As a director, James Wan has straddled the gory and the ghoulish, from Saw to Insidious and The Conjuring. He looks to be combining all these various facets for his next horror-chiller, Malignant, which deals with a supernatural serial killer and the woman tasked with stopping the madness.
Annabelle Wallis, a veteran of Wan's Conjuring Universe following her appearance in Annabelle, plays a woman who is having terrifying visions of people being murdered by an unseen assailant, murders which then become a reality. She's also haunted by a childhood memory of a malevolent spectral presence, and she chillingly makes the connection between her own personal history and the increasing body count.
Think of it as InSawDious and you'll be in the right ballpark. Wan's penchant for shadowy, Gothic menace and nasty-looking death sequences is on full display, and it's a reminder that he's currently one of the most successful horror filmmakers in the business. The Saw franchise, which he initiated and recently spawned Chris Rock vehicle Spiral, has grossed over $1 billion worldwide, whereas The Conjuring Universe has amassed over $2 billion worldwide.
Wan has described the movie as an "original" property and it's aiming for a full-blooded R rating in the USA, which portends a fair amount of menace. The Wan brand appears to be invincible and Malignant lines up much of what we expect, including plenty of shrieky jump stingers. The movie is released on 8th September so scroll down to watch the trailer if you dare...
.jpg)
.jpg)
.png)
