Review: Malignant (2021)

 

My rating: 4/10

This review contains major spoilers, because I am so done.

James Wan used to be my favorite director because of his very heavy atmospheric horror movies. I remember his pieces to always be the scariest shit there was so hell yes that I was terribly disappointed with this one.

Don't get me wrong... Visually, this movie is a masterpiece yet again. Transitions from one place to another during what was to be perceived as visions of the main character were done in a great way, also the actual "Devil" as referred to later on by Madison was at first very creepy and mysterious antagonist, even though it was not clear whether he was just an apparition or something real (actually the slow transformation can be perceived as Gabriel getting more and more strength after its awakening and thus making the illusions stronger, but the more ghostlike portrayal would make it, at least for me, more interesting if it were kept throughout the entire movie). Honestly, the murder visions that the main character experienced as she first suggested via a bond with the antagonist were not something I had seen in that many films prior to this one. I liked the initial idea of sleeping paralysis that was being hinted upon and did not fail to evoke feelings of unease. 

However, as more and more plot twists were getting revealed, so was getting my disappointment bigger, because, even though we cannot deny that this take on evil parasitic twin was very original, the actual plot and the not traditional portrayal of basically a monster attached to and parasitising on the main character is what made me feel like this is a parody of 80's italian gore horror (starting with the police station fight scene); with a cliche ending where we get the inherently evil guy meeting his mother which suddenly is enough to make his rampage stop (at least for a while) because she "should have never let go of him"; then the old school classic "fight with it Madison, you can beat the evil inside" that is getting more repulsive the more movies it is included in; to the actual happy ending where the main character just will not die and even will actually regain power over his evil parasitic twin... oh god, was I disgusted with the last third of the film.