Wan Unchained! - Malignant Official Review

The latest spooktacular film under the belt of director James Wan has just released into theaters & HBO Max! What did our dear Director think of it? WAS IT CREEPY? KOOKY? MYSTERIOUS OR SPOOKY?

I want to start this whole review off by saying right out the gate that I am not 100% familiar with the genre of horror, or even the broader career of James Wan. This is probably an admission that my opinion might not be the best one to take into consideration — but please hold on before you click away!

For the record, I’ve publicly said on my video for Matt Draper’s One Horrifying Moment that I’ve never really taken to the supernatural type of horror in the past, as I always figured that for me, what makes something horrifying is if I could plausibly see it happening in real life (I.E: Zodiac, Gone Girl, No Country for Old Men, Prisoners, etc.) BUT, as I’ve also said, I recently started opening my mind up to the joys and thrills that the genre can bring, with some of my favorites being Hereditary, Silent Hill 2, Batman: The Black Mirror, and Evil Dead 2.

Say what you will, but director James Wan looks SO DAMN COOL behind the camera.

But James Wan’s type of horror - at a distance - was something that I was never drawn to. As of this writing, I had only seen one other film in his body of work… and that was Aquaman. While I can’t gauge the rest of his output as a horror auteur based on probably the most wacky and goofy DC film they’ve released until James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, I definitely CAN say that his visual flare is something that absolutely wacky and gonzo, and seeing the first teaser trailer that was released for Malignant was something that gave me the idea that maybe… just maybe… this will be my first exposure to him as a horror filmmaker. Why not see the purest expression of him at the top of his game? (and for those asking… oddly enough, I never got to see the original Saw film, but for some reason, growing up, I saw Saw II, III, and IV)

And what I got… was one of the most inventive, intriguing, and insane horror films I’ve EVER seen in my life. To hear that this IS an outlier in Wan’s filmography with how conceptual he gets with his execution (pun intended) makes me very happy and hopeful we get more of this type of horror from now on.

I want to touch on the acting first and foremost: EVERYONE here was on fire. In almost every single horror film I’ve experienced, there’s almost always a few actors that aren’t on the same wavelength that the writing and direction are asking fore, but everyone from the cops to the family members are completely on the same wavelength that Wan is feeding the audience. The stand outs for me personally are the duo of Annabelle Wallis and Maddie Hasson as our lead Madison, and her younger sister Sydney respectfully. Their chemistry is absolutely unmatched, and absolutely gave 110% in every scene they were in. Wallis especially cements herself as one of the all-time great actresses in the horror genre: a scream queen on the same level as Jaime Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, and Vivian Leigh. If she hasn’t had directors and agents spamming her phone already to make her the lead in future films? Expect her to blow up real soon.

Behind the scenes: Wan walks Wallis through a wonky set-piece that leaves the whole room in a whirl. (if you’ve seen it, you know what I mean. Alliteration is hard.)

But the actors are only as good as their team behind the camera. Wan - in his second film of his I’ve seen - more that proves that he’s more than willing to push the horror genre to its absolute breaking point. The way he orchestrates the big scares with cinematographer Michael Burgess, it straddles the line of being JUST modern enough where it keeps audiences engaged, but just focused that it never feels scatterbrained. In fact, the production design itself is a huge standout. From the fog filled nighttime shots of Madison’s house, to the gothic interiors of the police bullpen, to the Arkham Asylum-esque decay of the Simion Research Hospital, these locations’ll be etched into your brain when the credits roll.

Not only that, but special props have to be made to the visual effects. The way the film plays with the rules of reality brings to mind that of Silent Hill and Giallo surrealism. It brings everyone in on the action, and the practical effects are absolutely otherworldly. The design of Gabriel as a character is one for the history books, and I see him becoming a major mainstay in pop culture as a design to be remembered. The slaughter in the bullpen is honestly one of the most jawdropping displays of stuntwork, VFX, and cinematography that I can’t imagine anyone being just impressed by it.

This is a straight up reaction one of my audience members had at some of the dialogue choices in this film.

Now if I really have to pick apart any negatives… well one thing I can definitely say is this film definitely isn’t for everyone. The writing is unsubtle, and that’s by design thanks to screenwriter Akela Cooper, working off a story by her, Wan, and his wife Ingrid Bisu. A lot of the dialogue can be very expository and on the nose (the literal message of the movie is spelled out as the very last line of dialogue spoken, but I won’t spoil it), and on top of that, the film takes dips into the supernatural to even the science fiction genre which requires a lot of suspension of disbelief. And because of that… the story takes a turn in the third act that could make or break the film for a lot of viewers (for most, it may save the film for them because of how unsubtle it is). I remember watching the film with my audience, and they did not respond to it at all.

Plus if I had to absolutely say one definite negative (as the writing, I’ll admit I was fully on board for), I genuinely did not like the score by Joseph Bishara, which tries to go… and I feel like I’m not nailing the correct example of this… a sort of thrash, techno punk? It feels like a pulsating heartbeat when it goes off, almost overwhelmingly so. And on top of that, I now realize after a second viewing that it was intentional, but there’s a point where the score turns into an over-the-top rendition of The Pixies’ “Where is my Mind?”, almost like how Jordan Peele used Luniz’s “I Got 5 on It“ in Us. But I can’t help but feel that it was more distracting than anything, as in that film, the song was woven into the narrative and it became a bit more rewarding as a viewer to see it incorporated into the non-diegetic score; whereas with this it’s walking a weird uncanny valley auditorily where it’s just subtle enough to not notice, but when you do, it’s incredibly distracting.

Above all else, this film is the purest expression of an artist’s vision, and I can’t help but see it as another addition in this year’s subgenre I like to dub “The Artists’ Have Earned Their Right to a Blank Check“ films. Movies like Zack Snyder’s Justice League, James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, Chloe Zhao’s Eternals, and Denis Villenueve’s Dune. Wan has done great work for Warner Bros., and has been able to go to places hitherto undreamt of after having earned some trust.

Whether or not you respond to the vision James Wan brings to the table, one can definitely appreciate what he brings forward. I for one cannot wait for this film to become a new Halloween staple for my family, and if you’re just looking for a great time to have all around, this is one of the most purely fun horror flicks I’ve ever had the pleasure of sitting down and watching.

8/10
A DAMN GOOD FLICK!

Malignant is currently festering on HBO Max and currently playing in theaters.