Malignant – Film Review

A young woman named Madison (Annabelle Wallis) is terrified by visions of the murders of strangers. Later, Madison decides to find and save the victims.

If you are a massive horror fan like myself, you are more than likely a huge fan of director James Wan, who has been working in the film industry for over two decades now and has directed over a dozen. The shocking part? Almost every single one of his directorial efforts have been great. Of course, some have caused more discourse than others such as Dead Silence and Aquaman but there’s no denying that the man is extremely talented with his craft and when he has a bold idea, he puts his all into it.

His newest horror-thriller Malignant is, in my personal opinion, one of Wan’s best films – no joke. This movie feels like Wan at his most inspired and energy-fueled since The Conjuring and he holds absolutely nothing back. Some are inevitably going to call this film quite campy and over-the-top – and I can totally see why – but that’s part of the reason why I loved Malignant so much. So many mainstream horror flicks these days in particular feel so manufactured and over-done. It’s hard to find a big studio horror film in today’s age that feels like it was entirely under the director’s control which is just sad.

But thankfully, Malignant does not feel manufactured and overruled with corporate greed and control – this is Wan’s zany vision and he brings it to life with so much skill and inspiration. This movie feels like a perfect throwback to 80s and 90s horror while also feeling like a fresh new spin on supernatural slashers, chalked full of absolutely insane moments that will leave you truly speechless. I’ve seen hundreds of horror movies in my life and yet, somehow, Malignant does things that I have never seen done before. It’s part thriller, part slasher, part supernatural, and part action film at times. But it never feels like too much, either.

One of the reasons why this film is as compelling as it is is thanks to the story that was created by Wan, Ingrid Bisu, and Akela Cooper who penned the script for this film in masterful ways. Although Malignant has so many supernatural and mind-bendingly weird moments sprinkled throughout, first and foremost it’s a crime/mystery-thriller about a young woman who keeps experiencing strange events happen around her world and trying desperately to come up with an explanation behind it.

Sometimes she will be walking around her house when she suddenly spots a mysterious shadow figure looming outside across the street, seemingly staring inside her windows. Or sometimes she will have visions of seeing this strange entity actually kill somebody only to find out that it wasn’t a vision at all – the murder was actually committed. It’s a nearly two-hour mystery that continues to get more and more interesting as the minutes tick by. And let me tell you – this film is expertly paced.

Nothing about Malignant feels too long or too short. I genuinely feel like if certain scenes were removed, the film wouldn’t have had that extra bit of oomph it has especially in its final twenty minutes. It’s also masterfully acted, especially by Annabelle Wallis who commits to the role of Madison all the way. This script asks her to do so much and yet she rises to the occasion in every scene. She one-hundred-percent feels like an actual woman who is going through a terrifying scenario and you always feel for her in every scene – the horror feels so grounded and yet so crazy.

Maddie Hasson also has a great supporting role here as Sydney, Madison’s sister. At first, she was in danger of becoming the annoying sister character that has absolutely no importance in the story, but as soon as the second act kicks in, the film gives her a substantial about of things to do, and the same thing can be said about George Young and Michole Briana White as Detective Kekoa Shaw and Regina Moss, respectively.

Malignant also features some truly state-of-the-art cinematography from Wan’s longtime collaborator Michael Burgess, as well as a bone-chilling score from Joseph Bishara that makes every single scene so much creepier. This is exactly the type of movie I wish I could’ve made – it’s simply genius. It also contains one of the most insane endings I have seen in any movie in years. Wan has big plans in the future, creating an Aquaman sequel and he’s also producing Insidious 5, but I can only hope that he makes more films in this universe because it’s wild and I love it.