Cancerous

Hello old friend. (Massive Spoilers Unmarked)

Malignant was advertised as a new vision of terror from James Wan. He first burst onto the scene as the director of Saw before moving on to several better movies like The Conjuring, Insidious, and Aquaman. The plot of this movie concerns a woman named Madison (Annabelle Wallis), who starts to have visions of a mysterious killer named Gabriel (Ray Chase, Marina Mazepa).

Madison is a pregnant hospital worker who comes home during the middle of the day to find her husband Derek (Jake Abel) lying in bed, watching tv. In case that was too much of a good first impression, Derrick ends up slamming Madison’s head into the wall hard enough to leave behind a dent. Later that night, Gabriel kills Derek and attacks Madison, causing her to lose the baby. The hardest part of this movie to watch is the mundane horror. 

Detective Kekoa Shaw (George Young) investigates the case alongside his partner Regina Moss (Michole Briana White), who has some theories. Since there was no forced entry and Derek was abusive, she believes Madison killed him. Yeah, the petit woman was able to twist her husband’s head around 180 degrees with her bare hands. Then, after getting Gabriel’s description from Madison, Moss derisively mentions putting an APB out for Sloth from The Goonies, despite that being the least strange thing that’s happened.

A great twist towards the end is that Gabriel has been using Madison’s attic as a hiding place. Something that only fuels Moss’ suspicions since they find Gabriel’s murder weapon, gloves, and fabulous coat. How do all the pieces of this puzzle fit together? Well, deep breath, because this is going to take some explaining. 

Years ago, Madison was born with a parasitic twin growing on her back, Gabriel. After his increasingly violent behavior, the doctors decided to remove Gabriel, but they couldn’t get all of him since they were conjoined at the brain. After lying dormant for years, Gabriel becomes able to hijack Madison’s body for his own purposes. So, technically, Madison did kill everyone. Moss, I owe you an apology.

So Madison’s head continuing to bleed throughout the movie was because Gabriel emerges their Quirrel style as a creepy brain monster with eyes and a mouth. His superhuman strength, speed, and electrokinesis are because of reasons. Much like the ending of Saw and Dead Silence, this movie works better if you don’t think about it too much.

Personally, when I hear a new vision of terror, I expect something semi-original. Instead, the whole plot of this movie comes off as a loose remake of Basket Case (NSFW). I was also getting some serious Halloween vibes early on, though that could be because the Giallo genre inspired both films.

My least favorite part of this movie is this chase scene after Shaw catches Gabriel immediately after one of his murders. Except why is Gabriel running from Shaw when he could be killing him. Later in the film, it gets worse when Gabriel massacres a police station full of cops with relative ease, except for Shaw and Moss. The only possible explanation is the two of them benefitting immensely from plot armor.

Ultimately, I’d rank Insidious and The Conjuring above Malignant. That said, for the most part, I did enjoy this movie. Wan’s style has become familiar by this point, but it’s still well done. Plus, the term originality is subjective. So, if you’re looking for a new horror movie, I’d be on the lookout for this.