After taking a short break from the genre to dabble in the superhero business with Aquaman, James Wan returns with an “original horror idea” called Malignant. Wan purposely kept the story mostly under wraps and much of the promotional material kept a lot of things out, so going in I was expecting another serious and somewhat scary film in the vein of Wan’s previous works like Insidious and The Conjuring.

This turned out to be a mistake, because the movie is actually the complete opposite and more of an homage to many other horror films of the past. Unfortunately, this will likely divide audiences, because as an unprepared viewer you either gotta go with all the ridiculousness on screen or end up a bit disappointed like I was.

After the initial credits roll, the movie begins somewhat creepy and similar to Wan’s past supernatural efforts, but as the story unfolds you realize just how bonkers things really are, especially involving the killer, ultimately leading to an utterly insane (though predictable) reveal that’s almost like something straight outta the 80’s.

Without going into spoiler territory, the story follows a woman (Annabelle Wallis), who seems to have some kind of psychic connection with a person involved in a recent string of murders, someone whom she believes may be linked to her past.

The movie blends various elements of films from the 70’s, 80’s and even 90’s, offering a familiar mishmash of stuff that James Wan grew up loving from the genre. While this might’ve been the intention, some viewers may see it as convoluted and tonally uneven, especially in the third act when things get completely insane.

I wanted to like the movie, but I simply wasn’t in the right frame of mind to watch a silly over-the-top nonsense horror film, so I was left ultimately disappointed. However, this seems like a film that I would appreciate more over the years and after repeated viewings, especially now that I know exactly what to expect. However, as of right now it's just not what I was expecting or wanted.