Malignant - Bad Start, Strong Finish

James Wan has given us many classic horror universes over the years, from Saw, The Conjuring, and Insidious. So I knew when I saw this trailer I knew it was something worth seeing.

‘Malignant” follows Madison (Annabelle Wallis) who has been seeing visions of deaths in her sleep paralysis but as her adopted family and police dig into her records they discover something that has been hidden for years.

I was never really a fan of any of the universes Wan has done before because I feel that they are too unoriginal/not good, but with this movie, he adds a nice new concept that I hadn’t seen in movies before.

Easily the best part of the movie is the cinematography by Micheal Burgess and James Wan’s vision worked with cool camera angles and movements. The one that stood out was one where you are viewing the house from the ceiling and you follow Madison from room to room for one long take.

I never really enjoy the main characters of horror movies because they are just different variants of each other, but Annabelle Wallis does the best she could to give you a solid performance.

I think that since this movie is available on HBO Max some people won’t make it through the movie because the first act and a half are sort of confusing and seem random, however, if you stay for the second half you will see some really good action, tension, and original horror.

Also, the villain and main antagonist was quite interesting. He’s treated mostly as your typical horror devil and/or witch but Wan gives you one that stands out.

Overall Malignant was an ok movie that if you stick through the setup you get rewarded for it with a cool ending that leaves you quite satisfied when the credits roll. Rating: 5.5/10