Malignant Review & Hidden References You Missed

The Good, The Bad & The Gory

Let’s sandwich this with a positive though: bits of its storytelling worked really well - every murder Madison watched, for instance, I was on the edge of my seat waiting for the outcome. The absolutely batsh*t sequence where we see Gabriel emerge from Maddie’s head for the first time and then absolutely decimate the whole police precinct? Incredible.

The common theme with these successful scenes seems to be the gore. Wan didn’t leave us wanting for a good, bloody kill! Gabriel’s murders were gory and schlocky, his really off-putting style of moving around made his every step interesting, his penchant for arm-breaking was the perfect blend of shocking and hilariously predictable. Wan is a horror hard-hitter for a reason, and this was yet another of his strong points in this movie.

To avoid going on for hours, I think the whole experience can be summed up as a net positive. It’s important to make wild, wacky horrors! So often these days, movies are totally unmemorable or aren’t daring enough to make the impact they want, but this was an unabashedly insane film and will certainly become a cult classic because of this.

Make crazy, high-concept horrors! Keep being you, James Wan! But please, I’m absolutely begging, make them with a better script and without wooden actors.