James Wan’s Malignant has been one of the most refreshing horror films of the year. I genuinely enjoyed it and recommend all horror fanatics to watch! With Wan’s Malignant being morbidly unique in the horror genre, it’s keeping the horror-franchise alive.
This year, and in upcoming years, we have more and more remakes and reboots to look forward to of the classic franchises; such as Child’s Play, Hellraiser, Halloween (ongoing trilogy), Candyman (in-theaters and available to rent on AMC) and so much more.
We’ve had countless remakes and reboots, so if you want a break from it, then here’s why you should watch Malignant.
The villain is incredible, the music is epic, and it’s directed by James Wan!
Spoilers ahead!
The film keeps the audience unaware that the villain is right in front of you all along. Emily May, or from what she knows her name to be, Madison [played by Annabelle Wallis] is both protagonist and antagonist, but not exactly. The antagonist is her twin [Gabriel] that was born attached to her, as we find out later.
You could say that he was essentially a tumor. The title of the movie suddenly makes sense, because Gabriel is basically a malignant tumor. It’s such a clever juxtaposition to tie everything together. Gabriel is two things: medically, a malignant tumor, while also a malevolent and hostile being. Hence, the cleverness of Malignant.
Ultimately, Everything begins to unravel right after Madison’s abusive husband slams her against the wall and splits open the back of her head. This opens the door, metaphorically and literally, to how Madison/Gabriel unravels. In flashbacks, we learn that when the procedure was done to “remove” Gabriel, removing him completely could’ve been critical to Madison, so they only cut pieces off of her and stitched the rest of him inside the back of her head.
With Gabriel awakened and free, he’s able to take control of Madison’s body in a crazy way; we see Gabriel as a person with hair we assumed covered his face, but the coat he wore looked backwards. Since he’s in the back of her head, it’s Madison who appears to walk backwards. The fight scene in the police station shows him in full action, so it makes sense when you get to that scene.
This unique portrayal of this antagonist is something new and unexpected! Because of the morbid and strange idea of this story, a lot of people compared Wan’s idea to Dario Argento films. Argento is an Italian director, producer, screenwriter, and critic who is known for his creative and strange [horror] films. He is also one of the directors to have kickstarted the horror subgenre “Giallo”.
Speaking of which, Wan has a great eye and mind when it comes to writing and directing films, which is why Malignant is amazing work. If you’ve seen his other films, you could see why! Wan’s debut film was Saw, and from there he directed other popular horror films including Dead Silence, Insidious, The Conjuring, and Annabelle.
Just like Malignant, several of Wan’s films have great soundtracks. Joseph Bishara is the music composer for this film as well as some of Wan’s other films. The music, for this film, has this sort of funkyness to it. Something that reminded me, specifically, of the Blade II score, but more horror-esque and epic. If you like to collect vinyl, this score is available for pre-order on Waxwork Records!
Overall, I think that Malignant is an extraordinary film where we just get to see more of James Wan’s creative mind and talent as a director and storyteller. His films also feature the best music from the greatest composers, such as Joseph Bishara. I can’t wait to see more of Wan’s horror movies in the future!
Check out the trailer below and get your tickets to see Malignant here or watch on HBO Max by subscription!
With that said, I hope my insight has enlightened you and I’d love to talk about things horror and more! If you’d like to see more of my content or would like to contact me, you can find me on Instagram or Twitter. You may also email me at jrnw99@gmail.com if you prefer.
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