Director – Gerard Johnstone (Housebound, Terry Teo)
Starring – Allison Williams (Get Out, Horizon Line), Violet McGraw (Doctor Sleep, The Haunting of Hill House), and Ronny Chieng (Godzilla vs Kong, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings)
Release Date – 2022
Rating – 3.5/5
Blumhouse is not a company that I closely follow but when they release something I do like I absolutely fucking love it. Movies like Black Phone, Freaky, and Happy Death Day are movies that I absolutely love while films like Paranormal Activity, Halloween, The Invisible Man are films that I could barely finish. With that being said, there is more films from Blumhouse that I don’t care for when compared to the ones I love so I tend not to get too excited when they announce a new project.
When I originally saw the press release for M3gan I was a little unimpressed with it all. However, as more and more of the film was revealed I found myself just a little curious about the film. Prior to the film’s physical release I received a massive press kit with a lot of goodies and trinkets inspired by the film which did put me in the mindset to see it. When I was finally able to check it out I found myself impressed with it. I could see this being the beginning of a new franchise for horror fans.
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows a toy designer who is working with cutting edge technology and is under a tough deadline to deliver the next hit when she is assigned custody of her niece after her sister and husband die in an auto accident. She gets the idea to combine a prototype with AI to create a friend for children that helps them learn while giving the parents a bit of freedom. However, as M3gan learns more and more about what she really is and her connection to the little girl she finds herself crossing the line to protect her regardless of the body count she leaves in her path. **Spoiler Alert**
I went into M3gan expecting to find a dull remake of Child’s Play with a gender flipped doll. I was fully convinced that the story was centered around the production of the AI doll but the evil consciousness of one of the creators was transferred into it. I was wrong. The movie was very straight forward and gave us a more modern spin on the classic killer doll sub-genre that hasn’t been as fun since the Child’s Play franchise took over. I really enjoyed it and look forward to seeing where we will be going next because there is no way Blumhouse and the others involved will sleep on the popularity of this film.
The acting in this one is probably the weakest aspect of the film. All of the characters are extremely annoying. They are unlikable from beginning to end and when the bloodshed finally hits you are fully prepared to watch them all die in the most gruesome fashion. The cast is one of the reasons behind this. The characters are very one dimensional and their performances are very lackluster. The lack of energy and intensity made most of the scenes have less of an impact on the viewer than it was intended. As much as I enjoyed this one I still found myself rolling my eyes during the death scenes or scenes with any sort of action due to the casts lack of commitment. The film would be one of my favorites in my collection if the cast would have gave viewers some characters that we could enjoy. The lack of personalities and likability really held this one back.
The story for this one was nothing like I expected but did follow the trailer and marketing material. We follow a children’s companion with AI as it becomes self-aware and too close to her human. This results in several deaths associated with her and the company she was manufactured at. It was very modern and piggybacked off the idea that smart devices are becoming so prevalent relied upon that it makes sense it would eventually make it’s way to something like this. When you mix that with the broken family and rebuilding after the loss of a mother/sister and how they relied on the M3gan unit to repair them instead of bonding in a natural way. I really liked the story and how it was done I just wish some of the characters were likable.
Finally, the film has some enjoyable deaths that fit the film wonderfully but they are not as imaginative as I would have liked. They are bloody, violent and work with the story very well but if you are looking for plenty of blood and gore then you will be very disappointed. With that being said, the visual effects are great and the practical, though limited, looked great as well. Overall, M3gan is not my favorite Blumhouse production but I liked it. The story has so much potential to become a classic horror franchise and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here. Check it out.
