Gore Blimey
MALIGNANT James Wan is back in the horror genre… and this time things are gonna get messy.
In 2018, James Wan scored a billion-dollar hit with DCEU property Aquaman; next year, his sequel Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom (see p21) will roll over multiplexes like a tidal wave. But in between, the man who launched the Saw and Conjuring franchises has returned to his horror roots with Malignant.
“To go back to what is my place of love… it was comforting,” he smiles beatifically. “I felt like it might be cool to make something under the radar, that’s not based on any IP, an original story. Keep it as low-key as possible and make it really fun. The goal was to go back to my indie horror roots but at the same time, do something that I’ve never done before.”
The protagonist of Malignant is Madison (Annabelle Wallis from the first two Annabelle movies), plagued by horrific visions of gruesome killings that turn out to be real.
“It’s my take on that particular ’80s trope of storytelling where a victim starts seeing through the vision of a killer,” grins Wan. “There was a period where there were a lot of movies like that, and I’m a big fan of that
particular sub-genre. Movies like The Eyes Of Laura Mars. I wanted to do my own version, crossed with my love of [Brian] De Palma and [Dario] Argento and [Mario] Bava.”
Whoa. You can’t just casually drop the names of three horror gods like that without a) explanation, and b) causing genre fans to all but die of excitement.
Does he mean that Malignant is wading into the splashy world of giallo, those pulpy murder-mysteries that place a strong emphasis on lurid set-pieces built around inventive, suspenseful, super-gory killings?
“I’m a big fan of practical effects, and Malignant has a lot of prosthetics, blood and guts – it’s a very gory film,” he laughs. “I’ve never embraced practical effects to this level. It’s very much me wanting to go back and embrace the ’80s exploitation films, but do it at the level I’m now able to make them at. The movie is a crazy ride. With big-budget movies, I have to be somewhat restrained. I wanted to let loose. To go all-out. Despite having the gore title from Saw, I haven’t made movies that hardcore. Malignant plays in that world.”
He laughs again, overcome with glee. “What I loved as a teenager was going to the video store, and at the back of the horror section, just finding some VHS of a movie I’d never heard of, but with the coolest cover. If Malignant came out in the ’80s, it would be one of those movies. It’s a movie people will either love or hate. I don’t think there’ll be anything in between.” JG
ETA | 8 SEPTEMBER / MALIGNANT OPENS THIS AUTUMN.