Horror guru James Wan goes wild with ‘Malignant’

Everything about “Malignant,” the new horror movie from “Insidious” and “The Conjuring” director James Wan, is insane. The gonzo opening scene, punctuated by a character reciting, “Time to cut out the cancer!” like an Arnold Schwartzenegger one-liner, only teases the true mayhem of the film’s back half.

Wan’s recent career credits include the blockbusters “Furious 7” and “Aquaman,” and his experience on those over-the-top action movies creep into the style and slick presentation of “Malignant,” a movie that probably didn’t need a $40 million production budget but utilizes every cent on various design elements anyway.

Early on, the camera sweeps through the film’s various classic horror locales (a creepy old house, underground tunnels, etc.) with wild abandon, and for a little while anyway, it all seems a bit excessive for a story about a woman (Annabelle Wallis) who begins to see graphic visions of gruesome murders after she herself is attacked in a random home invasion.

“Malignant” operates at a feverish pace through a mix of haunted house and police procedural tropes (our heroine tries to warn a pair of Seattle detectives about her connection to the murders), before the true, sadistic nature of “Malignant” reveals itself in the third act. It’s the kind of twist you may think you see coming, mostly because the script by Akela Cooper plays fair in how it unspools the mystery. But there’s no preparing for the gory, uninhibited climax that takes full advantage of Wan’s stylistic flourishes.

While the cast lacks a big name, the actors manage to rein the film’s dramatic tonal shifts, especially Wallis as well as Maddie Hasson as our protagonist’s bewildered-but-supportive sister. The cop characters (George Young and Michole Briana White) are functional-but-thinly drawn. They don’t really matter once the true mayhem begins.

Let’s be clear: Much of “Malignant” is silly — from the static-infused declarations from a killer who harnesses electrical power to the grotesque reveal of (REDACTED). The silliness seems to be intentional, and Wan gooses the action with bombastic musical arrangements, exaggerated set design and 80s-slasher-era declarative dialogue. At a certain point, “Malignant” stops trying to be scary and just leans into the bloody insanity.

That go-for-broke approach means “Malignant” will probably alienate just as many viewers as it enthralls, and the film’s muted marketing campaign didn’t even bother to prepare audiences for its true nature. With box office prospects already dim, expect to hear various “What the (expletive deleted) did I just watch?” reactions from friends and acquaintances as they fire it up on HBO Max.

Side rant: Most entertainment outlets dumped on “Malignant” for its paltry box office performance last week, forgetting the part where Warner Bros. and HBO Max are still encouraging people to watch their entire 2021 slate on the streaming service while they simultaneously release the movies in theaters.

Warner Bros. isn’t putting movies like “Malignant” day-and-date on HBO as a “gift” to audiences during the pandemic. Their goal is to expand the subscriber base for HBO Max, the thinking being they can pocket more money long-term from consumers who re-up their subscription every month vs. counting on people to consistently show up to the movie theater. The strategy is obviously bad for movie theater owners, but let’s be honest — this is fantastic for consumers who desire a choice in how they consume media.

Sadly, all this “box office shaming” guarantees this experiment to be short-lived, as Warner Bros. will return to theatrical exclusives in 2022 (Last week, Disney also announced theater-exclusive runs for their remaining 2021 slate).

However, once things are “back to normal,” what will be done to address growing audience apathy for the so-called “theater experience?” Because theater attendance was lagging long before 2020, particularly for movies not associated with Disney or superheroes.

At the same time, the Netflix model of releasing 10 random mediocre new movies every week doesn’t seem to be all that helpful to the cinematic landscape either, so the strategy to “save cinema” long term remains elusive.

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Tyler Wilson has been writing about movies for Inland Northwest publications since 2000, including a regular column in The Press since 2006. He can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.