Malignant; Grade: B
Malignant tells a story about a woman named Madison (Annabelle Wallis) whom has tragically lost her husband, as he was brutally murdered in his own home. Since Madison's husband's death: Madison has been seeing visions of vile and grisly murders happening in her own reality. Uncover the mystery as to why Madison is seeing visions and whom is responsible to all these tragic murders.
James Wan has certainly earned the right to have a name in the horror genre of cinema, delivering such hits as Saw, Insidious, and of course my favorite horror film from Wan The Conjuring. It's been about five years since Mr. Wan made a horror film as he finally made his way back, thanks towards the financial success of Aquaman which most certainly gave him enough funds to produce his own project.
Through the first two acts, one would say this felt like any other mainstream horror film you've seen time and time again. Loud jump scares and an entity that mimics the likes of Lights Out and Sinister, so you can say I was feeling quite underwhelmed. It also doesn't help that the dialogue t'was pretty absurd at times, as for a serious horror film I question not only the dialogue but the not so great acting as well, as there were moments where I was laughing.
The third act however... Brought light within the darkness. Once the twist is revealed, as we get to see the entity in action... The whole atmosphere of the film changed in the best way possible. As you question the absurdity of the dialogue and tone before, it all made sense through the reveal, as I gotta give credit to James Wan... This was a very effective slow burn of a film. It was a very odd yet unique twist, that throughly explains this entire situation regarding Madison's visions and her past life especially.
I believe what helped Wan especially, is what lessons he learned from Aquaman regarding how to develop choreography within your action sequences. Sure this is a horror film, however it suddenly transforms into an action packed horror film, creating some of the most memorable death sequences I've seen in a long time. I appreciate the fact Wan went into making a silly comic book movie not just for the money, but how he can improve on his craft better within his own genre he's most notable for.
The entity to me was pretty goofy, the design doesn't entirely feel original, plus his voice reminds me so much of the antagonist from Scary Movie 3. However once it's fully appeared in full form... It's freaking awesome. The reasonings why this entity is evil makes perfect sense, especially how and why it's so involved with Madison especially, as to why certain victims are being murdered in the first place.
I do want to give a nice nod to the special effects crew, as I felt the effects regarding Madison's visions were kind of neat. The Score was interesting in a good way, it felt like a mesh of the theme of Saw mixed with Halloween with techno sounds.
Malignant taught me the true value of patience: You stick with this story for awhile, as it'll surprise you in the best way possible.
Overall, Malignant was bad ass! I recommend checking this one out, this one is up to par with Wan's other horror flicks. I also enjoyed my experience even more, having a theater all to myself... Forget a couch at home, nothing beats a theater to yourself. -Mitch Smietana