Malignant

Oh this is a tough one...

I'm not entirely sure what to make of Malignant. The trailers hooked me with the weird melting/shifting rooms and it looked promising, and after seeing it I know for an undisputed fact, people are either going to dig this movie or they're gonna be like what the actual f*** is this stupid shit. It really is that kind of split. Because the movie isn't really what you would think, the trailer paints it as this poltergeist, haunting, mental breakdown of a young woman with undeniable supernatural happenings going on, but the film goes off on many a twist and turn taking an almost mystery of this young woman named Maddie who is revisited by horrible memories of her past and an imaginary not so friendly friend. The thing about this movie is it feels very dated and yet modern. It feels like a horror film somewhere in the span of 1997 to 2008, with the tropes and specific details of how the film is presented with the editing and music. I actually fricking love the music though, gives me Exorcist 2 flashbacks. And yet you get some mighty good, creative, and inventive camera work and effects that could only scream modern day filmmaking. It's such an oddity, but I will fully say I like it. I even appreciate it in a way, cause so much of the more dated stuff could not be unintentional it almost seems like a throwback to the sort of direct to DVD horror films of the early 2000s in a sense. The actors can be a bit off putting at times but our lead, Annabelle Wallis...holy shit she's good, and a fine screamer too. You could almost read into the film as the monster, this personification of repressed and traumatic memories come back to haunt and stalk our main character, sort of thrusts it into a drama at times. And the only real way to defeat it is to make peace with the past, focus on your loved ones, and rise above what you are and were. Maybe I'm giving it far too much credit, but I did get a sense of that in the direction. I'm not even fully sure if I would recommend seeing it in theaters, it's good and I had a good time with it, but I see this having a much more stronger impact and wider audience once this hits video. So come what may, give it a watch if only just to see it for yourself. 3 stars, 7/10, this was a fun week and I'll see you soon.