"Malignant" indeed

If there ever was a movie so sigh-worthy as “Caddyshack II” it would be James Wan’s 2021 flick “Malignant.” Don’t be fooled by the eye-catching poster or semi-decent Rotten Tomatoes score, because “Malignant” will get your hopes up only to drop you right on your head — that is, unless you really enjoy laughing through horror movies, which is exactly what I did for most of this movie. As a big fan of Wan’s other works like the Conjuring universe or SAW, I was expecting so much more (at least one long establishing shot since it’s kind of his signature move). Instead, “Malignant” took itself far too seriously, always bordering on some weird drama television show, and talked down to the audience so much that for a little while I truly wondered if Wan thought we were dumb. I will admit, the premise was interesting, with a sort of M. Night Shyamalan twist thrown in there, but it was so poorly executed that I thought maybe it was an M. Night Shyamalan movie (excluding everything before “Avatar the Last Airbender,” of course). Frank Scheck, a writer for The Hollywood Reporter, says it best: “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.” So if you’re in the market for a laugh-out-loud horror movie then… actually maybe just stick with “Chucky.”