It is in the final hour of Friday, September 3th that I begin writing my review for "Malignant". I had seen the film at the earliest possible opportunity, which in my neck of the woods was the showing of 21:30 on September 2nd (yesterday evening). A day or two before I went to see the film, I noticed that there were no reviews available for the film anywhere. Not even here. I suspect that this was by design, in that it was likely an attempt by the studios to keep the poor quality of this film hidden for as long as was realistically possible.
At the moment, there are 44 reviews for "Malignant" on here. Out of those, 31 reviews were written by brand new accounts (created on September 1st at the earliest). Of these, one rated the film a 9, and the rest rated it a 10. Most of these reviews are superficial and insubstantial, sometimes written in rather poor English. It seems to me that these people are living in developing countries and were paid to write glowing reviews for the film. In other words: you cannot trust their opinion, as it was bought.
The remaining 13 reviews were written by accounts whose age varies from 2 months old to 16 years old. Out of those, only three rated the film a 10. The rest rated the film a 1 (5 reviews), 6 (one review), 7 (one review) and 8 (three reviews). Yes, I checked every single one of them. Moral of the story: if you care at all about the honesty and reliability of a review, then always check the age of an account. It will give you an idea of how trustworthy the reviewer in question is.
With that said, "Malignant" is a disappointment in my eyes. If you ask me, it was not made with the same care as previous James Wan films, such as "Insidious" and especially "The Conjuring". This film is empty, hollow and superficial. It has no heart, even though it is intended to have one. The emotional aspects of the film feel quite forced, i.e. Paint-by-the-numbers. A lot of the emotional stuff is rushed and glossed over as well. For example: Madison informs her younger sister that she (Madison) was adopted. This is life-changing news, partly because it means that there is no biological relation to her sister, who is the biological child of Madison's adoptive parents. Yet the sister barely has any reaction to that bombshell of news, and doesn't really address it until the final scenes of the film.
Apart from that, this film has no genuinely scary moments whatsoever. It doesn't even come close to, say, "The Conjuring 3" - let alone the original film of the series! This is more like a detective/mystery film with a bit of a supernatural touch to it. I would not call this horror at all. Supernatural drama might be a bit of a better descriptor, or even science fiction. So, if you love horror or at least a good scare, then don't spend your hard-earned money on a ticket for this film. You will not find what you seek.
Lastly, the concept of this film was already tackled (to some degree) in "American Horror Story: Freak Show". Specifically the character of Edward Mordrake, who was played by Wes Bentley. Despite the limited screentime, those in charge of the show did a better job with him and his parasitic twin. He definitely felt more menacing than Gabriel, the parasitic twin of Madison.
All in all, this film is a huge let-down. Uninspired, rather clichéd and without a heart or soul. James Wan can do so much better than this. I wonder what happened? Perhaps he was obliged to make this film for contractual reasons? I cannot think of any other reason for why he clearly was not truly (emotionally) invested in this film.
At the moment, there are 44 reviews for "Malignant" on here. Out of those, 31 reviews were written by brand new accounts (created on September 1st at the earliest). Of these, one rated the film a 9, and the rest rated it a 10. Most of these reviews are superficial and insubstantial, sometimes written in rather poor English. It seems to me that these people are living in developing countries and were paid to write glowing reviews for the film. In other words: you cannot trust their opinion, as it was bought.
The remaining 13 reviews were written by accounts whose age varies from 2 months old to 16 years old. Out of those, only three rated the film a 10. The rest rated the film a 1 (5 reviews), 6 (one review), 7 (one review) and 8 (three reviews). Yes, I checked every single one of them. Moral of the story: if you care at all about the honesty and reliability of a review, then always check the age of an account. It will give you an idea of how trustworthy the reviewer in question is.
With that said, "Malignant" is a disappointment in my eyes. If you ask me, it was not made with the same care as previous James Wan films, such as "Insidious" and especially "The Conjuring". This film is empty, hollow and superficial. It has no heart, even though it is intended to have one. The emotional aspects of the film feel quite forced, i.e. Paint-by-the-numbers. A lot of the emotional stuff is rushed and glossed over as well. For example: Madison informs her younger sister that she (Madison) was adopted. This is life-changing news, partly because it means that there is no biological relation to her sister, who is the biological child of Madison's adoptive parents. Yet the sister barely has any reaction to that bombshell of news, and doesn't really address it until the final scenes of the film.
Apart from that, this film has no genuinely scary moments whatsoever. It doesn't even come close to, say, "The Conjuring 3" - let alone the original film of the series! This is more like a detective/mystery film with a bit of a supernatural touch to it. I would not call this horror at all. Supernatural drama might be a bit of a better descriptor, or even science fiction. So, if you love horror or at least a good scare, then don't spend your hard-earned money on a ticket for this film. You will not find what you seek.
Lastly, the concept of this film was already tackled (to some degree) in "American Horror Story: Freak Show". Specifically the character of Edward Mordrake, who was played by Wes Bentley. Despite the limited screentime, those in charge of the show did a better job with him and his parasitic twin. He definitely felt more menacing than Gabriel, the parasitic twin of Madison.
All in all, this film is a huge let-down. Uninspired, rather clichéd and without a heart or soul. James Wan can do so much better than this. I wonder what happened? Perhaps he was obliged to make this film for contractual reasons? I cannot think of any other reason for why he clearly was not truly (emotionally) invested in this film.
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