Malignant may or may not be James Wan’s first misfire. I’m just not quite sure. Is it unintentionally funny or was it on purpose? No idea, but it is a weird movie, perhaps an homage to B-films of the 1980s. Or maybe not.
Malignant
(2021)
Genre(s): Horror, Thriller, Comedy?
Warner Bros.| R – 112 min. – $34.98 | November 30, 2021
Date Published: 12/12/2021 | Author: The Movieman
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Warner Bros. Studios Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 2¾/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: A woman (ANNABELLE WALLIS) is paralyzed by shocking visions of grisly murders, and her torment worsens as she discovers that these waking dreams are in fact terrifying realities. Quick Hit Review: It’s not very often, especially for a studio film, to come away utterly confused on what I just witnessed. It’s no wonder Malignant is such a divisive movie, seemingly not so much on whether it’s great or terrible, but what exactly filmmakers James Wan was going for. Is it an homage to old Italian giallos? Is it serious or some dark, cheeky humor? I will say that the tagline “A new vision of terror” is pretty apt, but not in the way the general audience might think prior to watching.
In a word, the story, which was co-written by Wan along with his recently-wed wife Ingrid Bisu (who has a role as a police lab tech), was bat-sh** crazy, particularly after the twist and in a bloody third act. During this I sat there, my mouth nearly agape and eyes squinting wondering what exactly am I watching here. Up to the point of the twist, outside of some interesting directorial decisions from Wan, I found the horror to be quite underwhelming and not at all scary. By the finale, well I had to wonder what Warner Bros. execs were thinking during their screening. For me, I could not decide what to even give as a rating. So I settled somewhere in the middle. But thinking about it some more, I do believe this is a movie watched in the right setting could make for an outrageous night-in with friends and family. I don’t know if Wan intended this to be a comedy but there’s too much there to think otherwise, or at least maybe Wan is having a laugh at our expense. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 1½/5 |
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This release comes with a glossy slip cover and inside a redemption code for the Digital HD copy. The only bonus is Malignant: James Wans Visions (14:11) which is just a behind-the-scenes featurette. |
VIDEO – 4/5 |
| Malignant is presented with a 2.38 widescreen aspect ratio and a 1080p high-definition transfer. The picture quality here is good but not exactly exceptional. Detail is adequate enough given the bulk of the film is darkly shot, but black levels are stark and well balanced at least. |
AUDIO – 4¼/5 |
| The disc comes with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. As with the picture, I wasn’t entirely blown away by this lossless track. Certainly dialogue comes across the center channel with relative clarity while the depth is modest enough, especially noticeable during the finale and the fight sequence. |
OVERALL – 3/5 |
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Overall, Malignant may or may not be James Wan’s first misfire. I’m just not quite sure. Is it unintentionally funny or was it on purpose? No idea, but it is a weird movie, perhaps an homage to B-films of the 1980s. Or maybe not. Either way, I’d say it’s worth checking out in a group setting. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.