Malignant

Giallo Cronenberg mit einer Wan-Optik? Richtig verrückt, die Mainstream-Zuschauer*innen werden es nicht aushalten. Ich habe mich über die visuelle Seite, Annabelle Wallis und den Mut des Regisseurs gefreut. Die Pointe und das Finale haben bei mir aber eher Kopfschütteln als Freude ausgelöst. (10.10.2021)

Pure fun. The trailer touted a completely different film, but in the end James Wan actually made a Giallo purely for fun, but not the 70s Giallo, the serious kind that worked with pretty colours, a classic detective line and a masked killer in a black cloak, gloves and a knife; Malignant is closer to the later Giallo, which used to be spiced up with some completely insane fantasy element. It's hard to write about it without spoilers, but it would be a shame to reveal the film's plot twists. The script is fun because of the speed to which it builds up the plot, which is actually terribly silly and trashy. If it were another filmmaker, you might well wonder whether they are joking or being serious about this kind of film, but Malignant is clearly anchored somewhere in between. It has a lot of exaggerated details that seem downright comedic, which is obviously the intention, and it should be taken as some sort of playful joke with which the director had fun on the set, and which the viewer should also have fun with. That some of the details don’t make sense, it doesn’t matter. (10.09.2021)

James Wan made a movie for fun. He made a horror film about a woman who becomes an unwilling witness to violent crimes, in the style of the B-horror films of the 1980s. He is not afraid of absurdity, even going for the slightly ridiculous at times, but at the same time the film is extremely imaginative and clever, and uncompromisingly his. You may find it terribly satisfying, or you may turn it off in disgust halfway through. But it's definitely worth a try. Because if you happen to be in tune with Wan, you'll enjoy it immensely. (14.09.2021)

A bland episode of Tales from the Crypt that only becomes entertaining during the overblown Troma-like finale. The problem is that before it tears off the chain, it's preceded by a full-length runtime of sheer boredom, zero tension building, unimaginative gore, slavish Giallo allusions, generic characters and non-existent atmosphere. There's a real risk that you won't even be awake for the finale. (07.05.2022)

Batshit bonkers! Even Wan has realised that you can't live without gore. Emotionally, maybe at four stars, but genre-wise I have to give it a full score, because James Wan has once again delivered a horror film that is essential, that will not be forgotten and that has brought something out of the ordinary. Argento, Bava, Carpenter and Cronenberg, you can see them there to be felt and it's an homage to giallo, body horror, crime and most importantly Italy in the 1970s and 80s. Gloves, a stylish murder weapon, a black cloak and dark red. The beautiful Annabelle Wallis suffers from visions where she sees gruesome and raw murders (gorgeous!). Malignant will certainly not please fans of PG-13 ghost stories and probably won't say anything to teenagers as they need to have the term giallo explained to them, but I enjoyed it. Visually, it’s very appealing, the music is downright banging (the soundtrack already has a cult-classic feel to it). Like Wan's Saw, it has a likeable B-movie like story with a creepy twist that, while guessable beforehand, is disturbing and refreshing enough to make you forgive it. Everything culminates in the insane third act, where Wan gets unleashed like a lion that hasn't eaten in days. The prison scene is so stylish and insanely paced that even the The Raid would bow before it. I screamed with delight again and again and will probably replay this sequence every time I'm in a bad mood. When I read that violence makes people sick, it makes me sick. Not for fancy people. Story 4/5, Action 5/5, Humor 0/5, Violence 4/5, Funny 4/5 Music 5/5, Visuals 5/5, Atmosphere 5/5, Suspense 4/5, Emotion 3/5, Actors 3/5. 8.5/10. (17.09.2021)

A festival of bad decisions and red herrings, including some outright lies during the exposition. I am glad that James Wan is gradually trampling into the ground any expectations for the next variation on The Conjuring, but the direction he's taking is very wrong-headed for the given moment. The inferno of the last half hour does show how good of an action director he is, but I simply did not have the capacity to take anything happening on the screen seriously, even for a second. And yes, I understand that there are a lot of references and homages here, but when the source material you're referencing is a genre questionable at best, and you're replicating it in the majority of factors, I won't give you credit for imitation when the result is such a B-movie. (06.10.2021)

If the film, especially in the end, didn't crap on the rules of its world so much (the monster suddenly can't overpower a single bloke, but then it cuts a whole police station into shreds) and didn't offer a parody of Matrix-like action, I'd give it a happy 4*. The 80s concept of Basket Case driven by Wan's dark visuals and grindhouse violence is great, and even though we can see the twist coming, it's still fun to wait for it. An interesting genre flick, too bad Wan didn't stick more to the atmosphere and mystery of the first hour. 70 % (21.10.2021)

Wenn er einen verrückten Horrorfilm über einen mysteriösen Mörder drehen wollte, hat er sich in den Verfahren verstrickt, die er bereits von Geistergeschichten kennt, sodass dabei ein übertrieben, unbeabsichtigt, lächerliches und in jeder Hinsicht überstrapaziertes Durcheinander entsteht, in dem viele Dinge keinen Sinn ergeben, weil sie einfach nur für Effekte eingesetzt werden. Dabei ist die zentrale Idee (auch wenn sie aus allem zusammengesetzt ist, was es schon einmal gab) interessant und anregend. Sie müsste jedoch in einer gedämpften, konzentrierteren Darstellung und gerne mit einem niedrigeren Budget umgesetzt werden. Warum braucht dieser Film diese anspruchsvollen digitalen Kulissen, megalomanische Bühnenbilder und eine fast zweistündige Länge? Er braucht es nicht. Es hätte nur mehr Vernunft des Regisseurs gereicht, der sich jedoch unkontrolliert in alle Richtungen bewegt hat, weil er konnte. Und wenn ich in seinem nächsten Film in jeder Szene eine derart übertriebene Flut von blinkenden und ausblendenden Glühbirnen, bildschirmrauschendem und radioschallischem Rauschen sehe (weil das alles wohl so sein soll!), dann ist dieser Regisseur für mich endgültig gescheitert. (15.09.2021)

Argento. Hee hee hee. Cronenberg. Lol. A tribute to giallo. Ho ho ho. Dude, this is a total Vidocq in the sense of the work of a visual eccentric who is totally competent in the technical elements, but basically has no control over what's actually going on underneath the camera zooms, the staged action sequences, the simulated anamorphic lenses, and the CGI gothic madness. In the third act, it goes so far off the leash that it's resorts to pure camp. I didn't expect Wan could so comically screw this up. (09.12.2021)

Definitely don't expect another Insidious or The Conjuring – Malignant is really a long way from some haunted house horror (except for the first 10 minutes). In its visual stylization and overall concept, it does indeed resemble a giallo, but that doesn't mean that James Wan isn't innovative and hasn't crossed genre boundaries. Apart from the great action/fight sequences, the overall audiovisual treatment is once again up to par, which is already such a "Wan" standard. I find Malignant to be such a nice contribution to Wan's filmography, which he made sort of for himself and mainly for his own pleasure. Anyway, I enjoyed it a lot. [75%] (15.09.2021)