James Wan makes his second appearance on here with one of my favorite modern giallo-inspired movies: Malignant. During production, Wan discussed the influence Argento had on the look and feel of the movie, especially his films Tenebrae, Phenomena, and Trauma. Malignant is not a true giallo; it crosses over into supernatural slasher territory a bit too heavily. However, it retains enough of the visual styling and character elements to warrant a closer look and reexamine, how giallo is it?
- Directed by: James Wan
- Written By: Akela Cooper
- Starring: Annabelle Wallis, Maddie Hasson, George Young
Released during the COVID Era, Malignant’s box office may have suffered due to its dual launch in theaters and HBO/MAX streaming. While not completely embraced by audiences on its 2021 release, I think it’s a much better film then its box office indicates. Malignant is an over-the-top celebration of giallo visuals, combined with an outrageous plot and a batshit crazy twist. I love it, but I also get why it might not be for everyone.
Recap and Review: Spoilers Ahead!
We start with Dr. Weaver recording a video of her notes about her patient, Gabriel. She’s interrupted by bad news about Gabriel: he’s trying to escape. In the hospital hallway, the lights are flashing, and everyone is hearing high-pitched noises. Security tries to tranquilize the still-unseen Gabriel, but his arm gets broken instead.
The overhead lights explode in shower of sparks. Emergency lights cover everything in giallo red. Dr. Weaver gets her hands on the tranq gun, and puts Gabriel down. As the nurses drag the body off to surgery, we can see panda socks on the small body of a child. Gabriel recovers enough to broadcast his thoughts through the radio, threatening the doctor.
In a melodramatic shot the doctor announces; “it’s time we cut out the cancer”.
In a clever move, medical files and notes layered under the opening credits reveal the backstory and twist, if you’re paying attention. I wish I was smart enough to catch all of it the first time I watched, but I only got bits and pieces.
27 Years Later
We cut to 27 years later; pregnant Maddie is returning home after working a hard shift. She stops on the way to the bedroom to admire a nursery. In the bedroom her husband, Derek, is watching sports in bed – with his shoes on the bed. One of the things I like about this movie are the small details, like the work boots on the bed. We know from the immaculately decorated nursery that Maddie is the exact opposite of him just on these visual indicators.
Their following conversation confirms it. Her pregnancy is difficult and while she just wants to rest, Derek picks a fight, poking her hard in the stomach and blaming her for her other miscarriages. Maddie defends herself and his temper flares. He calls her a bitch and shoves her into a wall hard enough to crack her skull open, leaving blood on the wall. She locks herself in the bedroom as he begs for forgiveness. It’s the standard abuser playbook; “it’s not me, it was an accident. I’ve quit drinking”. It’s clear from his dialogue that this is not the first time this has happened.
First Appearance
It will be the last. Derek wakes up on the couch after hearing noises. Then, the blender in the kitchen turns itself on. I love this blender. It’s the one I had growing up. In fact, the whole kitchen is done in 70’s-era appliances. It’s not the only stylistic homage to the decade that made giallo popular.
The TV in the living room turns on, and Derek runs back to check on it. He sees the silhouette of someone sitting watching the flickering screen. When he turns the light on, they vanish. We can see the couch cushion rise as if someone had been there.
When he goes to look for them, the figure appears behind him and attacks him.
Maddie wakes up in bed. There is blood on her pillow and her head hurts. She goes to check on Derek and finds him dead, head twisted at a terrible angle. So sad. Anyway. A shadowy figure crawls out from behind Derek’s body and chases Maddie upstairs. She unsuccessfully hides in the nursery. The figure breaks down the door, throwing her across the room and knocking her unconscious.
Enter the Investigators
Detectives Regina Moss and Kekoa Shaw have come to investigate after neighbors heard Maddie screaming. Derek’s body was mangled in ways the CSI tech, Winnie, had only seen in car accidents, which I think is nice. The tech is also excited about it. It’s a small role, but she has some fun lines.
When Maddie wakes up, her sister Sydney is there to comfort her. The attack caused Maddie to lose her baby, and she is devastated. Detective Shaw comes the next morning to talk to her, and Sydney runs interference. She’s fiercely protective of Maddie, in part because Derek had been keeping them apart for so long.
Despite being the detective’s number one suspect, Maddie returns home. As she gets ready for bed, the streetlights start to flicker. When they go out, the shadow of a man is seen standing underneath. Maddie runs around locking the doors to her house, only to discover that the kitchen door is wide open.
In one of the best-shot scenes, the camera follows Maddie from above as she runs through the house to hide upstairs in the bedroom. Once she’s safe behind the door, we see all the big, empty rooms in the house. The next morning, Maddie adds extra locks and boards up the windows for security. Even Sydney can’t get in.
After Sydney climbs in a window, she and Maddie talk about her desire to have a baby. Maddie was adopted by Sydney’s family when she was eight, which Sydney didn’t know? Maddie’s been feeling like she’s missing the relationship of having a biological connection to someone. I’m adopted, so I get it. I never felt Maddie’s drive to have kids, but her need for strong connections resonated with me.
Look Up.
Elsewhere, a tour guide for Seattle’s historic tunnels is wrapping up work when she hears a noise from the tunnels. She goes to investigate the dark tunnels as the banging gets louder. She rushes to plug the lights back in, just making it in time. But there is nothing there. Before she can fully relax, she hears a noise above her. She’s attacked by something hanging off the ceiling.
But it doesn’t kill her; instead, she’s taken prisoner in an attic. We’ll come back to her, later. Meanwhile, here the black gloves and trench coat make their first appearance. Gabriel is back and looking for revenge, starting with Dr. Weaver, calling her and using her own words against her: “It’s time to cut out the cancer”.
Weaver’s retired and living in a pleasant house in the suburbs, surrounded by awards when Gabriel calls her. For some reason, she doesn’t recognize Gabriel’s voice or the line right away, although it strikes a chord after he hangs up. I would think that moment would be seared in her brain.
Giallo Knife Time
Back at Maddie’s, she’s doing some late-night laundry when she starts seeing things and getting headaches. She gets a vision of Dr. Weaver and Gabriel, and then her home melts away and she’s witnessing Gabriel murder Dr. Weaver.
Gabriel brutally stabs Dr. Weaver with one of her awards, a very pointy one that he later turns into his signature weapon. We don’t see the full gore of the body, just the extent of the blood spatters on the cabinets.
As they investigate Dr. Weaver’s murder, the detectives close in on connecting Maddie to Dr. Weaver. Back at the attic, Gabriel finds the next victim on his list.
Bad Timing
Gabriel has found Dr. Fields, also present during the opening scene. The sequence here has some of the best lighting, with red and blue highlights and lowlights, giving Field’s apartment an appropriately eerie vibe.
Maddie is woken up by the red neon light from outside Dr. Field’s apartment. She’s in bed next to him as Gabriel crawls over her to kill the doctor, and we see his violence, and Gabriel’s face, firsthand.
Maddie tries to explain to the investigators. It doesn’t go well. These cops don’t believe in psychics, but Sydney is insistent, and they go off to investigate the apartments. When they get there, they find Field’s body. The artist’s sketch is less helpful, since Gabriel’s face doesn’t look human.
The Plot Thickens
While Maddie is in the restroom, the lights begin to flicker and her phone rings. It’s Gabriel, only he calls her Emily. He knows her and says she knows him. She calls him by name, but she’s doesn’t really remember him.
Detective Shaw figures out Maddie was a patient of Dr. Weaver, just as Maddie realizes she’s a suspect and heads to her parents’ house to ask them about Gabriel. The name means something bad to her mom, who fires up some old home videos. Maddie spent a lot of time as a child talking to Gabriel. She seemed very scared of him.
Back at the police station, Shaw finds records from the doctor about Maddie. He figures out who Gabriel’s targets are and that there is one doctor remanning. Shaw heads over there just as Maddie starts to get visions of Gabriel.
Ok, So He’s Real
He’s too late. The last doctor is already dead but Gabriel is still there. Shaw fights him off, and we finally get to see Gabriel in action, as he leaps from level to level on the fire escape. He’s acrobatic and beautiful, but also, backwards.
Shaw chases Gabriel through red, steam-filled basements, blue-lit tunnels, and warehouse spaces before ending up at the tourist tunnels. These are all fantastic locations that make the most of Gabriel’s ability to move.
Now that they’ve seen Gabriel, the detectives are more willing to believe Maddie and arrange a therapist to help her unlock her repressed memories. We see her childhood, even then no one believed her about Gabriel or understood the influence he had on her, which includes being able to take over her body. He’s almost successful in getting her to murder her adoptive mother and baby Sydney. The therapy sends Maddie into hysterics as she remembers Gabriel.
Back to the Attic
Remember the woman in the attic? Turns out that attic was Maddie’s. The woman escapes while the detectives are still there, falling through the ceiling, and they arrest Maddie. There is an overwhelming amount of evidence after all, Including the coat, gloves, and knife.
In interrogation, the more agitated Maddie, gets the more the lights flicker until they explode in a shower of sparks. Then Gabriel calls. He taunts the investigators and Maddie still calling him “a figment of her imagination”.
Best Girl Sydney
Sydney, convinced of Maddie’s innocence, goes to the now-abandoned hospital, conveniently located on the edge of a cliff. I love this location; it’s like something out of Resident Evil.
While Sydney makes her case for sister of the year, Maddie is put in a holding cell. The other inmates have clearly been there for decades given their styling choices.
Back at the hospital, Sydney is searching for records. She finally finds the answers to the million-dollar question on a tape she views with her mom
What is Gabriel?
If you haven’t figured it out yet: Gabriel is a parasitic twin, attached to the back of Maddie’s head. Gabriel is stronger and has some ability to communicate through electronics. He can control Maddie by making her see things and influencing her feelings, effectively hijacking her body. The woman in the attic is their birth mother; she’s alive but in a coma.
Back in jail, the women mistake Maddie for easy prey. They start to beat her badly. The movie cuts between footage of the old tapes of Gabriel’s aggression, Maddie’s current situation, and the surgery that removed Gabriel. He was killing her when they were children, so they removed as much of him as they could and suppressed the rest.
Now Gabriel is back, revealed beautifully in the jail cell as he splits the back of Maddie’s head open to show his face. He then murders everyone in the cell. It’s gory, bloody, and stunningly choreographed. Gabriel’s backwards movement is unpredictable and unsettling, even when he’s not killing.
Gabriel In Action
After breaking out of the jail cell, Gabriel heads to the evidence locker to get his things. He’s killed a lot of cops, and he’s not done yet. While Gabriel’s butchering cops, Madison thinks she is sitting quietly in a jail cell.
Despite the odds, the two detectives and CSI tech live, although the detectives are badly wounded. Gabriel is going to the mother, so that’s where Sydney and Detective Shaw are going too.
Gabriel takes out the guard by exploding his pacemaker in front of Sydney. The mother wakes up to ask for forgiveness but before that can really go anywhere, Shaw shoots them. Gabriel flips the hospital bed onto Sydney and is about to kill her, when she drops the one piece of information that could make Maddie angry enough to fight back.
Gabriel killed Maddie’s babies. He fed off them to get stronger.
Gabriel shoots Sydney and smothers the mother, telling her she made him a monster. But it’s all in his head. Maddie has finally tapped into that part of her brain that Gabriel was using, and can now control Gabriel. She shuts him down, locking him in a mental prison.
Maddie lifts the hospital bed off Sydney, finally realizing that her relationship with Sydney is way stronger than a blood connection.
The End.
Is Malignant a Giallo?
Yes!
Maddie fits the “woman with a traumatic past” all too well. She’s both the victim and the killer in a new and original way. Unaware of her involvement in the killings until the 3rd act, the actress combines vulnerability and mystery.
Our killer uses the standard black gloves, trench coat, and bladed weapon. Time and visual space are given to him suiting up and making his weapon, and then recovering them later. It’s a clear acknowledgement of the influence and the importance of the look in the original films.
So many distinct and visually interesting locations fill out Malignant. Most of them give the move a timeless feel that helps with the giallo aesthetic. The apartments and police station are shot beautifully and bathed in the red and blue lights you would expect from giallo. Which brings us to the color of giallo; Malignant nails this.
And No!
There aren’t any real suspects, just a mysterious killer. The emphasis on the supernatural aspect of the killings, and the lack of real mystery elements, pulls Malignant away from the giallo films that influenced it. Gabriel isn’t quite a supernatural killer, except for that whole control of electronic devices thing. The way he is introduced, however, presents him as supernatural first, before revealing him as a “normal” teratoma.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if Malignant is a true giallo or not. Wan was clearly influenced by the Italian masters of horror and built off those influences to create something interesting. If you like highly stylistic genre-blending experiences, you may be into this. If you want a movie that sticks closely to the exact tropes made popular by the early giallo films, this will probably disappoint you. The good news for you is there are dozens and dozens of amazing giallo to check out, many available on streaming!
Happy Giallo Days Everyone!
Malignant is available on streaming.
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