James Wan could be referred to as the god of horror, having directed cult classics in the genre such as Saw, Insidious, and The Conjuring. The trailer for Warner Bros.' Malignant has officially been dropped and signifies Wan’s glorious return, instilling once again that he rules the genre of horror. His roots in knowing how to frighten audiences seem to have only grown stronger during his hiatus. The new trailer for his upcoming film Malignant is a prime example of Wan’s mastery when it comes to suspension and providing bone-chilling visuals.
This will be Wan’s first directorial effort in the horror genre since his 2016 film The Conjuring 2. However, Malignant will also be his second film following The Conjuring that has been rated R. Similarly, the main character of Malignant is named after the actress Annabelle Wallis, who collaborated with Wan on the movie Annabelle. The film Annabelle happens to be related to The Conjuring universe too, providing backstories and acting as a prelude to the first Conjuring flick.
Malignant is centered around a woman (Annabelle Wallis) who keeps having terrifyingly violent visions of people being murdered. The insanity starts to become the main killer and threat to her survival, as she continues to doubt that the visions she is seeing are grounded in reality. She slowly discovers that her visions are almost like a foreshadowing of death, her presence similar to the grim reaper approaching ominously. Things start to get increasingly petrifying when she is aware that the killer is not only coming for those around her, but it is increasingly making its way to her.
Wan’s past horror flicks became scary due to his ability in perfecting climaxes and building the suspense of something dangerous approaching ahead. Malignant may possess that gradual build-up of the impression of evil, but given the film’s rated R status, fans can expect much less mystery and much more direct violence. Many fans are very happy to see Wan not only return to horror but to fully illuminate the nature of violence in this film. Wan can make a PG-13 Insidious blood-curdling without ever even making direct physical altercations between characters, even pushing it further to abandon a drop of blood being shown all together.
Seeing Wan step back into his element with nothing holding him back, fearlessly expressing his even darker side to the film, is beyond exciting, even for fans who enjoyed his work on Aquaman. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Wan film without his fantasy-driven side to him being expressed as well.
In the Malignant trailer, the first image viewers see is of Wallis’s room shapeshifting into another portal. Perhaps her visions will also transport fans into a timeline or a different dimension of sorts. The possibilities with Wan are endless.
Malignant will premiere on HBO Max and in theaters on September, 10th, 2021.
Source: Warner Bros./ Twitter