Malignant has been getting some extremely divisive reviews from critics with audiences walking away either having loved it or having hated it. But the one thing I could gather from all of them is that so long as you don’t expect anything too serious, Malignant will give you lots of blood and a decent ending. Now here I am having watched the film and it may just be one of my favourite films of the year simply because of how good the ending is.
Madison Lake (Annabelle Wallis) lives in Seattle with her abusive husband Derek (Jake Abel). Pregnant with their child, Madison return home one day to a violent Derek who slams her head against the wall, where Madison then loses consciousness and falls asleep on the bed. When she awakes, she finds Derek dead and a shadowy figure pursuing her through the house. In the days following, Madison hallucinates people being brutally murdered by the same figure she saw in her home, but when she discovers these murders are actually happening she’ll need help from her sister Sydney (Maddie Hasson) and the detectives on her case Kekoa Shaw (George Young) and Regina Moss (Michole Briana White) to find out why these people are being murdered and what connection they have to her.
Madison Lake (Annabelle Wallis) lives in Seattle with her abusive husband Derek (Jake Abel). Pregnant with their child, Madison return home one day to a violent Derek who slams her head against the wall, where Madison then loses consciousness and falls asleep on the bed. When she awakes, she finds Derek dead and a shadowy figure pursuing her through the house. In the days following, Madison hallucinates people being brutally murdered by the same figure she saw in her home, but when she discovers these murders are actually happening she’ll need help from her sister Sydney (Maddie Hasson) and the detectives on her case Kekoa Shaw (George Young) and Regina Moss (Michole Briana White) to find out why these people are being murdered and what connection they have to her.
Malignant’s setup is great and it doesn’t take long for it to get into the meat of what’s happening either which is even better. But unfortunately, it did take a long time for me to really get invested in the film. This is because Malignant feels like a B-Movie a lot of the time. The acting is intentionally bad, the way shots are composed sometimes feels a little silly, and just the general mood of the whole thing feels generally low budget and straight to streaming. I don't normally like campy films, which is why I was so hesitant. But once the final act rolled around and started to answer the questions that were on everyone's minds from the word go, Malignant became not only very enjoyable but a total riot.
I have not had this much fun with a horror film in a long time, and for a while I couldn’t tell whether the film was going to be making the same mistakes that I feel Insidious does with it’s too campy to be serious but not campy enough to be fun style. I was ready to write the film off entirely but that ending had me grinning from ear to ear, laughing hysterically, and wanting to get up out of my seat and jump for joy because it was just so great. I’m not going to spoil anything here, but never in my wildest dreams would I have been able to think of anything as crazy as what Malignant pulls off in its final twenty-five minutes.
Right from the word go you know what you're in for. The prologue felt like a really low-budget, straight to VHS 80’s slasher flick with camera zooming in on people’s screaming faces, an actress with a horrendously fake British accent, and liberal use of film grain and neon lighting. It was dumb and fun, exactly what I’d signed up for; but then the film then drastically changes tone to a haunted house kind of vibe similar to The Conjuring, but it stayed kind of cheesy in the way Insidious is. This is where I started to worry. This strange semi-serious/semi-cheesy tone continues for most of the film and had it continued to the end like that, as Insidious does, then I would have hated the film. But the balls to the wall finale makes me appreciate the cheese earlier on in the film, and I am ultimately glad that it saved all the best bits until the end.
Malignant is also visually very interesting with some great shots used throughout the film. My favourite of which being a top-down chase through Madison’s house. Cameras moving between rooms from an elevated position is nothing new, but the way it was able to change floors whilst doing so was something I found unique and really interesting. There’s also a lot of simulated first-person shots, and loads of times where the camera pans around a room to show us what’s happening in every part of it.
Whilst Malignant definitely loses a few points for not making it clear enough early on as to what kind of film it really is, I overall had an excellent time with it. I can imagine that the novelty of Malignant’s crazy ending will wear off in subsequent viewings, but I would say it’s definitely worth seeking out if you like gory and cheesy B-Movie style horror films. I advise going in with as little information as possible, kicking back with some snacks, switch your brain off and just have a great time with it. I very much expect to see this on my list of favourite films of the year.
I have not had this much fun with a horror film in a long time, and for a while I couldn’t tell whether the film was going to be making the same mistakes that I feel Insidious does with it’s too campy to be serious but not campy enough to be fun style. I was ready to write the film off entirely but that ending had me grinning from ear to ear, laughing hysterically, and wanting to get up out of my seat and jump for joy because it was just so great. I’m not going to spoil anything here, but never in my wildest dreams would I have been able to think of anything as crazy as what Malignant pulls off in its final twenty-five minutes.
Right from the word go you know what you're in for. The prologue felt like a really low-budget, straight to VHS 80’s slasher flick with camera zooming in on people’s screaming faces, an actress with a horrendously fake British accent, and liberal use of film grain and neon lighting. It was dumb and fun, exactly what I’d signed up for; but then the film then drastically changes tone to a haunted house kind of vibe similar to The Conjuring, but it stayed kind of cheesy in the way Insidious is. This is where I started to worry. This strange semi-serious/semi-cheesy tone continues for most of the film and had it continued to the end like that, as Insidious does, then I would have hated the film. But the balls to the wall finale makes me appreciate the cheese earlier on in the film, and I am ultimately glad that it saved all the best bits until the end.
Malignant is also visually very interesting with some great shots used throughout the film. My favourite of which being a top-down chase through Madison’s house. Cameras moving between rooms from an elevated position is nothing new, but the way it was able to change floors whilst doing so was something I found unique and really interesting. There’s also a lot of simulated first-person shots, and loads of times where the camera pans around a room to show us what’s happening in every part of it.
Whilst Malignant definitely loses a few points for not making it clear enough early on as to what kind of film it really is, I overall had an excellent time with it. I can imagine that the novelty of Malignant’s crazy ending will wear off in subsequent viewings, but I would say it’s definitely worth seeking out if you like gory and cheesy B-Movie style horror films. I advise going in with as little information as possible, kicking back with some snacks, switch your brain off and just have a great time with it. I very much expect to see this on my list of favourite films of the year.