, including a sequence of Madison running around her big house, but filmed from above, to appear as if she's running through a maze. The murder sequences are violent and bloody; I found them enjoyable. The problem is that the script and story quickly become ridiculous and very over the top. I found the outrageous climax enjoyable, but only in an unintentionally funny way, as if watching a fun b-movie.



I would love to say that James Wan can't be blamed for the bad story, but he was credited as co-writer, so yes, he's partly responsible for how silly this turns out. The movie ramps up as the detectives close in on the killer, and Madison works to reveal his true identity and stop his killing spree, which includes unlocking forgotten secrets of her childhood. I won't spoil the ending, but let's just say it seems that Wan, co-writer Ingrid Bisu and screenwriter Akela Cooper may have been influenced by Stephen King's The Dark Half, the 80's film Basket Case, and perhaps even Cronenberg's The Brood. It attempts to explain the killer's identity and motivation with a scientific explanation, but the end result is so ridiculous that it's hard to take any of it seriously. The first two Insidious films had their sprinkle of preposterous elements, but Wan was still able to reel it in enough to keep the tension. Here, he just lets the inane details completely take over to the point where it becomes a cheesy splatterfest.



This is the type of film that would have been a huge hit in the 80's era, so if you enjoy a flick that mixes serial killers, body horror and psychic shenanigans, you'll enjoy Malignant's outrageous, fun-loving spirit. Viewers who want a more serious, subdued horror film should look elsewhere. This movie was so bonkers that I couldn't help but to enjoy it. It takes some serious dedication to attempt to tell a somewhat interesting story and have it derail so spectacularly. Oh James Wan, what happened????

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