MALIGNANT

When you have a director like James Wan on a movie. You know it's very likely going to be a good one right? I had the same thoughts when I watched the trailer of Malignant. Putting into consideration the director's past works like the Conjuring. But then, after the credits rolled I was left with nothing but mixed feelings. If you've seen Malignant and you feel the same way. You're not alone.

The plot of Malignant follows Madison, a woman who recently lost her pregnancy when a stranger breaks into their home and attacked her and her husband. After recovering she's plagued by visions of a stranger murdering people. I wouldn't want to go further on the plot of this movie because it is very easy to spoil. It's one of those movies where if the ending is spoilt for you, there is almost no point watching the rest of what led to it.

 

At first, it's quite difficult to tell the type of horror movie Malignant was going to be, but by the time you're done with it, you'll realize it's a mashup of a lot of things. This makes me think Malignant is a 'troll movie' by the director (It was marketed as a pure horror movie). If I'm to describe Malignant, I'll say it's a supernatural parasitic horror movie with a touch of action and crime investigation thriller. Yeah, that's the best way I can describe this movie because that's just what it is. At some point, I even thought it was a movie within a movie type of film but that wasn't the case; there are some other blends of style you can find in this movie. Sometimes it felt like the 80s horror movies influenced what you're watching, other times it felt like it's the 90s and early 2000s. At a particular point in the third arch, it felt like I was watching a scene from the first Matrix movie. Like I said, it's a mashup of a lot things.

Malignant is one hour fifty minutes long. If you can endure the first one hour, the last thirty minutes that features the third arch was actually the best part of this movie with a serious twist and ending. While the ending wasn't mind blowing for me, the plot twist is really makes sticking around for the third arch worth watching; it's a clever twist. The cinematography and visual effect were also good. If not for these two elements of the movie, I would have believed I was watching a B movie throughout. The acting and plot felt like it was a B movie material in a lot of cases during the runtime.

Finally, if you're a type of audience that doesn't have patience with movies. You might want to skip this movie. Malignant at most is an average horror movie or close to an average horror movie.