James Wan, possibly needs to get a psychiatric check up. That is the only conclusion any viewers of Malignant will surely come to by the time the end credits roll. This super cheesy, ultra violent horror is the stuff of late nights on the cheese before going to bed and having seriously Hallucinogenic nightmares.
Paralyzed by fear from shocking visions, a woman’s torment worsens as she discovers her waking dreams are terrifying realities.
Malignant opens with some very visceral visuals accompanied by a soundtrack not to far removed from Saw. We then spiral away from the creepy castle towers in the mist (Always a great opening for schlock horrors) into a modern setting where Maddison (Annabelle Wallis) is suffering from these terrible visions of grisly murders, and so begins what seems a very staid murder mystery from Wan.
Don’t be fooled though as about 30 minutes Wan flicks the switch and you are plunged into his horror world and a rapidly increasing gory body count and ridiculous plot twists and you are firmly in ‘What the F*’ is going on’ territory. By the time the killer is revealed and the finale unleashes a barrage of holy hell on your senses, your either going to be fully on board or reaching for the remote to turn it off.
However, Malignant is worth the trip as Wan has managed to create something ultimately very devisive, but a huge amount of fun if you will allow yourself to be taken along for the ride. The cast are clear from the outset what they’ve got themselves in for with George Young and Michole Briana White as the incredulous investigators, making a brilliant combo that keeps the audience just about on the right side of this being a serious horror. In fact they’re so much fun to watch that seeing further adventures from these two would be worth the price of admission once more.
The finale brings with it some incredible body acting, stunts and chair work that would make Jackie Chan proud and some serious, serious amounts of blood-letting. Bones a crunched, stamped on and generally ripped off through a 20 minute sequence in the police station, that will leave you breathless.
Malignant’s Blu Ray release only give you a short James Wan featurette as an extra (No trailer? Seriously this should be standard on any release) and the the picture transfer is crisp and sound moves around your speakers in all the right places.
Malignant will definitely divide opinion, but overall it’s worth the watch, if only to get more of a glimpse inside the bat-poop made world of James Wan’s head.
Malignant is available on Digital, Blu Ray and DVD now.
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