Malignant Is James Wan's Throwback Horror Masterpiece

While he maybe isn’t as well-regarded yet as a John Carpenter or a David Cronenberg, it’s indisputable that one of the architects of contemporary horror is James Wan. Thrust into the spotlight at age 27 (proof that young filmmakers have dominated the genre since long before the likes of Obsession and Backrooms entered the scene), in the last 22 years Wan has completely changed the landscape of mainstream studio horror twice: once with his debut film Saw in 2004, and again with Insidious and The Conjuring, all three of which have birthed massively successful franchises and have inspired waves of imitators.

The contemporary landscape of horror doesn’t quite resemble Saw or paranormal ghost stories though — the advent of “elevated horror” has led to a genre output that has become increasingly dour and self-serious over the last few years, which isn’t necessarily a problem outside of how ubiquitous it is now. As much as it sounds like an oxymoron, some of the greatest horror films of all-time have balanced life-or-death stakes with camp and absurdity. Thankfully, James Wan’s 2021 magnum opus did exactly that, and while it isn’t as influential as his other films, it’s fast on its way to becoming a cult classic for introducing audiences to one of the best horror villains of the 2020s so far.

At first glance, Malignant feels like a movie that’s cut from the same cloth as the abundance of other modern horror films tackling “trauma” in a heavy-handed way. We’re introduced to our main character Madison Mitchell (Annabelle Wallis) through a brief but menacing interaction with her abusive boyfriend Derek (Jake Abel), who berates her for getting pregnant again after a series of miscarriages in her past and promptly smashes the back of her head into a wall. It’s a scene smothered in a more tangible, more real kind of horror than the supernatural shenanigans Wan has usually played with, and you’d be forgiven for thinking the film is shaping up to be an allegory for domestic abuse in a similar style to The Invisible Man (written and directed by Saw co-creator Leigh Whannell) or this year’s Evil Dead Burn.

But the best part about Malignant is that every time you think it’s about to zig, it zags. Later that same night, Derek is killed violently by a ghostly assailant, prompting an official police investigation that turns up no evidence of a break-in. You think the film is gearing up to turn into a traditional James Wan spook-em-up, one with specters slamming doors and peering ominously at our main character just out of frame. But a few days later, while doing laundry, Madison has a paralyzing waking nightmare of a leather-clad intruder violently murdering a renowned doctor she’s never met, in a home she’s never seen…a nightmare that turns out to be exceedingly real.

Wan has said that he intended for the film to be a bit of a rug pull in comparison to his other works, and it certainly succeeds with flying colors in that regard — the two murders lead to the involvement of Seattle’s finest: detectives Kekoa Shaw (George Young) and Regina Moss (Michole Briana White), a buddy-cop pairing that provides most of the film’s comedic relief and also switches its structure to that of a serial killer procedural in the vein of Seven. But the violence itself feels less like the stark, hyper-real depravity of a Fincher film and far more like the stylized carnage of Italian directors like Dario Argento or Lucio Fulci — and each body comes with a nice accompanying vision for Madison, turning her into an unwilling member of the audience.

Malignant’s everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach to genre wouldn’t work as well in the hands of a less experienced director, but Wan has been cutting his teeth on horror since he was a baby in Hollywood, and his familiarity with the tropes and aesthetic stylings of different subgenres is on full display here. While the harsh reality of the film’s opening is conveyed in a desaturated color palette and restrained compositions, once Madison becomes a part of the investigation the film adopts the playful expressionism of a giallo, with garish primary lighting bathing the brutal violence in harsh reds and purples, and jagged, off-kilter shot framing reflecting Madison’s deteriorating mental state.

But the visual design isn’t the only place Malignant is showing love to the Italian artistic movement that birthed the American slasher — convoluted backstories involving childhood trauma are part and parcel of the genre. Eventually, it’s revealed that Madison was adopted, the former subject of experimental medical treatments administered by the same doctors who have curiously been turning up dead.

Just as the film seems to be dovetailing into a traditional “the main character is actually the villain” psychological thriller twist, it reveals the ace hidden up its sleeve, and sets up a climax far more bizarre and ridiculous than anyone could have expected. After police discover a kidnapped woman in Madison’s basement, she’s arrested for the crimes and placed in a holding cell, where an unprompted attack by the other female prisoners reveals the truth — the murderer is actually Madison’s brother Gabriel, a parasitic twin attached to the back of her head who was accidentally freed by Derek’s assault of Madison in the opening. As jaw-dropping and bewildering of a reveal as it is, it’s matched by the absolute carnage that unfolds in the holding cell afterwards, as Gabriel (hijacking Madison’s body and using it backwards) snaps necks and punches through chests in a mind-blowing setpiece that seems to announce the movie’s true face has been uncovered.

Gabriel is, without a doubt, one of the best modern horror villains introduced recently and it’s for a number of reasons. The visual concept of the character is truly inspired, from the giallo-tinged leather jacket to the backwards mobility (a detail that makes the brief glimpses of the murderer earlier so rewarding on a rewatch) to the effects work necessary to pull it off, which consisted of computer-generated enhancements to practical effects like an animatronic mask on the back of Annabelle Wallis’ head and several stunt actors, including real-life contortionist Marina Mazepa. His reveal also heralds one of the most memorable action setpieces in recent memory, an extended slaughter in which Gabriel briefly becomes Neo from The Matrix and dispatches a squadron of cops with a knife and a chair throw that must be seen to be believed.

The experience of watching Malignant is a little like riding a roller coaster in the dark — there’s simply no way to predict the madness in store on a first watch, but it’s exhilarating to go on the journey anyway. Plenty of viewers were left stunned and confounded when it was released five years ago, but more still were charmed by Wan’s reverence for horror’s past, and the winking juxtaposition between the film’s face-value seriousness and the ridiculousness hiding in the plot. At a time when the genre feels frustratingly stagnant, and trapped in an era of ubiquitous self-importance and exhausting severity, it’s nice to be reminded every once in a while that horror can also be a good time above all else.

Malignant is available to rent on Prime Video and other digital platforms.