Malignant (2013) Directed by Brian Avenet-Bradley

This is not your typical and average horror flick. It's actually more like an art-house movie, with its unusual story.

I'm all for creativity and original film-making but I however still have to say that this movie doesn't always work out. It's a movie with a more subtle type of story, involving themes such as paranoia and even science-fiction elements but the movie just never manages to turn into a tense, mysterious or engaging enough one.

By all means, with its paranoia this movie should work out as a great tense and mysterious one but it for some reason never does. It's actually hard to put my finger on in this case, as to why it doesn't work out as such. It's maybe because the movie loves to create mystery but without ever focusing on any good horror or drama. There is just mystery but never a sense of real urgency and despair as well.

It's still not a terrible movie to watch. It's actually still a perfectly watchable one and please don't let me calling this movie more like an 'art-house' one scare you off. It's just a far from typical and formulaic entry but it never turns into a 'weird' or overly complicated one to watch as well, as other art-house movies of course often love to do.

It's maybe even a bit of a problem for the movie that it isn't a more complicated one with its story. The story is unusual and original but it still is a pretty straightforward one as well. It only involves a handful of different characters and at times you are wondering if the movie is even really going anywhere with its story. The story lacks a real good point in some regards and it perhaps would have been better and more engaging to watch all if the movie made some better use of its metaphors at parts.

But oh well, it luckily still has Brad Dourif in it, to spice things up a little bit more. He's always great and fun to watch as a mad villain and this movie is no exception on that. Not that it's his greatest role or anything but he nevertheless is good and amusing to watch.

It remains a good movie to watch if you are in the mood for something different and original but it still remains a far from perfect movie or a must-see by any means.

5/10

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