Review of Malignant (2021) by Samvell — 05 Aug 2022

One of the most boring horror movies I've ever seen. The villain is vaguely interesting, but he does very little in this film anyway. The main heroine is irritating. I get that she's in a lot of stress, but all of her weeping and screams just come off annoying. Compare it to how Toni Collette plays a disturbed female horror protagonist in Hereditary and feel the difference.

The cops in the movie look bored and unprofessional. Their constant jokes make them look apathic to everything that's going on, and thus not evoking any sense of sympathy. Just imagine cops in say, Seven, arriving at a crime scene just to get some lulz - this is how it's portrayed in Malignant. Overall I think this movie is James Wan's attempt at breaking the mold after several somber movies like Insidious and The Conjuring, and a failed one at that. Basically it's a horror but with a mindset from his other movie, Aquaman.

Boring cast, almost no interesting visuals, plot takes forever to take off. I'd rather rewatch any of the Insidious movies instead.