I can’t really call myself a fan of most of James Wan’s previous works, (other than maybe Saw) but for his latest entry in Malignant, I applaud him for trying something different with the horror genre. Now whether what we got in this film was intentionally campy or not is up for some debate. I’m going to give Wan the benefit of the doubt as an accomplished filmmaker and say that he knows campiness and horror movie schlock and how to make it. The opening scene of Malignant should be some indication that James Wan is well aware of the tone he’s creating in this film. The castle-like hospital is much too grand on a dark cliff side, the line delivery and camera angles are so over the top and exaggerated, and the dialogue is far too cheesy for Wan to not be in on this with us. While I may not care for his Conjuring-style horror, I can say that Wan is definitely a competent director who can put together a coherent story…I just think with this film, he didn’t want to. (And I’m kind of on board with that!) The acting, the writing, and story are outright bad, but somehow the insane energy this movie generates is enough to soak up a small portion of that, either leaving audiences soured on it or with a lot of laughs and a change of pace. Some scenes were definitely made with care and were there for fun, while others just needed to exist to keep it moving. Marketing could play a huge role in this film’s reception as I for one nearly skipped it because it looked like more of the same, which it was, but with a little something extra sprinkled on it. I won’t even bother with a small synopsis because the premise is so goofy that it doesn’t really matter, but I will say I wasn’t mad after I saw it; I laughed, I cringed, hell, you might even say I was entertained. See it in theaters or on HBO Max and see what your take on this divisive film is.