For starters let me get this right out of the gate. I love James Wan, a genius  horror director who directed such horror masterpieces as, “The Conjuring” and “Insidious.” When I heard that James Wan was returning to the big screen again I was ecstatic.  

Unfortunately as I watched the movie I couldn’t help but feel the film was trying to be more genres than it could handle. This isn’t a bad movie, in fact It’s really good but for a different reason than one would expect. 

The movie is trying to be multiple things at once. For one it doesn’t feel like your stereotypical James Wan film. It feels like an experimental film that you would make in college right after watching “The Matrix.”

Lots of scenes in the movie involving the killer have action movie scenes inserted in them which feel really out of place in a James Wan film. Depending on who you ask this could be good or bad. 

One of the biggest strengths of the film is that it uses CGI to create effects that mess with your head. As the film goes on you don’t know if what you’re watching is real or not. Honestly this is a film you’re either going to love or hate. 

The acting is okay…it wasn’t really to the extent that I wanted it.  The opening scene of the movie has some of the most cringe inducing dialogue I’ve heard in years. It has a very 80s hokey feel to it. It was hard to tell if the scene was intentional or unintentional. Overall the acting was okay. It was about as average as acting in a big budget film can get.

Malignant is a fun movie that most moviegoers would enjoy. Sometimes the film makes some questionable choices that sometimes hinders the overall movie experience, but when all is said and done the movie is a scary good time. Malignant is streaming on HBO Max as well as being in theaters. 

Score: 7/10