After being assaulted in her home by a mysterious assailant, Madison Mitchell (Annabelle Wallis) wakes up in the hospital to find that her abusive husband has been murdered and she’s suffered a miscarriage (her fourth). Due to the brutality of the crime and the lack of evidence to suggest that anyone else could’ve killed her dickbagel hubby, Dectective Kekoa Shaw (George Young) immediately suspects Madison. On top of all this, Madison now has a psychic connection to the murderer who’s been going after staff who all worked at a mental institution back in the 90s. Could Jigsaw be back up to his old tricks?! He’s not, but what if he was?
Good old James Wan takes a break from haunted house, haunted doll, and haunted fish man movies to bring us what he calls his version of a giallo. Other than a twisty turny plot and some orchestral stabs on the soundtrack that remind me of Riz Ortolani’s score for Don’t Torture a Duckling (1972), I didn’t see a whole lot of giallo in this. But there’s a lot to enjoy in Malignant (2021), especially if you’re looking an energetic and robustly budgeted horror romp full of carnage and body horror. The music score by Joseph Bishara is great and the cinematography by Michael Burgess is lush and colorful.
The only snag in this crazy quilt was when the screenwriters got scared the audience wasn’t following along. Wan and company give three huge hints in the same scene to make sure us monkeys throwing our poop at the screen didn’t miss anything. Luckily, this only happened the one time, but I was completely taken out of the movie for a while afterwards. Last time I checked, you’re supposed to make your audience feel smart like we’re solving the mystery with the detective, not drooling nimrods who don’t know their ass from a hole in the ground. My optimism about the film-going public is showing! Ouch! Damn it. Sorry, I just fell off my soapbox. Please call an ambulance.
Overall, I really enjoyed Malignant more than anything else James Wan has cranked out since either Dead Silence (2007) or The Conjuring (2013). I love Wan mentioning the whole giallo thing (which sounds more and more nebulous the more I think about it), because it annoyed giallo fans who were looking for something, anything that resembled an actual giallo. Once I’d heard that I shouldn’t be keeping my eyes peeled for bottles of J&B and fashion models being chased by a demented priest wielding a footlong straight razor, I gave up those expectations and was prepared to have myself a good old time. Malignant is a bloody alcoholic beverage (or cocktail) that has elements of 80s and 90s splatter movies, Asian horror, video games, and (barely) a splash of giallo mixed in. The movie looks and sounds utterly gorgeous but the only extra on this release is a 15 minute or so “Making Of” featurette.