Ian Taylor

To quote James Wan himself, DO NOT GO INTO THIS MOVIE EXPECTING ANOTHER CONJURING. If you do that, you're setting yourself up for disappointment and robbing yourself of the good time this movie will give you if you just go into it blind. Malignant is James Wan at his most honest, a skilled director using the years of talent under his belt and the budget he earned from The Conjuring and Aquaman to make a passion project love letter to the giallos and B-movie slashers of the 80s that he grew up watching. I'm not going to spoil this movie, but I will say that Malignant is brilliant for the insane third-act left turn it takes. Though the ending is the most interesting part, there's plenty of value in the first two-thirds if you go into it expecting the self-aware over-the-top camp that you will get from this movie. I'll say it again: THIS MOVIE IS NOT THE CONJURING. THIS MOVIE IS NOT INSIDIOUS. I wrote this review because I was extremely frustrated by the infuriating amount of one-star reviews this movie received. I try to maintain that all opinions are valid, but the one-star reviews are woefully ignorant. If you go into every horror movie expecting The Conjuring or Hereditary, this is not the movie for you. However, if you can manage to not take yourself too seriously, you'll definitely enjoy this movie, and I recommend seeing it safely in theaters as soon as possible.