Malignant (2021)


Malignant is one of those movies that have a twist that can easily be ruined by getting too much into the plot in a review.  In fact, if I did get to the meat of what is going on, it would sound ridiculous.  Perhaps that is why the trailers for this James Wan vehicle were vague to the point of being misleading.  It was also during the height of the pandemic that this was released and, just as quickly, disappeared.  That's a shame because despite bad timing and bad marketing Malignant is one of the more interesting modern horror films. 

Madison Mitchell (Annabelle Wallis) is a troubled woman trapped in an abusive marriage.  One night her husband (Jake Abel) causes her to suffer a serious injury.  Shortly after he is attacked by an unknown intruder in the house and murdered.  Detectives Kekoa Shaw (George Young) and Regina Moss (Michole Briana White) suspect that Madison may have been involved, but there is no direct evidence pointing to her.

Since Madison was adopted her sister Maddie (Sydney Lake) begins looking into her past to find out where she came from.  Meanwhile, a deformed, hooded man kidnaps a museum worker (Jean Louisa Kelly) and then begins going after the former medical staff of the Simian Institute, where Madison was housed as a child.  The killer claims to be a man called Gabriel, the name of which was also Madison's imaginary friend as a child.  

While parts of this movie feel original it also feels like Wan built it from a number of other famous films, such as Basket Case, The Terminator and The Dark Half, with a little bit of The Ring thrown in for good measure.  It also takes inspiration from the story of Edward Mordrake.  Mash this all in with a police procedural with a chase that is reminiscent of Se7en and that rounds things out.

The good thing is that, within all this mess, there is Annabelle Wallis doing a great job of making all of it plausible.  Unfortunately, George Young feels like a dime store Keanu Reeves, but that doesn't detract from the movie.  Part of Malignant's charm is that it tries to take much of what is happening in the movie seriously, with the results often being unintentionally hilarious.  

Malignant (2021)
Time: 111 minutes
Starring: Annabelle Wallis, Sydney Lake, George Young
Director: James Wan



 

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