Some movies aren't made to be new releases. Nothing about being new benefits them. New movies have to be sold. Audiences have to know what they are getting into. Movies like Malignant will never be a "sensation". At best, they are cult hits. You can't sell someone on the movie without building hype or spoiling some of the fun. From a financial perspective, the $40 million price tag will make it hard to turn a profit, which becomes part of the story. Malignant is designed for a "12 Streaming Horror Movies You May Have Missed" list in October a few years from now.
I enjoyed Malignant a lot, although I'm not ready to say if it's good. I reject the "so bad it's good" or "guilty pleasure" label for movies. If I like a movie, I shouldn't be bashful about it because other people think it’s bad. Something about it is good if I like it. Where I run into trouble is when a movie bewilders or baffles me. James Wan presents Malignant from the very beginning like a cheesy horror movie. It's almost begging to be called "campy" at points. Generally, I'm not a fan of movies trying to get ahead of criticism by being cheesy. It does work for Malignant to an extent though. It's a promise that this movie is going to get weird.
For the first hour or more, Malignant isn't great. It's a mediocre police investigation movie with some extreme horror imagery. Madison (Annabelle Wallis) has these visions of murders. There's the Gabriel stuff committing the murders. Detectives are investigating Madison's connection. It's clearly setting something up and working on its own wavelength. It's the last 30ish minutes that pay everything off. That body horror twist is insane. As odd as the movie was up to that point, it still doesn't seem like it's going to get that weird. It's an audacious turn, and I love that James Wan was ballsy enough to try it. I'm a big fan of filmmakers "going there" with a movie. Malignant will likely be considered a failure in James Wan's box office record, but it's sure to earn his filmography style points down the line.
I think where I land on Malignant is that it's slightly more good than bad. Despite the tone of the early 2/3s of the movie clearly promising something, I didn't find much that I really liked in it. The insanity of the last act does make up for it, but I wish the twist could've moved a good movie to great rather than a mediocre movie to good. I mean, if I revisit the movie again, I doubt I'm watching the whole thing. I'm probably just turning on that last act.
Verdict: Weakly Recommend
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