Malignant: 10 Horror Movie References You Missed
4. The Brood
Malignant's themes of repressed trauma inspiring violence in the here and now is not unique. An earlier example of this theme comes from the body-horror opus directed by David Cronenberg, 1979's The Brood.
(From here on out there will be heavy Malignant SPOILERS so dip out, watch it, and come back when you're ready).
In The Brood, Nola, a divorcee locked in a bitter custody battle with her ex, undergoes a radical form of therapy involving 'psychoplasmatics', which manifests her trauma as deformed children that go on a murder spree.
Malignant draws from the Brood when Madison's body births Gabriel, the parasitic twin living inside of her brain, to go on a murderous rampage after years of being repressed. Both films position mental health facilities as ominous institutions whose unethical shenanigans create horrific monstrosities that can only be stopped once the root of the trauma is addressed.
While most think-pieces on Malignant note the Giallo-influence, Wan's love for classics of the body horror is evident throughout.