Movies
The Return of Gabriel? “Conversations Happening” About a Potential ‘Malignant’ Sequel
James Wan cut loose and went wild with this year’s HBO Max offering Malignant, a film that introduced Wan’s most bizarre horror villain to date. I of course won’t spoil anything for anyone who hasn’t yet gotten around to seeing Malignant, but the film’s reveal of precisely who and what “Gabriel” is was one of this year’s most wonderfully bonkers treats for horror fans.
So will Gabriel ever return for a sequel? Wan’s movies tend to spawn sequels, and in a new chat with Screen Rant this week, Malignant‘s star notes that a follow-up is on the table.
At the very least, “conversations” are happening…
Annabelle Wallis, who plays the film’s central character Madison Mitchell, tells the site, “There’s plenty of ideas swirling around. We were very, very flattered by the reception and I think taken aback by the reception. So yeah, there’s lots of conversations happening.”
Speaking with Bloody Disgusting this past September, meanwhile, Wan himself noted that he’s not sure if he’ll ever again get the freedom to make a crazy movie like Malignant.
Wan told BD’s Meagan Navarro, “I went out to do something original that wasn’t based on an IP, but still be inspired by all the stuff that I love, all those influences that I have in my life and hark back to the movies that I broke out with at the start of my career. I wanted to go back and make a movie for the fans, for the horror fans, the hardcore horror fans that have been around that have supported me and said, “Hey, I haven’t forgotten you guys because I’m one of you guys,” and I want to go back and do something like that again.”
“And listen, I don’t know when I’ll ever get the chance to do something as crazy and outrageous as this again, so I’ll take this opportunity,” Wan added at the time.
Perhaps Wan will pass the baton over to another filmmaker to make a Malignant sequel? Nothing is officially happening at this time, but we’ll keep you posted if we hear anything more.
As of today, Malignant is now available on Blu-ray!
A contemporary reimagining of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story Herbert West: Reanimator is on the way, and Deadline has unveiled the first look at the new Herbert West and the pathologist drawn to his orbit.
Adam Simon (The Haunting in Connecticut, “Salem”) and Tim Metcalfe (The Haunting in Connecticut, Kalifornia) penned the script. The original screenplay and storyline come from Jade Sandberg Wallace.
Michael Grossman (“The Originals”, “Pretty Little Liars”) directs.
The new images introduce star Joseph Morgan (“Vampire Diaries“), who plays “brilliant surgeon and scientist Herbert West, who is obsessed with creating a serum to reanimate the dead.” Katie Cassidy (Speed Demon) stars opposite as the pathologist with a troubled past who joins his efforts.
Together, they prove that conquering death may be the ultimate sin against life itself.
The film’s official synopsis: “As a child, Herbert West watches his father Peter reanimate his dead mother Judith in a secret basement lab — only for Judith to mortally wound Peter and nearly kill Herbert before Peter shoots her. The trauma leaves its mark on Herbert, but so does one final image: his mother’s finger, twitching after death. Thirty years later, Herbert West is a brilliant, secretive surgeon still chasing his father’s obsession.
“Pathologist Kate Locke arrives in town and is drawn into his orbit — first through a spark at a hospital fundraiser, then through his secret lab, where he reveals a serum capable of reanimating severed tissue. Kate, hiding a dark past of her own, is thrilled rather than horrified, and moves into West’s mansion to work alongside him. Their early experiments on a cadaver succeed only briefly. West concludes that dead tissue is the problem — they need something fresher.”
Supporting cast includes Scott Aiello, Ira J Amyx, Randall Newsome, Emma Reinagal, James D. Bryce, Kathryn A Bentley, Jack Lancaster, Amy Holland Pennell, John Pierson, Mindy Shaw, Eric Dean White, Tristan Wilder Hallet, Adrienne Lamping, Aaron Crippen, and Drew Patterson.
Makeup artist Jeff Lewis (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “Star Trek: Enterprise”) and cousin Roger Lewis are heading the production via their newly established Woodlake Entertainment.
Lovecraft’s short story, first serialized in Home Brew magazine in 1922, is the first among his works to mention the fictional Miskatonic University. It was most famously adapted into a 1985 horror movie from Stuart Gordon, starring Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West.
Herbert West: Reanimator is set in Alton, Illinois, where production is now underway.
Herbert West: Reanimator. Photo credit: Matt Lief Anderson
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