Malignant: 10 Horror Movie References You Missed

While Malignant may be an intense, gory exercise in suspense and terror, there's no denying that parts are meant to be comedic and that, for much of the run time, Wan has his tongue firmly planted in his cheek. For the uninitiated, this mixture of horror and comedy might be new and surprising, but fans will recognize the subtle allusions made to Sam Raimi's beloved Evil Dead franchise.

The Evil Dead series began as a low-budget exercise in diabolical mayhem concocted by Sam Raimi and his muse, Bruce Campbell, while they were still in college. Since Raimi and co. had a very limited budget, the Evil dead had to make its mark using style.

Raimi and collaborators, Oscar-winning icons Joel and Ethan Cohen, devised a new way to visualize an evil force chasing its victims through the wood by creating the 'evil dead cam' which adopts the perspective of a spirit as it rushes after its prey in a continuous shot.

Besides tonal similarities to the Evil Dead, Malignant briefly uses the 'evil dead cam' during one sequence and employs canted angles, a Raimi staple. These flourishes should key fans of the Evil Dead series into the fact that not everything in Malignant is played straight, and during some of the more gonzo parts its okay to laugh along with the film.