31 Days of Horror Day 12: Malignant (2021)

For the 12th day, I watched the James Wan horror, Malignant.

Malignant (2021) — IMDb

To read all the other 31 Days of Horror movies:

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Malignant (2021) is one of those films that I really want to love. It’s got a lot of great elements to it. Body horror, a solid mystery, large amounts of blood and gore, a really interesting reveal, and some solid acting. However, I think that it was shot and filmed in entirely the wrong way.

Without further ado, I’ll just add the spoiler warning right now in case you want to turn away.

Directed by James Wan and written by Wan, Ingrid Bisu, and Akela Cooper, Malignant (2021) is about a woman that is paralyzed by shocking visions of grisly murders, and her torment worsens as she discovers that these waking dreams are in fact terrifying realities.

This film does a lot of things that I like, as stated before. It opens in a medical facility by the ocean which is always an ominous location for a medical facility. There’s a violent patient that’s killed multiple staff and the head doctor decides it’s time to cut out the cancer. You’ll find out later what that’s about.

The film then introduces husband Derek (played by Supernatural star Jake Abel) and wife Madison (played by Annabelle Wallis). Madison is a pregnant nurse, and Derek is an abusive controlling douchebag. Derek “accidentally” slams his wife into the wall hard enough to crack the plaster. That very same night there’s a home invasion and Derek’s neck is snapped, and Madison is through across the room and knocked out. When she wakes up in the hospital, she finds out she lost the baby.

After that, she starts experiencing some strange things in her house until one night she witnesses a murder as if she was in the same room. She and her adoptive sister contact the police, and they initially doubt her, but when she points them in the right direction, they start to believe her story.

Then, of course, things take a turn, and it’s revealed that the murderer is actually Madison. Well, not really. It’s Madison’s conjoined twin that’s actually a malignant tumor in a way. The doctors in that medical facility by the ocean tried to remove or suppress every part of that twin, but it was awakened when the douchebag husband bashed Madison’s head into the wall. The twin, known as Gabriel, is able to take control of Madison’s body. And for some reason, he’s also able to communicate through radios and cell phones, can feed off of electricity, and has super strength and agility.

Madison eventually learns to control Gabriel and keep him caged in her mind. However, she acknowledges that she won’t be able to keep him imprisoned forever, but she tells him that she’ll be ready next time when he does.

I’ve been watching a lot of independent horror films lately and I love that they take a practical approach.

I think the thing that deters me from really loving Malignant is the fact that it’s too “Hollywood.” Wan incorporates a lot of flashy cuts and other camera techniques. There’s a fight scene where Gabriel takes on an entire police station and the CGI is so bad it looks like something out of The Matrix when Neo is facing off against all the Agents.

I liked the body horror of when Madison turned into Gabriel. It was grotesque and well done. In fact, most of the deaths were executed well. Gabriel was really creepy when he stalked his victims.

Overall, I thought it was a decent film, but I think it faltered a bit due to Wan’s flashy camera work and the excessive and sometimes not needed CGI.

2024 31 Days of Horror Movie Rankings

1. Terrifier 3 (2024)
2. As Above So Below (2014)
3. Phenomena (1985)
4. Bone Tomahawk (2015)
5. Piranha (1978)
6. It Follows (2014)
7. The VVitch (2015)
8. Malignant (2021)
9. Daddy’s Head (2024)
10. V/H/S/Beyond (2024)
11. The Lamp (1987)
12. 31 (2016)