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‘Malignant’: Has James Wan Created Yet Another Horror Icon With Gabriel?

Published

3 years ago

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What makes a memorable horror icon? Since the legendary slashers sliced through pop culture at the end of the 20th century, filmmakers and studios alike have constantly tried to capture audiences with new horror icons, hoping to kickstart a franchise of films starring their beloved creations.

The most recent nightmarish characters to be admitted into the horror hall of fame seem to be Bill Skarsgard’s menacing Pennywise, Leigh Whannell’s twisted Billy the Puppet, James Wan’s haunting Annabelle, and Michael Doughetry’s loveable Sam from Trick ‘r Treat.

With Wan back on the horror scene with the jaw-dropping Malignant, could Gabriel be the next modern Horror icon? 

James Wan has a pretty great track record when it comes to creating modern icons. Being responsible for some of the 21st century’s most iconic horror franchises, Wan is a master at his craft. Starting with 2004’s Saw, the iconic director shocked moviegoers with this twisted survival horror. With Saw came the memorable introduction of Billy the Puppet – the only creepy doll to truly give Chucky a run for his money. Next up, Wan brought horror fans the terrifying Mary Shaw with the highly underrated Dead Silence. Using an arsenal of horrifying ventriloquist dolls, this spectral ventriloquist doesn’t get enough love. Moving on from the horror of puppetry, Insidious conjured the absolutely terrifying lipstick demon. Everything from his signature “Tulips” music track to his blood-red face pattern made this creature extremely notable.

Next up came The Conjuring, where Wan gave audiences his twisted interpretation of the real-life Annabelle doll. Said doll has gone on to star in three stand-alone spin-offs. Annabelle’s harrowing porcelain face has become a staple of modern horror. As if Annabelle wasn’t enough, Wan went on to bring audiences the haunting Nun character with The Conjuring 2. Her terrifyingly pale makeup combined with Bonnie Aarons’ menacing performance inducted her in the horror cinema hall of fame. After The Conjuring 2, Wan took a vacation to the depths of the ocean with Aquaman before returning to the horror scene with the instantly memorable Malignant. 

To understand what seems to lead to the acceptance of a new horror icon, we need to look back at when it hasn’t worked. Films like The Gallows repeatedly tried to market their slasher Charlie in comparison with the greats of Krueger and Voorhees. Immediately pushing audiences to expect a horror character to be in line with the classics is a death wish. Jason and Freddy weren’t created with anticipation of being legends, they grew into that status. 

The Malignant marketing was quite infamous amongst the horror community, barely showing anything regarding the third act of the film and even hiding many of the slasher elements. As more and more viewers experienced Wan’s newest scarefest, it became very clear why the secrets were kept at bay…

*Spoilers for Malignant will follow*

Malignant’s greatest kept secret is that it actually is a bonkers, all-out slasher featuring a backwards-walking, acrobatic, disfigured, dagger-wielding creature that literally lives on the back of protagonist Madison’s head, dubbed “Gabriel.” Many of Gabriel’s introductory kills are shrouded in shadow, hiding the true extent of his nightmarish appearance. As Wan unwraps the mysteries behind his newest horror character, Gabriel truly shines in all his twisted glory. 

Let’s run through the horror icon checklist…

SHOCKING STYLE

All horror icons are instantly recognizable by appearance. Green and red sweaters immediately scream Freddy Krueger. Hockey mask means Voorhees. William Shatner mask means Myers. Let’s take a look at Gabriel. 

  • Creepy cloak 
  • Absolutely disgusting face
  • Signature dagger weapon
  • Extremely unique movement
  • Twisted connection to final girl
  • Long dark hair
  • Iconic movement 

Actress Ingrid Bisu, who plays Winnie in the film, explained that creating Gabriel’s iconic movement was a combination between several actors, one being well-known horror actor “Twisty” Troy James (Channel Zero, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark), the other the talented Marina Mazepa (The Unholy) . “It was a combo of two of them. We met them, and they started demonstrating things in the office. It blew my mind. They really brought it. I feel like they made our vision come to life because we can only imagine so much of that movement, but neither of us can do it. Both of them are absolutely incredible.” You can read more behind the scenes insight about Gabriel’s physicality in Meagan Navarro’s piece on the film.

TERRIFYING TUNES

From John Carpenter’s absolutely iconic “Theme from Halloween,” to the razor-sharp symphony of the Psycho shower sequence, each of these memorable characters has been accompanied by a fantastic signature score. In Malignant, Gabriel is accompanied by a wonderfully moody score from Joseph Bishara and a hellish remix of the Pixies’ “Where is My Mind.” Much like US’s “I Got 5 On It” and Insidious‘ “Tip-Toe Through the Tulips,” Wan’s newest film turns a relatively normal song into a nightmarish symphony. 

POP CULTURE POWER

Last but not least, all horror icons seem to be swept away by various lanes of pop culture. Due to the universal appreciation and knowledge of these legendary characters, memes, products, and parodies are spun out like clockwork. In Gabriel’s case, his legacy has already fallen into the hands of the meme-creators of Twitter:

Fans of the character have also started producing fan-art, a tell-tale sign that a horror character is resonating with audiences. 

Only time will tell if Gabriel from Malignant will live on in horror infamy. I expect Halloween and future comic conventions to hopefully be filled with creative attempts at dressing as the double-faced killer. With an iconic look, killer score, and already influential pop culture impact, it’s safe to say James Wan may have gifted us yet another entry into Horror’s Hall of Fame. 

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Editorials

Finding Faith and Violence in ‘The Book of Eli’ 14 Years Later

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23 hours ago

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April 22, 2024

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Having grown up in a religious family, Christian movie night was something that happened a lot more often than I care to admit. However, back when I was a teenager, my parents showed up one night with an unusually cool-looking DVD of a movie that had been recommended to them by a church leader. Curious to see what new kind of evangelical propaganda my parents had rented this time, I proceeded to watch the film with them expecting a heavy-handed snoozefest.

To my surprise, I was a few minutes in when Denzel Washington proceeded to dismember a band of cannibal raiders when I realized that this was in fact a real movie. My mom was horrified by the flick’s extreme violence and dark subject matter, but I instantly became a fan of the Hughes Brothers’ faith-based 2010 thriller, The Book of Eli. And with the film’s atomic apocalypse having apparently taken place in 2024, I think this is the perfect time to dive into why this grim parable might also be entertaining for horror fans.

Originally penned by gaming journalist and The Walking Dead: The Game co-writer Gary Whitta, the spec script for The Book of Eli was already making waves back in 2007 when it appeared on the coveted Blacklist. It wasn’t long before Columbia and Warner Bros. snatched up the rights to the project, hiring From Hell directors Albert and Allen Hughes while also garnering attention from industry heavyweights like Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman.

After a series of revisions by Anthony Peckham meant to make the story more consumer-friendly, the picture was finally released in January of 2010, with the finished film following Denzel as a mysterious wanderer making his way across a post-apocalyptic America while protecting a sacred book. Along the way, he encounters a run-down settlement controlled by Bill Carnegie (Gary Oldman), a man desperate to get his hands on Eli’s book so he can motivate his underlings to expand his empire. Unwilling to let this power fall into the wrong hands, Eli embarks on a dangerous journey that will test the limits of his faith.

SO WHY IS IT WORTH WATCHING?

Judging by the film’s box-office success, mainstream audiences appear to have enjoyed the Hughes’ bleak vision of a future where everything went wrong, but critics were left divided by the flick’s trope-heavy narrative and unapologetic religious elements. And while I’ll be the first to admit that The Book of Eli isn’t particularly subtle or original, I appreciate the film’s earnest execution of familiar ideas.

For starters, I’d like to address the religious elephant in the room, as I understand the hesitation that some folks (myself included) might have about watching something that sounds like Christian propaganda. Faith does indeed play a huge part in the narrative here, but I’d argue that the film is more about the power of stories than a specific religion. The entire point of Oldman’s character is that he needs a unifying narrative that he can take advantage of in order to manipulate others, while Eli ultimately chooses to deliver his gift to a community of scholars. In fact, the movie even makes a point of placing the Bible in between equally culturally important books like the Torah and Quran, which I think is pretty poignant for a flick inspired by exploitation cinema.

Sure, the film has its fair share of logical inconsistencies (ranging from the extent of Eli’s Daredevil superpowers to his impossibly small Braille Bible), but I think the film more than makes up for these nitpicks with a genuine passion for classic post-apocalyptic cinema. Several critics accused the film of being a knockoff of superior productions, but I’d argue that both Whitta and the Hughes knowingly crafted a loving pastiche of genre influences like Mad Max and A Boy and His Dog.

Lastly, it’s no surprise that the cast here absolutely kicks ass. Denzel plays the title role of a stoic badass perfectly (going so far as to train with Bruce Lee’s protégée in order to perform his own stunts) while Oldman effortlessly assumes a surprisingly subdued yet incredibly intimidating persona. Even Mila Kunis is remarkably charming here, though I wish the script had taken the time to develop these secondary characters a little further. And hey, did I mention that Tom Waits is in this?

AND WHAT MAKES IT HORROR ADJACENT?

Denzel’s very first interaction with another human being in this movie results in a gory fight scene culminating in a face-off against a masked brute wielding a chainsaw (which he presumably uses to butcher travelers before eating them), so I think it’s safe to say that this dog-eat-dog vision of America will likely appeal to horror fans.

From diseased cannibals to hyper-violent motorcycle gangs roaming the wasteland, there’s plenty of disturbing R-rated material here – which is even more impressive when you remember that this story revolves around the bible. And while there are a few too many references to sexual assault for my taste, even if it does make sense in-universe, the flick does a great job of immersing you in this post-nuclear nightmare.

The excessively depressing color palette and obvious green screen effects may take some viewers out of the experience, but the beat-up and lived-in sets and costume design do their best to bring this dead world to life – which might just be the scariest part of the experience.

Ultimately, I believe your enjoyment of The Book of Eli will largely depend on how willing you are to overlook some ham-fisted biblical references in order to enjoy some brutal post-apocalyptic shenanigans. And while I can’t really blame folks who’d rather not deal with that, I think it would be a shame to miss out on a genuinely engaging thrill-ride because of one minor detail.

With that in mind, I’m incredibly curious to see what Whitta and the Hughes Brothers have planned for the upcoming prequel series starring John Boyega…

There’s no understating the importance of a balanced media diet, and since bloody and disgusting entertainment isn’t exclusive to the horror genre, we’ve come up with Horror Adjacent – a recurring column where we recommend non-horror movies that horror fans might enjoy.

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