Movies
‘Malignant’: James Wan Says His New Horror Movie is Inspired by Bava, Argento, and Cronenberg
Earlier this week we were treated to the first trailer for James Wan‘s new horror movie Malignant, which is coming to both theaters and HBO Max on September 10, 2021.
In the film, “Paralyzed by shocking visions of grisly murders, Madison’s (Annabelle Wallis) torment worsens as she discovers that her waking dreams are in fact terrifying realities.”
The trailer presents Malignant as something of a supernatural slasher, and James Wan revealed some of his influences over on Facebook this week, which include Giallo inspirations.
Wan writes, “I don’t quite know how to describe this one, except I wanted to take this opportunity (in between my two big, fishy films) to do something smaller and different. A genre bender/blender — that harks back to my gritty, indie root.
“It’s an original story, but inspired by my love for Bava, Argento, DePalma, Cronenberg…and the kind of 80’s horror/thrillers you would discover on the back shelves of video-stores!”
The cast includes Annabelle Wallis, Maddie Hasson, Mckenna Grace, Jake Abel, George Young, Ingrid Bisu, Michole Briana White and Jacqueline McKenzie.
Before updating the video nasty Faces of Death, director Daniel Goldhaber and writer Isa Mazzei explored the dangers of online life in tech-thriller Cam, their feature debut that was acquired by Netflix in 2018 after making waves on the festival circuit.
At the end of last year, the Netflix exclusive quietly departed from the streaming platform, left without another streaming home.
It’s not an isolated story; Mike Flanagan’s Hush also left streaming entirely for a period until it was finally picked up on both physical media and other streaming services.
While the tech-thriller currently isn’t available to watch on Netflix, Tubi, Hulu, or any other platforms, that’s not a problem for Cam thanks to a very cool move by Goldhaber: the director has made his breakout film accessible to watch online for free via his website.
As his site notes: “CAM is unfortunately not currently available to view on any platforms, so you can watch it here if you like :).“
No subscriptions or fees necessary, just hit play.
Cam follows Alice (Madeline Brewer), who works as an online cam girl obsessed with her ranking on the cam site. The higher her ranking goes, the more it draws unwanted attention, and Alice soon finds herself replaced on her own show with a doppelganger.
Written by Mazzei, a former camgirl, it uses the horror thriller premise to examine the life of a sex worker; Alice’s career ambition is directly at odds with the shame it brings to her family, and how she tries to spare them from it by keeping them in the dark. It only compounds her danger when the doppelganger enters the equation in Goldhaber’s engaging thriller.
For a deep dive into the treacherous world of Cam, listen to Horror Queers’ episode on it now.
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