Director: James Wan
Cast: Annabelle Wallis, Maddie Hasson, George Young, Michole Briana White
Have I Seen it Before: Many reading this will not be privy to the specifics of this answer, but: controversially, no.
Did I Like It: Certainly, if mega-bloody horror in the tradition of Dario Argento and giallo horror is not your thing, then Malignant is not going to be your thing.
If slasher movies whose plots are fueled by a far more pedestrian brand of human suffering (I’m looking in your direction, Rob Zombie) aren’t your thing*, then this movie might not be for you.
If you’re bothered by a film so gleefully willing to exist in a universe that treats medical science like its nothing more or less than a doormat, then maybe large swaths—perhaps even the underlying foundation—of the film will not work for you.
But it is impossible to say that the film is at all coy, ashamed, or otherwise uncertain about what kind of film it wants to be. Well, impossible if you’re interested in engaging with a movie from an even remotely genuine place. I’m sure there are no places in the internet harboring anyone with a bad faith take on the proceedings.
And God help me, by the time the film was done, I was actually wrapped up in the psychological drama encased in a body horror ensconced in a highly improbable martial arts action movie. It wastes no time getting started, never feels long (even in those sections for which I’m not 100% on board), and as an added bonus I get the sense from the end of the film that the film will naturally resist sequels, especially if star Annabelle Wallis isn’t along for the ride. It might be damning with faint praise, but the entire things is just fresh enough to recommend.
*I’m mainly looking in my own direction there, but we are grading on a curve here.