Mark Reviews Movies: MALIGNANT (2021)

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Review by Mark Dujsik | September 10, 2021

Things begin with a very specific tone and approach in Malignant. A prologue introduces us to a towering Gothic building, standing along a foggy coast, which means the image might as well be in black-and-white, and shot at a titled angle. The image recalls so many dark and gloomy castles in so many pieces of horror. Inside the building, as a team of doctors cryptically speak of some terrifying being in melodramatically self-serious tones, it starts to feel as if director James Wan has tapped into something almost primal, quite nostalgic, and fully self-aware.

Then, the rest of this movie, which trades the mysterious for a more literal—and far more ludicrous—mystery, happens. Wan can be an innovative and inventive filmmaker, capable of elevating simple material with slick and assured technique. None of the trickery on display here, though, can undo or lift the frustrating predictability, strangeness, and silliness of this particular venture.

The problem, perhaps, is that Akela Cooper's screenplay is a puzzle with only one obvious solution, as ridiculous as that answer may be. Wan is clearly hampered by the mechanics of this mystery, if the final twenty minutes or so of this movie serve as any indication. As the ultimate revelation becomes increasingly apparent, there's a sense that none of it could possibly make any sense or even work on any practical level. Somehow, though, the director, finally provided the chance to indulge in the possibilities of the odd and unbelievable core of what's really happening in this tale, gives us something grotesquely absurd—and absurdly grotesque.

Instead, most of this story is a lot of bunk. We meet Madison (Annabelle Wallis), the pregnant wife to a verbally and physically abusive husband (played by Jake Abel). He's out of the picture quickly, as an apparent intruder, working in the shadows and with the ability to manipulate electricity (because there needs to be a superficial hook to distract us from the underlying reality), kills him and attacks Madison, rendering her unconscious.

When she awakens in the hospital, Madison is no longer pregnant and is comforted by Sydney (Maddie Hasson), the sister her husband prevented Madison from seeing for a long time. Upon returning home, Madison becomes convinced that the shadowy figure is still near. Wan lets his camera operators get a decent bit of exercise, chasing after Madison—as one tracking shot follows her low to the ground, while a particularly clever one does the opposite, in an overhead view through a cutaway of the ceiling—as she darts through the house and away from assorted noises.

The eventual gimmick here is that Madison is able to see the killer's deeds, without leaving her house—on account of the fact that she becomes more or less paralyzed in the process (The effect of one locale melting into another is admittedly neat). The killer has certain targets in mind—a tour guide of the old and now underground Seattle, as well as those doctors from the prologue (whose over-the-top performances weren't just a one-off for effect, as the rest of the actors are decidedly and, at times, distractingly hammy). Sydney is convinced her sister has a psychic connection to the murderer, but a pair of police detectives (played by George Young and Michole Briana White) are skeptical—although a lot less than one might imagine.

At times, it almost seems as if Wan is sabotaging the central mystery of this plot, given how—without giving too much away—the killer moves and the figure's covertly coiffured appearance. That'll be the end of any direct hinting or potentially unintentional revelation, but it is strange how, while indulging in some gory violence and gravity-defying chases (which are more implausibly impressive, considering how the murderer maneuvers), the filmmaker more or less gives away the game by way of the staging of the action. The screenplay, of course, keeps along its path of attempted enigma and forcing more delays of information, including the one character who would know everything ending up in a conveniently inconvenient coma (The timing of the character's revival is simply—and amusingly—convenient).

If we give Wan's giving-away the benefit of the doubt, it's understandable. The long-delayed core idea of Malignant is bizarre, gruesome, and full of possibility (It's little wonder the movie ends with the suggestion of a sequel). Of course, Wan would want to cut to the chase, but the problem is that screenplay isn't as smart to do the same.

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