James Wan's filmography is a very mixed bag. Saw (2004) and Dead Silence (2007) showed signs of a very talented filmmaker. The Conjuring (2013) showed signs that while talented, Wan doesn't always make groundbreaking films. Aquaman (2018) is a film that I am constantly forgetting that he made. So with Malignant I knew that even if it wasn't good, it would be a very enjoyable ride.
From the opening shot of the film I was prepared to have fun. While it covers dark topics, it is clearly inspired from film techniques and cliches from years past. Such as there's a doctor that is doing experiments of a mysterious nature and the opening scene seems like it's from a much older film. This makes the feel of the film very chaotic in an extremely fun way. I was laughing just as much as I was cowering in fear. Okay not cowering in fear, but I was scared.
Madison "Maddie" Mitchell was someone I connected to since the very first scene she appeared in. Yes, the very first scene. She was a hard worker who had the misfortune of being abused. So during the whole of the film it wasn't just the mystery that was making me interested, it was wanting to be reassured that she would come out of the movie alive and well.
So how was the gore? While it didn't make me want to vomit, it was disturbing in all the right ways. It never felt like the gore was overdone and instead was made to fit the scenes. Every kill made you feel the weight of what was going on. The gore made you fear the antagonist of the film. Besides the opening scene, there's a scene later on in the movie that I was very impressed with.
I stayed away from spoilers before seeing Malignant. The most I had heard about it was that there was an evil imaginary friend. I am glad that I came into the movie mostly blind. It meant that I had no preconceived expectations about the tone of the film nor had I started to make up theories in my head. This made every twist and turn in the film a treat.
The movie does eventually show the villain of the film. At first you aren't able to see it clearly and can only guess about its true appearance. Then by the end you are finally able to see it in all its perverted glory. Sometimes it's better if you're not able to get a good picture of a horror movie villain and at first I thought it was a mistake to show it. But the design eventually grew on me and there was no way not to show it. Without seeing it you can't understand what's actually going on in the film.
I would recommend Malignant to horror fans. I would also recommend Malignant to fans of James Wan.
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