Malignant
New Line Cinema | Release Date: September 10, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
51
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
11
Negative:
5
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
Screen RantDebopriyaa DuttaSep 12, 2021
Drenched in a Suspiria-like red, Malignant has its remarkable horror moments, but ultimately succumbs to a tale that is more style than substance. Read full review
60
Film ThreatAlex SavelievSep 11, 2021
Wan has style to spare, his direction brimming with confidence and his by-now-familiar trademarks. Read full review
60
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisSep 10, 2021
None of this is especially scary, but, if you’re patient, Wan delivers the kind of hilariously sick climax that only a sadist would spoil. Or envisage. Read full review
60
We Got This CoveredScott CampbellSep 10, 2021
Malignant is messy, chaotic, ridiculous and quite possibly the most insane movie you'll see this year, but James Wan doesn't just know that; he uses it to his advantage. Read full review
60
EmpireHanna FlintSep 10, 2021
There’s a hodge-podge of ideas going on that don’t always seamlessly fit, but Wan’s homage to ’80s horror and Wallis’s fretful performance, has a bloody lot of guts. Read full review
60
The GuardianCharles BramescoSep 10, 2021
If only they’d put fuller faith in the true nature of their premise, and leaned all the way into the kookier side of body horror. Instead of trying for the sophistication of Cronenberg and coming up short, they’d be better off embracing the near-absurdity of lower-rent cult objects like Basket Case from the start. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesMichael OrdoñaSep 10, 2021
If you can hang with the slow gestation of the first hour or so of Malignant, the final third may grow on you. Read full review
50
IGNTom JorgensenSep 11, 2021
Though visually engaging, Malignant can’t overcome the genre identity crisis at its core. Read full review
42
IndieWireJude DrySep 9, 2021
A humorless melodrama about a woman haunted by her past, Malignant sits somewhere between a slasher, a ghost story, and a possession flick, never fully embracing either. The result is a confusing melange of genre archetypes that lacks a clear point of view, even a surface-level stylistic one. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleJenny NulfSep 13, 2021
The camp in Malignant is fun, but if only the camp was all the film needed to be as monumental as Wan’s previous horror entries. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckSep 9, 2021
The film might have been outrageously bizarre fun if it displayed any humor or ironic self-consciousness, but everything is played so straight that viewers will find themselves laughing not with the film but at it. The characterizations are paper-thin, the dialogue is perfunctory, and the performances are, to put it charitably, adequate at best. Read full review
More From This Movie

51 Critic Reviews

6.4 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL