Maligno

I had fun with this movie. They just went nuts and it was amazing. For a lot of the movie, I had problems with choices the characters were making. I was worried that when it got to the end, I was going to feel like it wasn't plausible enough. Well, that wasn't a problem, because this movie is so far off the rails, you'd be a goof to complain about realism. I appreciate what they did here, and I wish more movies could take things this far. Did I mention this movie is completely crazy?

Oh no, a positive review. I must be either a bot or a paid studio shill. Good lord, people are such drama queens these days.

James Wan's latest film is a fun and gory love letter to the Italian horror movies of the 1980's. With that, much like the Italian horror movies of the 80's, it is style over substance. It embraces it's outlandish premise, and totally revels in it's campiness, and delivers a stylish, over-the-top, gory romp with a totally bonkers 3rd act. If you don't enjoy movies with a high camp factor, look elsewhere. As for me, I had a damn good time at this thing.

It's a gory horror movie with some hilarious moments that are probably not intentional. It's not built for someone who watches a movie to go "this isn't realistic, one star" to enjoy. James Wan included plenty of well shot and acted scenes of horror that are more entertaining than they are actually scary. I'll take a big silly swing like this over something in the Conjuring universe any day of the week.

I don't think anything can prepare you for what this is. I suspected there would be something wild afoot, but even that didn't prepare me. What happens is actually pretty insane and creative, but the execution of it is so ridiculous that you just can't take it seriously.

Given how cheesy this movie was at the start and knowing James Wan was the director, I figured they had to be in on it and doing it intentionally. But as the film progresses, you realize they're actually playing it completely straight and it's honestly just that bad. This movie really isn't scary either which was surprising.

The camerawork is big highlight and the over-the-top 80s music was pretty fun. You can tell Wan was trying to make a throwback here, but he forgot the self-awareness that's necessary for movies like this. I know some people are saying the camp is intentional, but even if it is, it could have been executed far better than this.

I will give Wan credit for creating a truly original horror film that actually surprised me. Whether you like it or not, we should applaud more filmmaking that takes chances and doesn't completely give away what a movie is about beforehand.

This film is bonkers. I felt like I was watching a Giallo or 80s low budget B-movie if it were competently made and given a massive budget.

This is a horror movie the way they used to be. Unpredictable, insane, gross-out, freak out stuff. It's not a movie made by a committee, it's not the usual haunted doll or spooky house movie where the narrative grinds to a halt as you wait for the inevitable loud noise jump scare when someone looks into a mirror or closes a door.

And it's not the joyless, ugly torture porn that has plagued the genre in recent decades either. Nor is it a wink-wink self-referential Scream type parody either.

Malignant plays it relatively straight for much of its runtime, presenting a genuinely intriguing mystery and a scary, seemingly supernatural killer.

But when the third act happens (you'll know when it does), the film goes completely off the rails. In one of the most over the top sequences ever, Malignant embraces its silly concept and goes all out action gore-fest. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, and ended up laughing my butt off. The last time a movie completely flipped the script like this was From Dusk Till Dawn. Here the twist actually makes sense in terms of the narrative. The story - while stupid - is surprisingly coherent.

That's the secret sauce to many horror classics. Take a dumb, disgusting or bonkers concept, and fully commit to it. It may not please focus groups, but it's how you make a cult movie that remains memorable.

What a breath of fresh air. Thank you, James Wan. This was beautiful.