Review: James Wan Stretches the Boundaries with ‘Malignant’

Malignant review james wan
Warner Bros. Pictures

Australian filmmaker James Wan, who got his start in the horror genre with massive successes like Saw (2004), Insidious (2010), and The Conjuring (2013), took a break from making more recent blockbuster films and returned to his roots with Malignant. Wan wrote the new film along with Ingrid Bisu (The Nun, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It) and Akela Cooper (Grimm, Hell Fest). Malignant stars Annabelle Wallis (The Mummy, Annabelle), Maddie Hasson (God Bless America), and George Young (Grace).

Malignant follows Madison Lake (Wallis), a pregnant woman living in Seattle with her abusive husband. After a particularly violent outburst, Madison locks herself in her room and blacks out from a head injury. When she wakes, Madison finds her husband gruesomely murdered in their house, and starts to share visions with a serial killer as the victims are being slaughtered. With the help of her sister Sydney (Hasson) and the local police, Madison is determined to catch the killer and find out why she has been chosen to share these graphic visions.

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Before I go further, I have to be up front that this was an incredibly difficult film for me to review. I’m not sure my personal feelings about a film have conflicted this hard with how I think the general horror audience has received it, in a long time. Therefore, I’m just going to use a little bit of both and find a happy medium.

The overall story and feeling of Malignant was incredibly unique. This film was two-thirds modern supernatural giallo film, and one-third “what the hell did I just watch?” In the first two acts, it was wonderful to see a plethora of inspiration taken from ’70s Italian mystery/horror filmmakers like Mario Bava and Dario Argento. All the little moments were there. The hands in the black gloves camera shots, the unique weapon that has a connection to the story, even Joseph Bishara’s score was expertly crafted for the giallo feel, moving quickly from creepily droning and catchy synth work to up-beat pulsing rock.

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The camera work was fantastic and Wan brought some chops I never knew he had. Incredible overhead, down-facing shots were used to follow characters through different locations, showing the benefits of building sets and being creative with camera wires. I was also a huge fan of the effects throughout the film. Moments when Madison’s visions were lining up with the killer’s were neat, using well-done CG to transition from one location to another by dissolving the former and building the latter. The gore and makeup effects were brutal and effective. No complaints there.

I’m not going to go into the specifics of the third act, because I want to avoid spoilers. However, the third act for this film is WILD. James Wan absolutely gains points for giving me an unexpected transition in style, and although I had fun with it, I have a feeling this section may lose some viewers who were fans of the movie up to that point. The film goes off the deep end in a wacky and belligerent way, and either you’re all in with a cheeseball grin, or you’re checking out with a sour taste in your mouth. I understand both stances, and while I was mostly in, I could feel the exact moment when others would be out. This is a classic case of a director making the exact film he wanted to make, versus making the film that people wanted him to make. Risky, but I think Wan will ultimately be happier as an artist for his decision. I will ask to those that question the silliness or realism of the third act and ending, is it any sillier than say the Nightmare on Elm Street or Hatchet franchises? I don’t think so.

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The biggest weaknesses of the film were the dialogue and overdone exposition. I know a certain plane of cheesiness is to be expected when emulating campy Italian thrillers, but at certain points, exposition in Malignant was reaching some of the worst kind of M. Night Shyamalan levels (and I really enjoy Shyamalan!). Wallis was a fine choice for the lead, with most of her acting chops shining early in the film when dealing with her emotional husband or self-conflict. Unfortunately, no one really stood out to me, which I think comes from everyone being out of their element, acting-wise. Again, James Wan made a very unique film here, so I can’t imagine it was easy to really nail down a character.

Overall, I liked the film, but mainly because I embraced the third act for exactly what it was, which was a switch from dark, supernatural giallo-inspired seriousness to absurd, cheesy, B-horror. Trying to think through the mind of more casual horror fans is difficult for me, though I can’t imagine them being on board as much as I was, and that should be taken into consideration.

Malignant is now in theaters and available for streaming on HBO Max.


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REVIEW OVERVIEW
Malignant
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Stephen Rosenberg
Stephen is a massive horror, sci-fi, fantasy and action movie geek. He's an avid horror & sci-fi book/comic reader, musician and podcaster. He co-founded and co-hosts Motion Picture Meltdown (movie-roasting podcast since 2009), which is part of the United Cypher Podcast Network. Stephen is the Editor-at-Large for Horror Geek Life and an Associate Editor and contributing writer for MovieWeb. Feel free to contact him regarding screeners, reviews, press kits, interviews, and more!
review-james-wan-malignantMalignant is an extremely unique entry into James Wan’s filmography. With two-thirds emulating a 70’s-style giallo film with a supernatural touch, and one-third going completely bonkers in a B-horror cheese fest way, I think you’re either all-in or all-out. The story was interesting, and all of the technical aspects were fantastic. Well-used CG, great makeup, and excellent gore. James Wan showed some fantastic camera work I hadn’t seen in his other films. The biggest weaknesses were spotty dialogue and overdone exposition. Overall, I enjoyed the film and pretty much always recommend a first watch, but I also understand the viewpoint of those that weren’t on board. Check it out!

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