Malignant was one of the most memorable cinema experiences I’ve had in recent years. The lighthearted horror comedy had a perfect tone that has just stuck with me since my viewing (but maybe that’s due to the fact that my friend, Callum speaks about it regularly). A type of horror we don’t often get, but when I saw James Wan’s name attached as a producer for this film, M3GAN, it gave me hope for another success in this subgenre, despite all the people watching not taking it as serious as it should be just because they saw a robot doll doing a Tik Tok dance.
An engineer for a toy company designs a robot doll, M3GAN, which she gives to her niece after she loses her parents in a car crash. M3GAN takes on the role of friend and guardian as she grows closer to Katie, and will do anything to protect her.
It’s a silly horror, don’t go into this film expecting it to be terrifying and creepy like it’s going to be a new Conjuring film, but go into it with the mindset that you’re essentially watching a modern retelling of Child’s Play with a modern Chucky. Of course, the humour and tone isn’t going to work for everyone, I think you have to accept what it is before going in and just have fun, it’s absolutely better to go in expecting a comedy rather than a horror. There are few scare moments, the horror of the film just comes from the creepyness of M3GAN that she brings.
The film is full of fun moments that land well through the performances and the writing, it’s a well executed film which knows exactly what it wants to be and what it should be, taking itself so seriously that it becomes fun, this film wouldn’t have worked or landed if it had gone full horror.
The biggest disappointment for me is the result of the trailers. When the trailers came out it went viral and that caught the attention of a younger audience because of the Tik Tok-ness that was in the air. They recut the film so it could achieve a PG13 rating in America (although it still got a 15 in the UK), I think it would’ve actually benefitted from going harder and being more gruesome appealing to the older audience and I think it would’ve landed more with the typical horror which has caused it to be a disappointment with some audiences. However, it can’t be denied that the PG13 has helped it go on to do better than it might have at the box office and earned it a sequel which is set to come out in 2025.
Overall, M3GAN is a lot of fun that might not fully live up to the potential of what it could’ve been, but is just about as good as it can be. I’m interested to see where these films go, if they end up following a similar trajectory to Child’s Play, maybe even bringing in Chucky further down the line for a creepy toy’s developing consciousness shared universe. I just hope it can stay true to what it wanted to be which I think it can if James Wan stays involved, as well as writer, Akela Cooper, who also worked on Malignant, who deserves credit for helping deliver this tone with director Gerard Johnstone.
What did you think of M3GAN?
Award season is upon us, it is a busy time of year but I will do my best to get as many reviews out as possible during this time so be sure to follow on all the socials via the buttons below to keep up to date.
Flooders Films 
Leave a comment