Rating of
2/4
Giallo-Inspired Horror with a Twist (I Saw Coming)
Chris Kavan - wrote on 09/20/21
Malignant reminds me of another horror film that a lot of people like a lot better than I did, but was ruined because I figured out the twist too early and it kind of made the rest of the film fall flat. That would be The Others from 2001 - and like that film, I figured out what was happening in Malignant and by the time the big twist reveal happened in the third act, I already knew where it was going and so it just didn't do much for me.
James Wan is an amazing horror director - with Saw, The Conjuring and Insidious all under his belt. With Malignant he has stated that the film was inspired by the Giallo Italian horror style - and I can see the inspiration on screen. The direction is not necessarily the issue here - it's probably the why I didn't score the film lower - but I just wasn't drawn in by the story or much of the acting. Annabelle Wallis didn't inspire much excitement in me as Madison Mitchell, a woman who survives a domestic attack only to be drawn into a nightmare world where she she witnesses a series of gruesome murders (including that of her abusive husband), but is seemingly detached and at home while they happen.
Detectives Kekoa Shaw (George Young) and Regina Moss (Michole Briana White) are skeptical of her supposed explanations - well, Moss for than Shaw, who seems somewhat of a ladies man - moreso when it turns out that Mitchell is connected to the victims who. You see, Mitchell was adopted and it turns out she had an imaginary friend, Gabriel, that told her things - and now, all these years later, it seems he's back and making up for some old slights. All the people who are being killed seem to be connected to an old, now-shuttered institution and Madison's non-biological sister Sydney (Maddie Hasson) goes to investigate the real story.
As an aside, does it bother anyone else that in numerous films and TV shows that old, shuttered facilities (be it medical, military or other) always seem to have highly confidential or classified files just hanging around. You would think that whoever was in charge back in the day would have, you know, moved them to the new facility or just gotten rid of them rather than keep them just sitting around for any old person to find. Granted, I don't know who would willingly want to explore a creepy, old abandoned institution or hospital (aside from ghost hunters and squatters) but it has just always bothered me.
The third act throws in that big twist and if you don't see it coming, it probably has a much bigger impact (even though I think the practical effects of said reveal are kind of funny rather than scary). A bunch of people die in a grand bloodbath (and I have to wonder about the legal ramifications of said killings given the big twist) and we have one final, family reunion that gives us an okay ending. Still, I really want a sequel where we get a legal trial because THAT would be entertaining to me.
Malignant just didn't grab me like I wanted it to - whether because I figured things too early (don't look up spoilers - it will just make it that much worse) or because I didn't like many of the actors chosen for the roles. It's not necessarily a bad horror film - it just didn't work for me this time around.
