Malignant: 10 Horror Movie References You Missed

2002's The Ring ushered in a wave of Japanese horror updates that dominated the early 2000's scary movie scene, but, despite all the imitators, the original Japanese version of The Ring, 1998's Ringu, still manages to chill its viewers.

Anyone familiar with the J-horror phenomenon will recognize the ubiquitous presence of girls with black hair covering their faces while they go about using halting, jerky movements that are both unsettling and uncanny.

Wan nods to Ringu and its imitators by having Gabriel's hair covering his face and making his jerky way of getting around highly-reminiscent of Sadako's characterization in the Ringu-series. However, rather than just being a sly nod to his horror forebearers, Wan actually makes Gabriel's appearance and mobility a hint to Malignant's jaw-dropping twist.

This clever bit of pastiche works wondrously-well, paying tribute to a trend from yesteryear while breaking new ground of its own and making this callback to the past more than a mere allusion.