Malignant’s been the talk of the town lately, and Melvin & Dan couldn’t wait to finally jump on this crazy new horror flick from acclaimed director James Wan! Tune into this laughter-filled episode where the two discuss one of the wildest movies they’ve covered for Cinematic Doctrine! However, tread carefully with this episode! Both of us recommend checking the movie out (if fun violent horror-mysteries are your thing) before having the plot spoiled! It’s a great payoff if you’re looking for something wicked this spooky season!
Topics:
- Melvin calls Daniel about his extended car warranty.
- Discussing Yahtzee from Zero Punctuation’s pitch for Duke Nukem Forever, Michael Bay’s Pain & Gain, and how Melvin isn’t in tune with Film Twitter so he misses a lot of the happenings.
- Introducing Malignant [12:29]
- Melvin explains the challenge of watching Malignant, and how it’s a process of progressive improvement.
- The online discourse over whether Malignant is considered ‘giallo’, a classic sub-genre of horror.
- Malignant is perfectly balanced between ‘outright silly’ and ‘demanding to be taken seriously’.
- Daniel on the last 15-20 minutes of the movie, “It’s awe inspiring.”
- Reminder: If you have not seen Malignant and it sounds like your thing, definitely check it out before we start talking spoilers [43:36]
- Working through the mystery of Malignant, covering all the bases, and building up to the grand finale.
- Daniel, “This is the most awkwardly moving movie monster I’ve ever seen.”
- Also Daniel, “This movie brings joy, as it should, as James Wan intended.”
- How sometimes things not making sense is part of what makes something extremely fun, entertaining, and outright better than over explaining every detail.
- In detailing the ending of the film, and covering the various spoilers throughout Malignant, we start to see how clever the writing is in leading the audience down several different paths.
Recommendations:
- Paul Miller and David Powlison’s “A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World“
- Blair Witch (Video Game)
- Vice’s “Dark Side of the Ring“
Malignant is Rated R for strong horror violence and gruesome images, and for language. It features Annabelle Wallis, Maddie Hasson, George Young, Michole Briana White, Jean Louisa Kelly, Susanna Thompson, and Jacqueline McKenzie. Directed by James Wan. Malignant is currently available on HBOmax.
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Melvin Benson is the Founder, Editor-In-Chief, and Lead Host of Cinematic Doctrine. He’s written fiction and nonfiction for over a decade with short stories featured on the Creepypasta Wiki and Wattpad. His novelette Ethereal Temptation, a teen drama with a tinge of magical-realism, can be read for free here. His hope is to see King Jesus glorified as far as the east is from the west!
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