Malignant

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.

I really really loved it. I think its an insane fun ride, it's dark and it is exactly what the director wanted to do, something different. It worked.

The body horror in it is great, the actions scenes are super juicy and to be fair quite new in horror films, considering how stylised they were. The plot twist was damn good and the trip of the third act alone made me want to go back and watch it again.

Can't forget to mention the soundtrack.... THE SOUNDTRACK!! It was great, Joseph Bishara composing and mixing to the level he always does.

So yeah, thanks for the 80's love letter, James Wan and crew!

Definitely not a 10/10 like some reviewers claim, but ABSOLUTELY not a 1/10 either.

25 minutes too long, some cheesy moments, but ultimately I personally was entertained. Was I scared? No. Did I have moment "ew that's NASTY"? Oh yeah.

All in all, it's a solid 7 from me and a fun way to spend a free evening if you have nothing better to do.

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.

Don't listen to any of the negativity, that's what happens when a movie shows up on HBO Max and people who don't appreciate horror movies try to watch it.

"Malignant" is Jame's Wan's love letter to old school horror and those of us who love it. A scary, fun movie that turns totally bat-s***t bonkers at the end, this movie is great from start to finish. Totally original and yet at the same time inspired by the grindhouse horror films of the 80's (and one in particular, but you won't get me to ever reveal which one!), Wan has delivered one of the most entertaining movies of the year. Best seen in theaters, but if you watch it on HBO Max, turn down the lights, mute the phone, pop some popcorn and prepare to be wowed.

If you're a fan of horror movie, "Malignant" is highly recommended without reservation.