movie reviews of malignant

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Malignant Reviews

It constantly alternates between being a really heavy, grounded horror film, and an over-the-top, clichéd one.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Oct 4, 2024

“Malignant” is not a good movie yet it still managed to impress me. It ended strong, embraced the madness and showcased some genuine talent that the average bad movie could not do. I even got some genuine laughs, which some comedies cannot coax out of me

Full Review | Jun 10, 2024

Malignant is saved by an audacious, stunningly mounted third act, clearly a vintage James Wan in its glorious lunacy.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 20, 2023

Wan does a great job in choreographing his ballet of blood but by that point the movie has lost all of its terror elements.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Aug 10, 2023

A throwback to early campy 2000s horror is a bold move, one I feel pays off in a gruesomely fun fashion.

Full Review | Aug 9, 2023

BONKERS BRILLIANT. An insane brutal gore fest that took me back to watching horror films all through October with my dad when I was younger. Campy,unique, & original! It won’t be for everyone but if you embrace it all you’ll love it

Full Review | Jul 26, 2023

The talented director picks up a thematically rich, mysteriously intriguing narrative written by the feature film debutant Akela Cooper, and lets himself get inspired by the giallo genre.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Jul 25, 2023

Go into Malignant knowing it’s a travesty of delights; it slowly builds into its own unhinging chaos. And just because the characters take their dilemma seriously does not mean audiences have to.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 23, 2023

Wan has cemented his position as a horror auteur who can reinvent narratives that are beyond what we have seen in previous cult horror classics.

Full Review | Jul 20, 2023

Malignant is easily the most fun I had at a movie theater this past year.

Full Review | Feb 10, 2023

This is horror cinema produced with a sense of reckless, gleeful abandon, and if you fail to gel with its style and sensibilities, be certain it is not the film; it’s you.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Oct 27, 2022

James Wan returns to form.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 15, 2022

I laughed so hard I gave my self a headache

Full Review | Aug 4, 2022

Wan is a master of horror, and he shows that he can still scare people without needing to rely on jump scares with "Malignant."

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Jun 21, 2022

As with much of Wan's work, no one is ever going to accuse Malignant of being a “good” film. But at times, it is a bloody great one. Have fun.

Full Review | Mar 8, 2022

Malignant...left us speechless, unable to process what the we just watched, or who pitched this...

Full Review | Original Score: C | Feb 22, 2022

Malignant aims for a sensory overload, but not in the delightful ways of Argento or Mario Bava.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Feb 12, 2022

Malignant is a horror movie that seeks to be a good time while offering loads of atmosphere, and it succeeds on both fronts.

Full Review | Feb 12, 2022

Malignant is wacky, but never wack. I laughed, I cried, I often struggled to tell the difference.

Full Review | Jan 28, 2022

A fun B-horror with neat prosthetics and a generally slick look, this is a moody if wildly daft entry in the horror canon.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 13, 2022

Cast & crew
User reviews

Madison is paralyzed by shocking visions of grisly murders, and her torment worsens as she discovers that these waking dreams are in fact terrifying realities. Madison is paralyzed by shocking visions of grisly murders, and her torment worsens as she discovers that these waking dreams are in fact terrifying realities. Madison is paralyzed by shocking visions of grisly murders, and her torment worsens as she discovers that these waking dreams are in fact terrifying realities.

Ingrid Bisu
Akela Cooper
Annabelle Wallis
Maddie Hasson
George Young
2.2K User reviews
242 Critic reviews
51 Metascore
4 wins & 19 nominations

Top cast 46

Madison Mitchell

Sydney Lake

Regina Moss

(as Jean Louise Kelly)

Derek Mitchell

Dr. Florence Weaver

Dr. Victor Fields

Dr. Gregory

Officer Rubin

Officer Lee

(as Zoe Bell)

(as Shaunte Johnson)
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

Trivia The Seattle Underground is a real tour open to the public.
Goofs (at around 1h 18 mins) When Sydney first sees the Simion Research Hospital it is daylight. Despite the short distance, when she arrives there it is the middle of the night (notice the full moon).

[repeated line]

Gabriel : It's time to cut out the cancer.

Connections Featured in Half in the Bag: Malignant (2021)
Soundtracks When Your Walls Fall Written by Klayton Performed by Celldweller Courtesy of Fixt/Position Music

User reviews 2.2K

James wan does italian horror.

Sep 10, 2021
How long is Malignant? Powered by Alexa
September 10, 2021 (United States)
United States
Official site
Seattle, Washington, USA (location)
New Line Cinema
Starlight Culture Entertainment
My Entertainment I
See more company credits at IMDbPro
$40,000,000 (estimated)
$13,391,791
Sep 12, 2021
$34,891,791
Runtime 1 hour 51 minutes
Dolby Digital
IMAX 6-Track
Dolby Atmos
12-Track Digital Sound
Dolby Surround 7.1

More to explore

‘Malignant’ Review: Womb for Improvement

James Wan’s horror throwback follows a young woman with a mysterious connection to a brutal killer.

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By Jeannette Catsoulis

The acting in “Malignant” might be on the hokey side, but who goes to a James Wan movie for the performances? What we want is gore and goose bumps, and in that regard, “Malignant” doesn’t entirely disappoint. Even if we have to wait until roughly 17 minutes before the finale to experience peak splatter.

Until then, this gloomy psycho-horror follows poor, pregnant Madison (Annabelle Wallis), survivor of multiple miscarriages and spousal beatings. Madison has a complicated psychiatric past and a mysterious companion-stalker who may want to protect her, or possibly kill her. All we see initially is a scuttling lump with the posture of Quasimodo and the grooming of Cousin Itt; and after he invades Madison’s home — leaving her minus a baby, a partner and most of her wits — she’s horrified to discover she has a psychic connection to her attacker. When he kills, she can see every slice of his golden dagger, and so can we.

Set in Seattle and filmed in and around Los Angeles, “Malignant” is replete with familiar genre tropes: the cavernous, shadowy homes with creaky doors and unreliable latches; the crumbly psychiatric hospital clinging to the edge of a cliff, where Madison’s childhood records lurk — you guessed it — in the spidery basement. Staticky, menacing voices croak from old radios and Michael Burgess’s camera beckons us into underground tunnels and clambers up walls on the heels of the villain and his victims.

None of this is especially scary, but, if you’re patient, Wan delivers the kind of hilariously sick climax that only a sadist would spoil. Or envisage.

Malignant Rated R for gaping wounds and weaponized electricity. Running time: 1 hour 51 minutes. In theaters and on HBO Max .

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IMAGES

REVIEW: “Malignant” shows horror fans where the genre is heading
[FILM REVIEW] MALIGNANT Review (2021)
Malignant
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