Wan cheerfully draws on the extreme work of horror film aficionados such as David Cronenberg and Dario Argento as he piles on the bloody violence.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 23, 2021

Malignant is the type of movie that requires viewers to strap in and shut up from the onset.

| Sep 17, 2021

Malignant isn't a good movie, but the bones of its giallo salute are just outlandish enough to make one wonder if the obtuse moments are purposeful.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Sep 17, 2021

There's no way to watch this deranged follow-up and not conclude that Wan's back where he belongs.

| Original Score: B | Sep 11, 2021

Wan's final twist is so maniacal and so (and this is a compliment) deeply and thoroughly stupid that it more than makes up for the minor missteps along the way.

| Sep 11, 2021

James Wan swings for the fences and it pays off big time. Malignant is a bonkers and bloody delight that showcases a multitude of different skills and styles Wan's honed through his horror films over the years.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Sep 11, 2021

There's a hodge-podge of ideas going on that don't always seamlessly fit, but Wan's homage to '80s horror and Wallis's fretful performance, has a bloody lot of guts.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 10, 2021

Wan, untethered and having a blast, uses all sorts of funhouse tricks with his camera, giving "Malignant" the feel of a ghoulish merry-go-round. By the time it stops, you'll be ready to take another spin.

| Original Score: B | Sep 10, 2021

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.

| Sep 10, 2021

A horror movie that is as long as it is underwhelming.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Sep 10, 2021

If you must see "Malignant," a theater might honestly be the best bet. That way at least you can laugh along in utter shock with your fellow theater-goers.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Sep 10, 2021

Around the midway point... the script shifts gears into an agreeable register of B-movie lunacy, but it takes too much of the nearly two-hour run time to get there.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 10, 2021

It's hard to say whether a film this bonkers "works" or not, but it's impossible not to admire both the craft and the extravagant bad taste behind its go-for-broke energy.

| Sep 10, 2021

The sort of ultraviolent thriller Lucio Fulci and Frank Henenlotter might have co-directed in the early 1980s if they had carte blanche and a blank check.

| Sep 10, 2021

Wan takes big swings, and the humor and bloodletting come in equal measure. It's silly, it's outrageous, and it's a blast- an imperfect but wildly entertaining throwback to a bygone era of horror.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Sep 10, 2021

It could have been so much more.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Sep 10, 2021

When you're taking this many wild turns, it's better to just lean into the fact that you've made a ridiculous horror movie than to try and make a serious drama.

| Original Score: C- | Sep 10, 2021

The film might have been outrageously bizarre fun if it displayed any humor or ironic self-consciousness, but everything is played so straight that viewers will find themselves laughing not with the film but at it.

| Sep 10, 2021

Can a movie that's deficient in just about every way be redeemed by an original twist? In the case of "Malignant," the answer is ... sort of.

| Sep 10, 2021