As the co-creator of the Saw and Insidious franchises, not to mention the architect of the entire Conjuring Universe, horror fans thought they had a pretty good idea of what to expect going into James Wan’s Malignant, with the filmmaker returning to the genre that first brought him to prominence after his detour into blockbuster cinema saw him deliver billion-dollar hits Fast & Furious 7 and Aquaman.
Of course, anyone to have seen Malignant knows that most definitely wasn’t the case. Without a doubt one of the most bonkers studio movies to come along in a long time, Wan evidently relished in using his cache and clout within the industry to make exactly the movie he’d envisioned in his head, which just so happened to be completely and utterly bonkers.
The third act in particular is a shining example of deliriously unhinged cinematic what-the-f*ckery, and as you can see below, Malignant has a huge supporter in horror icon Stephen King.
King is no stranger to outlandish plot twists and rug-pulls, but not even he could have predicted where Malignant was headed. The movie keeps you guessing until the beginning of the third act, where it suddenly pivots and barrels in a direction that not a single person could have seen coming. Unfortunately, it flopped hard at the box office, but a reputation as an enduring cult classic is a given.