This truly is one of those “you need to see it to believe it” kind of movies.
When it was released in cinemas in September 2021, next-to-nobody seemed to know what Malignant was actually about.
The opaque trailer arrived just a few short weeks ahead of the movie’s release, and really didn’t give much away, while the press in Ireland weren’t even shown the movie before it was opened to the public at large.
All we really knew was the writer/director James Wan (Saw, Insidious, The Conjuring) was returning to horror after a one-two punch of mega-successful blockbusters (Fast & Furious 7, Aqauman), but he was keeping his cards pretty close to his chest about what his new movie was actually about.
If you did see the movie in cinemas – and chances are you didn’t, the $40 million production only made $34 million worldwide – then you already know the madness that this movie has in store for viewers.
If you didn’t see it, then all we’re going to tell you is that it involves a young woman (Annabelle Wallis – Peaky Blinders, The Mummy) who starts to experience some very scary nightmares of particularly violent murders, only to awaken and discover that the murders have actually happened in the real world. How is she connected to these crimes? And why is she singularly seeing these visions?
Figuring that out is just one of the many, MANY bonkers trips that this movie will take you on. This is one of those movies that you just kind of have to go with. Don’t ask questions, don’t poke holes in the plot, just allow the OTT horror to wash over you entirely, like it did with these critics:
Slash Film – “The overall outlandishness at work on the screen is going to flat-out annoy certain viewers. But then there will be those who revel in the audacity of Malignant, and boy oh boy are those folks in for a treat.”
Polygon – “It culminates in scenes so ludicrously over the top that they invite both fist-pumping cheers and wheeze-inducing laughter.”
The Wrap – “It’s an absurdly entertaining frightfest with a heavy emphasis on the absurd, and thank heaven – or hell – for it.”
Variety – “It’s hard to say whether a film this bonkers ‘works’ or not, but it’s impossible not to admire both the craft and the extravagant bad taste behind its go-for-broke energy.”
Malignant is available to watch with your NOW Cinema Membership right now.
Clip via WB UK & Ireland
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