Malignant | September 10 2021 | A James Wan Horror Joint

[charlie Jatinder]

8 minutes ago, grim22 said:

Anniyan had a weird moment back in, I want to say 2005 since I was in engineering, it's Shankar's weirdest movie by far. And this is the guy who directed a movie in which a robot replicates itself to become a lot of robots which become a huge ball followed by becoming a cobra

I also liked "I" though the reception down south was mixed on that one. Nayak is another cult classic.

 

Unfortunately I couldn't like his biggest HIT, Indian, that felt dated and average to me.

 

Edit: This song tho

 

Edited September 12, 2021 by charlie Jatinder

[grim22]

8 minutes ago, charlie Jatinder said:

I also liked "I" though the reception down south was mixed on that one. Nayak is another cult classic.

 

Unfortunately I couldn't like his biggest HIT, Indian, that felt dated and average to me.

 

Edit: This song tho

 

I love Indian. I did watch it in theaters when it came out and rewatch it from time to time. Remove the Urmila plot and it's pretty much perfect.

 

A lot of Shankar's movies have one thing in common - the second half flashback which sets the stage for the third act - Gentleman, Indian, Jeans, Anniyan, Enthiran, I, 2.0. Basically most of his movies apart from Nayak.

[charlie Jatinder]

1 minute ago, grim22 said:

A lot of Shankar's movies have one thing in common - the second half flashback which sets the stage for the third act - Gentleman, Indian, Jeans, Anniyan, Enthiran, I, 2.0

Spoiler

Basically same structure for Malignant. That is also why it felt a bit routine. 

 

Plot spoiler

Spoiler

Though I think if it was made in South India, Gabriel would have got some sympathy points somewhat defending his acts.

 

 

[lorddemaxus]

It's insane how Wan packs practically his whole career (except for maybe the one he had the smalles creative role in, Furious 7) into this one film.

[BestPicturePlutoNash]

I felt the Furious 7 police station fight between Statham and Rock all over 3rd act 

[lorddemaxus]

1 minute ago, BestPicturePlutoNash said:

I felt the Furious 7 police station fight between Statham and Rock all over 3rd act 

Fair but Aquaman really stood out to me there because of that oner in that scene which is very similar to the one in Aquaman with Kidman's character.

[DAJK]

This was whack

[Krissykins]

Letterboxd retweeted this, they know their audience lol

 

and it has some interesting replies

 

 

Unfortunately, it seems that they’ve all watched it at home instead of in a cinema. 

[Lucas]

I really have not stopped seeing this film appear on my timeline constantly after it came out. Even when it seems like hardly anyone knew it was coming out, Wan still makes a sizeable impact on the film world in a way that's very rare these days. The dude does not miss.

Edited September 12, 2021 by Lucas

[Rorschach]

I genuinely cannot wait to show my friends this film just to see their reactions to the last act lmao

[lorddemaxus]

4 minutes ago, Rorschach said:

I genuinely cannot wait to show my friends this film just to see their reactions to the last act lmao

Probably rewatching it twice this week just to show this to my friends lmao.

[Dominic Draper]

This was simultaneously the most stupid and brilliant film of the year 

 

Heavy 2000s era dark castle vibes. Giallo vibes. Random horror movie you found on VHS at the corner store/video rental place as a kid vibes.

 

I adored this film. This was made by a horror fanatic for horror fanatics.

[JWR]

33 minutes ago, Dominic Draper said:

This was simultaneously the most stupid and brilliant film of the year 

 

Heavy 2000s era dark castle vibes. Giallo vibes. Random horror movie you found on VHS at the corner store/video rental place as a kid vibes.

 

I adored this film. This was made by a horror fanatic for horror fanatics.

 

I expect to be divisive, but I'm also firmly in the camp that loved it.

[Dominic Draper]

As far as the vieweranon stuff. I have no doubt this could have tested poorly at a test screening. I also think with the right audience this could have tested through the roof. I also think this is a movie he didnt understand or could read what it was or what it would be for the audience. No offense or shots meant to be taken at him in that statement. 

 

No doubt this movie will be hated by some, but it seems to be finding its audience very quickly who love it going by social media. 

[JWR]

13 minutes ago, Dominic Draper said:

As far as the vieweranon stuff. I have no doubt this could have tested poorly at a test screening. I also think with the right audience this could have tested through the roof. I also think this is a movie he didnt understand or could read what it was or what it would be for the audience. No offense or shots meant to be taken at him in that statement. 

 

No doubt this movie will be hated by some, but it seems to be finding its audience very quickly who love it going by social media. 

 

Pleasantly surprised that the movie has been getting appreciation online.

[Dominic Draper]

Huh.

 

Apparently James Wan released a graphic novel named malignant man years ago. Going to have to read that.

[tonytr87]

I wasn't big on this. Yeah, the last 30 minutes are entertaining, but the twist isn't altogether too surprising, and the majority of the movie is a hodgepodge of ideas and imagery from a dozen other horror movies. Wan wanted this to be a haunted house flick, a Ring-style mystery, and a creature feature all in one, and the disparate parts just do not cohere. 

 

 I admire his hutzpah with that ending, but the movie is too humorless to excuse the rest of it as intentional camp, as some are trying to do. Wan's style in the first 90 minutes isn't dissimilar from the uber serious tone he brings to the Conjuring movies. If he was going for camp, he failed. 

 

Edit: I should also mention a quarter of the movie is a dull Saw-style police procedural. So there's another disparate part. 

Edited September 13, 2021 by tonytr87

[Fox20]

I surprisingly enjoyed the movie as a whole but that last part for sure felt overhyped thanks to reading the comments on the thread, the twist was not that shocking either since the first attack there were some obvious things there.

[lorddemaxus]

2 hours ago, tonytr87 said:

I wasn't big on this. Yeah, the last 30 minutes are entertaining, but the twist isn't altogether too surprising, and the majority of the movie is a hodgepodge of ideas and imagery from a dozen other horror movies. Wan wanted this to be a haunted house flick, a Ring-style mystery, and a creature feature all in one, and the disparate parts just do not cohere. 

 

 I admire his hutzpah with that ending, but the movie is too humorless to excuse the rest of it as intentional camp, as some are trying to do. Wan's style in the first 90 minutes isn't dissimilar from the uber serious tone he brings to the Conjuring movies. If he was going for camp, he failed. 

 

Edit: I should also mention a quarter of the movie is a dull Saw-style police procedural. So there's another disparate part. 

I thought the movie was pretty funny throughout. The movie is camp in a way where it's completely sincere throughout. Instead of making cheeky self-aware jokes like other movies of this sort would, it indulges in endless physical comedy and some hilarious musical cues and line deliveries. Even the more dour sequences had some weird shit going on (like that love triangle that seemed to start to form).

[Dominic Draper]

39 minutes ago, lorddemaxus said:

I thought the movie was pretty funny throughout. The movie is camp in a way where it's completely sincere throughout. Instead of making cheeky self-aware jokes like other movies of this sort would, it indulges in endless physical comedy and some hilarious musical cues and line deliveries. Even the more dour sequences had some weird shit going on (like that love triangle that seemed to start to form).

Yeah this movie is intentional camp throughout the whole film and playing off peoples expectations of what a James Wan horror film is.

 

Its like people can't recognize what camp is anymore if films arent constantly winking at the audience and loudly proclaiming it. Playing it straight is what it makes it sincere instead of so many of the cynical eye rolling attempts we get where they treat audiences like we are children that have to be reassured constantly what they're watching.  James Wan is in on the joke the whole film without having to scream it in your face the whole time.