History Film / Malignant

* StealthParody: After its release, a lot of critics and audiences speculated (including ''WebVideo/RedLetterMedia'') that the movie was a practical joke by director James Wan. The first two acts, while still rather dark and spooky, also feature a lot of comedic misdirections and satirical jokes (in stark contrast to Wan's most well-known films such as ''Film/TheConjuring''); this all escalates into a ''bonkers'' third act, [[spoiler:packed with over-the-top actiony violence, a rather bizarre-looking villain (Madison's superpowered conjoined twin brother who is literally sticking out of the back of her head), and multiple out-of-place looking extras, such as the woman who looks like she just walked out of a 70s disco with a giant afro to boot. It's certainly a tonal whiplash compared to Wan's previous movies]].

** [[spoiler:When Sydney and Jeanne watch the video of Madison as a child in the hospital, the camera pans over to behind Madison, revealing Gabriel’s true nature as a parasitic twin.]]

* ArtisticLicenseHistory:

** ZigZagged at another point. It's impossible for identical parasitic twins [[spoiler: to be of opposite genders like Gabriel and Madison are. However, Gabriel is so grossly absorbed into Madison's body that he has virtually no biological sex, and it's possible that he just adopted a male identity and name]]. This is also supported by the fact that [[spoiler: Gabriel's voice, his only inherently male characteristic, is [[InnerMonologue entirely telepathic]], so he could really use ''any'' voice he wants]].

-->[[spoiler:'''Jeanne''' ''(after seeing the videotape of Serena May)'': They told me that she died while giving birth. Those lying cock-knockers…]]

* TheEndOrIsIt / SequelHook: [[spoiler: Madison traps Gabriel back inside her mind, but he promises he will find a way to take control again.]] In the final shot, [[spoiler: a lamp starts to flicker, signaling that he is already working on it.]] Director James Wan has said that [[https://www.darkhorizons.com/james-wan-on-malignant-2-possibility/ while he didn't make the movie with the intent of launching a franchise, he would certainly be open to making a sequel]].

** Hints at Gabriel's true nature are scattered before TheReveal; in particular, when he picks up [[spoiler: the trophy to kill Dr. Weaver, his hands, and the fact that they're oriented backwards, are center-frame.]]

* HealingFactor: Implied to be one of Gabriel's many powers, [[spoiler: which is shared by Madison - the only physical aftermath of Gabriel taking control of her body, which includes dislocating all of her limbs, is a trickle of blood from the back of her head.]]

** Madison is understandably and incredibly unnerved by this demonic voice on the other end of the phone calling her by name. [[spoiler: Including the name she had before her adoption, Emily.]]

* TheKillerInMe: The scenes with the detectives build up the possibility that Madison may herself be the killer. Ultimately, [[spoiler: she ''kind of'' was, even if she didn't know it.]]

* MultipleHeadCase: Kind of. [[spoiler: Two faces sharing a single head, in conflict over the body.]]
* NeverTrustATrailer: the movie's ad campaign presents it as just another Creator/JamesWan horror movie, in the same vein as ''Film/TheConjuring'' or ''Film/{{Insidious}}''. And it is... [[spoiler:For the first two acts. From the jail scene onward, it becomes increasingly clear that Wan was having his fun with this one, dialing every horror cliché up to 11 (and doing some LampshadeHanging for good measure) then ending with a ridiculously over the top finale that feels like it came from a ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' movie.]]

** There are similar hints that [[spoiler: Gabriel is some sort of Demonic spawn. Madison and Gabriel were the result of rape, but no indication of who the father is. Both Madison and her birth mother describe him as "the Devil" and "unholy," respectively. His ability to manipulate electricity, extreme strength, and murderous vendetta set him up as some kind of Damian Thorne-esque Antichrist that shares a psychic link with his twin.]]
** [[spoiler: It is also implied that the doctors are shady but that turns out to not be the case.]]

** The use of "Where Is My Mind" on the soundtrack is probably a nod to ''Film/FightClub'', which [[spoiler: had a similiar plot twist - though one more rooted in the psychological than the visceral.]]

* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler: All that was left of Gabriel after the surgery was a part of his brain conjoined with Madison. In the end it is revealed that Madison has been unknowingly controlled by Gabriel’s brain for much of the movie.]]
* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: [[spoiler: Madison sees what Gabriel wants her to, preventing both her and the viewer from knowing the killer is her own body being piloted backwards.]]

-->[[spoiler:'''Sydney:''' Madison, he killed your babies! He was the cause of your miscarriages! He was feeding off of your fetuses to build himself back up!]]
* WhamShot: [[spoiler:When Sydney and Jeanne watch the video of Madison as a child in the hospital, the camera pans over to behind Madison, revealing Gabriel’s true nature as a parasitic twin.]]
** The mysterious woman Gabriel has captive in his hideout manages to break free, but falls through the floor while trying to escape... [[spoiler:and crashes right into Madison's living room.]]

* NeverTrustATrailer: the movie's ad campaign presents it as just another Creator/JamesWan horror movie, in the same vein as ''Film/TheConjuring'' or ''Film/{{Insidious}}''. And it is...[[spoiler:for the first two acts. From the jail scene onward, it becomes increasingly clear that Wan was having his fun with this one, dialing every horror cliche up to 11 (and doing some LampshadeHanging for good measure) then ending with a ridiculously over the top finale that feels like it came from a ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' movie.]]

* ParasiticHorror: Gabriel is a parasitic twin.

* TheKillerInMe: The scenes with the detectives build up the possibility that Madison may herself be the killer.
Ultimately, [[spoiler: she ''kind of'' was, even if she didn't know it.]]

-->[[spoiler:'''Jeanne:''' (''after seeing the videotape of Serena May'') They told me that she died while giving birth. Those lying cock-knockers…]]

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Madison's husband is introduced lying on his bed in the middle of the day, watching TV and acting cold towards her.

* UncannyValley: While [[spoiler: under Gabriel's control, Madison's body moves in a pretty unsettling manner as if she were a puppet]], by [[spoiler: dislocating Madison's limbs and having her walk in an erratic fashion]]. Sure enough, it does contribute to the creepiness of the movie's BigBad and serves to showcase the terrifying force of nature [[spoiler: Gabriel]] represents. Impressively, the scenes where he walks or runs were done by professional dancer and contortionist Marina Mazepa, without any use of CGI.

''Malignant'' is a horror film directed by [[Creator/JamesWan James Wan]], which marks the director's first original horror film since ''Film/TheConjuring'' in 2013. It was released on September 10th, 2021.

''Malignant'' is a supernatural horror film directed by [[Creator/JamesWan James Wan]], which marks the director's first original horror film since ''Film/TheConjuring'' in 2013. It was released on September 10th, 2021.

* {{Giallo}}: Has elements of one: Striking visual palette with lots of red, [[PoliceAreUseless the police being mostly incompetent]], lots of graphic violence with the killer using an unusually sharp and gaudy object against their victims, a helpless female protagonist tortured on both fronts by the main antagonist, tons of MoodLighting, Gabriel using a ConspicuousTrenchcoat and black gloves as part of his outfit, the protagonist having visions of the murderer, an old abandoned building hiding terrible secrets -- many of the tropes are here through and through.

* AbandonedHospital: The facility where Gabriel's victims worked together has been closed for quite some time.

* PsychoLesbian: The woman who harasses Madison in her [[spoiler:prison cell]].

* StealthParody: Some have speculated (including ''WebVideo/RedLetterMedia'') that the movie may have been a practical joke by director James Wan. The first two acts, while still rather dark and spooky (like Wan's most well-known films such as ''Film/TheConjuring''), also feature a lot of comedic misdirections and satirical jokes; this all escalates into a ''bonkers'' third act, [[spoiler:packed with over-the-top actiony violence, a rather bizarre-looking villain (Madison's conjoined twin brother who is literally sticking out of the back of her head), and multiple out-of-place looking extras, such as the woman who looks like she just walked out of a 70s disco with a giant afro to boot. It's certainly a tonal whiplash compared to Wan's previous movies]].

* BlindingBangs: Gabriel evokes this [[spoiler: due to coming out of the back of Madison's head.]]

* KnifeNut: Gabriel uses a blade [[spoiler:made from a sharpened trophy.]]

* SpiritualSuccessor: The movie being a gory thriller about power borne of mental trauma [[spoiler: involving multiple identities inhabiting the same body and having slight touches of a superhero origin story towards the end]] has drawn comparisons to M. Night Shyamalan's ''Film/{{Split}}''.

* {{Leitmotif}}: Safari Riot's cover of Pixies "Where is My Mind" represents Gabriel.

* PsychoElectro: Gabriel can weaponize his KillTheLights power, including blowing out lightbulbs, disabling an electric lock and[[spoiler: causing a guard's pacemaker to explode.]]

* AnachronismStew:

* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: Dr. Weaver conflates parasitic twins (where an embryo does not fully separate into twins, but rather than developing into conjoined twins, one half maintains dominant development over the other) and teratomas (a type of tumor composed of diverse tissue types, such as hair, teeth, muscle and bone). While there is ''some'' belief that fetal teratomas ''might'' represent a form of parasitic twin, that is not accepted medical fact, and even ''if'' one were to accept that [[spoiler:Gabriel is a parasitic twin teratoma]], that is a ''far'' cry from being a [[spoiler:fully sapient conjoined twin that can survive the surgery that was meant to remove him.]] To say nothing of the fact that [[spoiler:pushing Gabriel's face, which retains enough skull that he still has ''teeth'', into Madison's cranium and sealing it back up, would probably have a negative prognosis for Madison in the long term at least.]]
** ZigZagged at another point. It's impossible for identical parasitic twins [[spoiler: to be of opposite genders like Gabriel and Madison are. However, Gabriel is so grossly absorbed into Madison's body that he has virtually no biological sex, and it's possible that he just adopted a male identity and name. Ergo, the same phenomenon that can occur with real-life identical twins where one of them is transgender.]]
*** This is also supported by the fact that [[spoiler: Gabriel's voice, his only inherently male characteristic, is [[InnerMonologue entirely telepathic]], so he could really use ''any'' voice he wants.]]

* StealthParody: Some have speculated (including ''WebVideo/RedLetterMedia'') that the movie may have been a practical joke by director James Wan, as the first two acts of the film are rather dark and spooky like Wan's most well-known films such as ''Film/TheConjuring'', but then [[spoiler:the third act goes off the rails into over-the-top actiony violence with a rather bizarre-looking villain (Madison's conjoined twin brother who is literally sticking out of the back of her head) and multiple out-of-place looking extras, such as the woman who looks like she just walked out of a 70s disco with a giant afro to boot. It's certainly a tonal whiplash]].

** ZigZagged at another point. It's impossible for identical parasitic twins [[spoiler: to be of opposite genders like Gabriel and Madison are. However, Gabriel is so grossly absorbed into Madison's body that he has virtually no biological sex, and it's possible that he just adopted a male identity and name. Ergo, the same phenomenon that can occur with real life identical twins where one of them is transgender.]]

* ConfusionFu: What Gabriel's fighting style looks like. [[spoiler:Considering he's operating a human body ''backwards'' with extreme efficiency, any sort of movement, whether traversal or combat, is so unsettling and downright antithetical to how a human being moves that no one can counter him.]]

* FriendsRentControl: Madison seems to be a nurse, while her husband is only seen sitting around the house on a work day. They somehow live in an enormous Victorian house in Seattle. Oddly, the house looks pretty modest from the outside.

* SoundtrackDissonance: The film is supposed to be scary, but its soundtrack constantly undercuts the horror of the events. Many scene transitions feature an upbeat, thumping rock song that remixes the Pixies' "Where Is My Mind?"

* StealthParody: Some have speculated (including ''WebVideo/RedLetterMedia'') that the movie may have been a practical joke by director James Wan, as the the first two acts of the film are rather dark and spooky like Wan's most well known films such as ''Film/TheConjuring'', but then [[spoiler:the third act goes off the rails into over-the-top actiony violence with a rather bizarre-looking villain (Madison's conjoined twin brother who is literally sticking out of the back of her head) and multiple out-of-place looking extras, such as the woman who looks like she just walked out of a 70s disco with a giant afro to boot. It's certainly a tonal whiplash]].

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Madison's boyfriend is introduced lying on his bed in the middle of the day, watching TV and acting cold towards her.

* FriendsRentControl: Madison seems to be a nurse, while her boyfriend is only seen sitting around the house on a work day. They somehow live in an enormous Victorian house in Seattle. Oddly, the house looks pretty modest from the outside.