IR Film Review: MALIGNANT [Warner Brothers]

The problem with concepts is that if they are rushed or just done without a real story to push them together then the flatness of the creation becomes abnormally apparent...and can only get worse as the story goes on. When James Wan made "Saw" or, as a better example, "The Conjuring', the story had basis with a good lore to reach into. With "Malignant", while the horror of the core idea has merit, its reasoning and eventual use is so asanine that it becomes generally laughable at parts (which is not a look that the director of "Aquaman" should be having). Annabelle Wallis, who was in "Annabellle", plays Madison, a lady who has secret past that begins to unfurl after the first couple scenes. Wan is great at setting up almost a haunted house and mood which makes the overall movie all the more baffling. One overhead shot moving through the house is borderline brilliant but that is before what we are really seeing what comes into play. His aspect of setting the mood in those structures is undeniable but they have no impact as far as relevance.

In fact, the front and back ends of the movie are almost completely different stylistically as well. The aspect is that the eventual reveal just loses the audience completely, not in its relevance but why it is what it actually is. Horror for horror's sake doesn't work unless there's a reason...and the reason is just dumb for the most part. But it is not just the delivery of the story. "Malignant" plays like a bad genre TV movie because the dialogue is awful and the actors' delivery trying to be both funny and also serious just falls flat...and that, very clearly here, is a director' issue, which is puzzling. The underground ideal of Seattle is wasted as well despite the fact that it tries to integrate its metaphor. "Malignant" maybe was made fast since Wan might have been bored during the pandemic. But in this case, it is better to not make a film at all if it is half realized or half concocted. Blumhouse can make movies that function in this way but they are usually much tighter and have meaning. "Malignant", despite some interesting action scenes towards the end, is flailing and all over the place, and not even in a fun way as a guilty pleasure because it is incomplete and unsure of itself, even when it pretends not to be. D

By Tim Wassberg