Tag Archives: James Wan

Movie review – M3gan

09 Thursday Feb 2023

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It’s been an interesting time for Hollywood horror films.
And by that we mean scary films with proper studio backing, budget, and distribution.
The first two immediate examples being Smileand Barbarian, their financial success matching (if not exceeding) their critical praise. And whilst 2 such films is nicely eyebrow raising, a 3rd means when we start compiling our “Top 10 horror films of the past 12 months” we won’t be scratching our heads as we lament it has been a “thin season”.
And that’s thanks – in part – to M3gan.
When the trailer first came out, it looked very Hollywood generic. But here’s the thing with the age in which we live. On reddit chats and the like, there are countless examples of Influencers scamming their way through life, expecting free products and services in exchange for “exposure bucks”.
But the extra kick in the balls about all that is, exposure – the right kind and the right amount – does have power.
And in the case of M3gan, it was a simple TikTok video of the robot doll in question doing a murder dance. People LOVED it. Then they copied it. And then they meme’d it.
And bam, just like that M3gan entered the mainstream consciousness. Even before the movie came out, people were noticing the one thing other people (ie: people familiar with the uncanny valley and/or Real Doll enthusiasts) have known for years. And that is, lifelike dolls are creepy AF.
Which is interesting, because as a sub-genre, Doll Horror, isn’t that well regarded here at Surgeons

Killer Dolls podcast

Mainly because the dolls are usually possessed (which is always a bit hokey) and smaller than your average human. And they may look unsettling (Anabelle) but for the most part they are cartoonishly ridiculous (Chucky) with their kills often played for laughs.
In fact, in recent memory the last good Doll Horror was The Boy, and that was twisty in that (spoiler alert) the doll in question was just an actual doll and nothing more. And lord knows there’s been plenty of robots in movies where said robot can kill because it has a circular saw attachment, or shoots lasers or sum such. But an android with superhuman strength (why do they always make these things so much stronger than us? They just need to be physically strong enough to mimic humans in the real world, why give them the power to tear a baby’s head off!?) and has the complexion of a sex doll? That’s new.
Mainly because “realistic” androids in movies and tv shows are usually portrayed by real people with (sometimes) slightly pale make up. So the unsettling/creep factor with M3gan is strong, but that alone a movie doesn’t make.

Is it any good?
Well two words, Chekhov’s Gun. But to explain what that is, and a whole lot more, with his take on the movie, here’s Chris Dawes…

Ah yes, Chekov’s Gun – the age-old theatrical trope that if a prop (in this case, an incomplete boxing robot) is mentioned in the first half of a story, it must be integral to the story’s final moments (and everybody was bot-fu fightiiiing…).
So all in all, is this a movie worth watching? Absolutely. Great dialogue, tight plotting, with enough gore and laughs to be both light and dark in all the right places. A solid night’s entertainment and well worth the price of cinema admission.
However, my criticism is this (AND MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD).
In the back of the film, M3GAN doesn’t so much turn on her creators as go full moustache twirling bond villain. Which, don’t get me wrong, makes for some hilariously snarky lines, but it is a very jarring character transition for a robot that was to this point, fairly HAL-like in the build up to her evilness. And I am pretty sure the reason for this dramatic shift is because James Wan and Co. accidentally made the bad guy way too sympathetic compakela ared to everyone else in the opening half of the film. Because here’s the thing – EVERY ADULT IN THIS MOVIE ABSOLUTELY FRACKING SUCKS, ESPECIALLY
THE PROTAGONIST. Gemma (played quite masterfully by Allison Williams) is an emotionally repressed, myopic computer
nerd who, despite showing no desire for any kind of family life, inexplicably demands that her recently orphaned niece (the child of her estranged sister) stay with her instead of her grandparents; makes no accommodations to her living situation to fit her niece in, neglects her while she goes through the worst possible kind of trauma, and only starts to see her as worth paying attention to
when it’s clear she can serve as an in-house focus group for M3GAN’s (a children’s toy designed with the combat prowess of John Wick, mind you) commercial prospects.
Off the back of that, once she makes the classic psycho-robot programming error of giving orders with ambiguous parameters (ie: protect the niece from all forms of physical and emotional harm) you absolutely understand why M3GAN goes the full death machine on the raging band of jerk-offs that are Gemma and her employers at the Funki Toy Company. Frankly, you are cheering her on. But that of course would make M3GAN’s inevitable defeat (or is it? DUN DUN DUUUUUUN!!!) unsatisfying for a popcorn picture vibe (The bad guy can’t be the good guy! What is this, a European film???).
So M3GAN, who is to this point the only character who has shown the niece any kind of emotional support (in a gut-punch of a scene that got some genuine sniffles out of the audience), suddenly becomes Chucky, and it took me out of it a bit.
Having said that, it’s still a hell of a ride. And Chekov’s boxing bot is kickass!
And now back to Ant Yee for the prognosis…


The Prognosis:


M3gan is a fun film. For horror buffs it’s not at all scary or gory, and as a hook, the premise and descent (into “madness”) of the titular character isn’t all that original. But it works and is very enjoyable, and a lot of that is thanks to the remarkable performance of the 2 actors Amie Donald (body) and Jenna Davis (voice) who bring her to life. That and the animatronics and the design work
that went into her. That was a home run too. Worth a short victory dance in fact.


i NB: In no way does M3gan actually resemble a sex doll – apart from being made up of the same weird rubbery silicon skin. (Surgeons of Horror legal disclaimer fulfilled).

  • Antony Yee and Chris Dawes

Movie review: Malignant (2021)

05 Friday Nov 2021

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Here’s the thing.

I’m a huge fan of James Wan’s previous work and in particular when he skews his lense with horror gaze.

There’s little wonder that he has so finely tuned his craft that franchises have been born from his visions, be it Saw; Insidious; or The Conjuring. I have no doubt that given the box office pull that Malignant received that there is a high chance that this too will go through similar motions.

There are a number of critics that have lapped up this latest outing from Wan, citing it as a bonkers masterpiece, but I personally struggle with this depiction, as my response to the film was one so jarring and disjointed that I felt constantly thrown out of the narrative, grappling to find something that I could connect with.

I guess that this detachment I felt was primarily the same reason that some people were praising the film. Wan and screenwriter Akela Cooper have fused a number of subgenres together to create a unique style in their storytelling. One of the most notable of these subgenres is giallo; an italian thriller and visually stunning movement that was spearheaded by Dario Argento, Mario Bava, and Lucio Fulci to name but a few.

I can’t fault the attempt in developing these styles to create what appears to be its own thing, and perhaps this is where the applause comes in, but scratch beneath the surface, the film suffers for having more style than substance. The narrative just doesn’t stick and the dialogue is incredibly ropey.

The concept itself reminded me of a hyper-realistic version of Stephen King’s The Dark Half with the whole conjoined twins thing, where the rejected disembodied twin’s dark energy resides from within, drawing forth all its negativity to enact revenge against those who conspired against him. 

In this instance, Maddison (Annabelle Wallis) is having nightmares of people being killed only to find that the next day that these dreams are reality. She is also on the verge of a breakdown, where she is slipping from the world and questioning everything that is going on around her. We slowly learn that there is more than meets the eye with her visions, and Maddison along with her sister, Sydney Lake (Maddison Hasson) try to uncover the truth behind it all, Their quest leads them to a crazed and unthinkable conclusion that may put both their lives at risk.
 

The Diagnosis:

At its heart, Malignant is heralded by a visionary director in James Wan, who continues to push the boundaries of filmmaking. And here he presents a palette of genres in the offering.

The result however is a curious mix that never fully resonates on screen; a case of where the heart and mind doesn’t necessarily communicate with each other.

There are glimmers of brilliance, but too often this is overshadowed by the visual flair which is laid on thickly, It comes down to a question of taste, and for me, for once Wan’s latest outing was too hard to swallow.

– Saul Muerte

Movie review: The Curse of the Weeping Woman

18 Thursday Apr 2019

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Taking place within the universe of The Conjuring, The Curse of the Weeping Woman (or The Curse of La Llorona internationally) is the first feature length work from director Michael Chaves. With strong casting choices throughout, what would be an otherwise typical film for the genre was transformed into a well-balanced, well-paced and thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Based upon the Mexican folk story ‘La Llorona’, or The Weeping Woman, who drowned her two sons in an act of revenge when jilted by her husband for a younger bride, La Llorona (Marisol Ramirez) was cursed to roam the Earth searching for children to replace those she lost. It is said that there is no escape from her once you hear her weeping and feel her tears against your skin.

Thus we find Anna (Linda Cardellini), a case worker and single mother to two children following the death of her husband, when Patricia (played by Patricia Velasquez who was Anck-Su-Namun in The Mummy Franchise… The Brendan Fraser Mummy Franchise… The good one) curses Cardellini’s children to be the next in La Llorona’s sights, leading her kids to get the fright of their short lives in a great little car sequence. Strong performances by Chris (Roman Christou) and his sister Sam (Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen) who deliver noteworthy scenes throughout the film.

Many innovative effects make an appearance with a fun sequence near the pool involving an umbrella, using simple masking techniques that would make Georges Méliès proud, but in the critical eye of our 4k resolution era may come off a little cheesy, yet I find myself applauding the filmmakers for allowing creative risks to be taken. Another moment that stays with you is an eerie bathroom scene will see you bathing using the buddy system.

The pace of the film takes a turn when Anna seeks out the assistance of former priest Rafael Olvera (Raymond Cruz) who completely steals the show with his dry wit and deadpan delivery that make you want to come back for more.

With cinematography by Hollywood royalty Michael Burgess and James Wan in the producer’s seat you know you’re in for a good time. Paying homage to recurring themes within the universe to connect stories in a way that can only advance its reach while at the same time terrifying audiences.

The Diagnosis:

Not quite scary enough to provoke cardiac arrest but enjoyable, particularly with a deadpan dose of Raymond Cruz.

  • Surgeon Richard Lovegrove & Anesthesiologist Kelsi Williams

Retrospective: Saw – 15 years on

19 Saturday Jan 2019

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Strip away all the torture devices and wash away all the blood-soaked, gore-infested mayhem that the franchise has become synonymous for and some of you maybe questioning what’s left? But with James Wan and Leigh Whannell’s original film that kick-started the whole Jigsaw frenzy the audience were treated to an exercise in constrained drama, flickered with tense, psychological elements that quite rightly projected the writer and director partnership into the Hollywood limelight as a result.

Part of Saw’s brilliance comes from the low-budget constraints that were placed on the making of the movie. Once the creative duo realised that the cheapest way to shoot a movie would be to have two actors in one room, this germ of an idea developed into the final product and the birth of Jigsaw and his twisted vision of justice.

Apparently the Jigsaw character began when Whannell feared that he had a brain tumour and pondered the notion of what he would do or need to do if he were only to have a year or two to live. This was the leaping point into the dark recesses of Jigsaws’ mind.

It’s this tightly shot, well structured movie that allowed Wan to develop his technique for manipulating lights and shadow to trick and deceive the audiences’ eye. He would harness this skill further with his sophomore film Dead Silence before working on his masterpiece, The Conjuring.

It wasn’t that easy getting budget for the movie though. With no luck gaining interest from their homeland in Australia, Wan and Whannell tried to taut their project in Los Angeles, but even then had to shoot a short feature to provide a proof of concept before getting any decent interest.
You have to applaud their bravado to. So intent were they in getting their vision made, they insisted on having both directing and acting duties respectively. In the end it took newly formed production outfit, Twisted Pictures to give them their desires and have been behind every Saw movie since.

So with one half of the acting team already cast in Whannell as the photographer with a complex past, the team needed a decent actor opposite him as Dr. Lawrence Gordon, a Doctor with an equally dubious past. In steps Cary Elwes, normally associated with his comical roles but proved worthwhile in this serious performance, more than holding his own and providing gravitas to the scenario.

The masterstroke comes with the casting of Tobin Bell as Jigsaw aka John Kramer, who simply owns his role and has propelled himself into horror movie history with his performance as the disturbed yet brilliant mind behind the various traps and tortuous devices throughout all the Saw movies.

So with the narrative played out with Adam and Dr. Lawrence wake up in a bathroom, chained to the floor with nothing but a corpse, a revolver, and a tape recorder to guide them on a journey that will test their metal and push them to the very limits of their intellect and perception.

Saw would be released in front of a Sundance audience for its initial premiere where Lionsgate picked up the distribution rights and the rest is history.

Since then, Wan has established a firm career in the director’s chair to the point hat he has been given the chance to give DC movies some decent crowd with Aquaman, and Whannell more recently carved his own success with Upgrade.

So for those who may have been apprehensive about checking out the origins of Jigsaw, before the bloodbath began, I’d recommend going back to the original source as you maybe pleasantly surprised by this outing with a clever, psychological thriller that is an example of how to shoot a low-budget movie with a lot of smarts and a decent narrative to keep the audience hooked.

It still stands strong 15 years on and my bet is that this will still be the case in another 15 years.

Movie review: Insidious – the last key

03 Tuesday Apr 2018

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It’s interesting how a certain film – when it ends – you know that tonally it. Has. Ended.

All films can continue of course, as happily ever after is a myth no matter how you look at it. But there are certain movies that – when they become franchised – make you not only go “why?” but “how?”. Ie: It’s original ending has a decisiveness that makes it very clear This Story Is Told.

A great example is The Matrix. If they truly intended Neo to continue being a protagonist they wouldn’t have made him Superman at the end of the first film. It was a problem that painted the Wachowski siblings into a corner for the sequels, and what’s more they never got around it. Not satisfactorily anyway. (Fortunately, they covered over that crack by making both sequels so incomprehensively bad you almost didn’t notice the pointless 10-minute fight sequences).

Another example is Insidious. The franchise that colours the letters of its logo randomly white and red. (well…if they’re not random, then they spell out INDOS SIIU – which sounds like a Star Wars character. Probably a Jedi of some sort).

At the end of the first film it pulls a now very classic/hackneyed (depending on your point-of-view) trope of having the bad guy “come back” (after being dealt with) to kill off a character when everyone thinks the terror is over.

In this case a side character who was sweet, old and psychic.

They then decided to make this character the lead in subsequent sequels – which was a problem. A problem compounded when they set movie 3 & 4 in the past, thereby making an elderly actress (Lin Shaye) play a dead woman who inexplicably looks older the younger she gets.

It would have been an easy fix had they planned it through better, but who knew that their tact to focus the sequels on the adventures of an elderly minor character would be a stroke of genius? Because Insidious is one of those rare birds that gets slightly better with each sequel.

Although a lot of its success can also be attributed to the fact that in terms of how they construct their scares, this series is an absolute masterclass in the James Wan Way. (Or JWW for short – it’s the MMA of horror film making!).

So where does this leave us with Insidious Chapter 4: The Last Key?

Setting wise we get to learn more about Shaye’s character (Elise) as it opens on her family life in 1953. It’s not a happy one. As a young girl she lives with her younger brother Christian, mother Audrey and father Gerald. Gerald is a security guard at the prison next door – the one that carries out executions of its death row inmates. Regularly. And for a budding psychic like Elise, what better way to hone her craft than being fed a steady stream of floating electrified (and terrified) souls who were more than likely NOT very nice people in life?

Things escalate when Elise encounters a being that is something other than fried convict – her first demon – who she calls Key Face.

Key Face then does something very bad that, safe to say, scars Elise for life. That is when we fast forward to present day, which – for the afore mentioned reasons above – has to be a little before present day, as Elise was (will be) killed in 2010. It’s weird that none of these characters will ever get to use an iPad. Sorta like how the best mobile phones the people in the Matrix will ever use are Motorolas…

But I digress.

Elise and her ghost busting crew of Specs and Tucker are approached by a man called Ted Garza. He resides in Elise’s former house and sure enough, weird stuff of the paranormal kind have been plaguing him of late. And Elise – in a bid to confront her demons (literally and figuratively) agrees to go back and help him sort it out.

As a ride The Last Key twists in a satisfactory way whilst continuing the fine work of the last 2 sequels. The scares are finely crafted and (to differentiate them) a tad more relentless this time round.

The JWW use of shadows and sound effects are on full display here, and (has been the case with the others) this film ties itself into the first one, although this time it does imply that the series MAY be gearing up for another change in direction. How? One word. Nieces.

And officially a 5th Insidious IS in the works, although it may not have creator Leigh Whannell’s hand on the typewriter. (Mind you, if you were responsible for a 4-film franchise that has grossed over $536 million to date, you too could probably afford to delegate a little).

The Diagnosis:

Certainly The Last Key was able to unlock a profit margin well over 10 times its modest budget of 10 million, and if you can read anything into that, it would be that these guys have the keys to a money making kingdom that is… INDOS SIIU.

– Antony Yee

How Annabelle and the Conjuring universe is connected to the Manson family murders

15 Tuesday Aug 2017

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As discussed in our latest podcast on Annabelle: Creation, the Conjuring universe is certainly expanding and this latest entry into the world feels like the first to make its mark.

Cinematic universes are fast becoming the next big thing – you can’t create a movie these days without looking beyond the movie that is being produced in order to explore untapped story potential.

Annabelle: Creation is no exception and a lot has been resting on the shoulders of this film to succeed in order for The Conjuring Universe to leap ahead with its grand plans.

Already committed to the franchise is ‘The Nun’ spinoff, heading to cinemas mid-next year, plus a stand-alone film centered on ‘The Crooked Man’ from The Conjuring 2, plus a third outing on the supernatural investigations led by The Warrens.

Overseeing this universe from a writing perspective is Gary Dauberman, who not only has cast his vision across the numerous films slated, but contributed towards the much-anticipated It movie, due to be released in the coming weeks.

What is notable however in Dauberman’s writing is his fascination with the occult and those that practice or delve into the dark arts.

Despite its obvious flaws, Annabelle’s beating heart centred upon ‘Satanists’ and that of a woman from an undisclosed cult projects her twisted soul into the titular doll and thereby exacting its demonic will upon the afflicted family.

What has this all to do with the Manson family murders, I hear you cry?

Well, sandwiched in-between the release of Annabelle and Annabelle: Creation, Dauberman worked on a little movie called Wolves At The Door, a tough, hard-hitting drama horror based on the Sharon Tate murders.

Those who are unfamiliar with this case, there were 5 victims in total, murdered in the home of Sharon Tate, wife to director Roman Polanski at the time and who was 8 months pregnant when she was killed.

The murders were carried out by four of Charles Manson’s ‘family’ by climbing into the estate and carrying out one of the most brutal and documented crimes in Hollywood.

It’s a dark subject and perhaps due to its historical context makes the viewing all the more harder to take on-board despite its lenient running time.

The connection doesn’t just stop with this movie though, as a more obvious relation is at play in Dauberman’s writing in the form of this guy.

eric-ladin.jpg

Eric Ladin’s detective character, Clarkin was last seen in the Annabelle movie, charged with overseeing the murders that took place at the start, and would be called upon by Mae to discuss the ‘ritual’ behavior that was carried out.
“Crazy people do crazy things sometimes.”
A line that he mentions in passing to sum up all the horror that has unfolded and would be repeated again in Wolves At The Door, when Clarkin is again called in to investigate a break-in that has all the hallmarks of satanic beliefs and the precursor to the Sharon Tate murders.

His appearance may be minor in both films, but is there more to be uncovered in this character?

Does Dauberman have any plans to explore this character further? Could we expect another spinoff following Detective Clarkin’s investigations?

With the expanding universe, anything’s possible, right?

 

– Paul Farrell

 

The Conjuring 2 (2016)

18 Saturday Jun 2016

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I HAVE TO take my hat off to James Wan, as he has slowly become a key player in the horror genre since Saw, which has generated a further six movies, and Insidious, which has collected four films within the franchise.

When The Conjuring was released back in 2013, I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome, Wan presented a tale that was both shocking and disturbing, which in my opinion belied the trailer. 

I felt that it was a cheap and wanton concept, but was proved wrong with my expectations and thoroughly loved this movie.

The Conjuring would also spawn its own spinoff with the diabolically crap, Annabelle, and don’t get me started on the fact that this also has a sequel in the works.

But upon hearing that a sequel was in the works for The Conjuring and in particular based on The Enfield Haunting, my eyes lit up at the thought of a movie based around this tale as it was a subject close to heart and one of the earliest tales I can recall growing up that was allegedly based on real experiences.

But here’s the thing, and I’m prepared to be grilled by my next few words, but ultimately I was disappointed by the end result.

Now don’t get me wrong, The Conjuring 2 is still a very strong movie, where Wan uses all his usual tricks with light and shadow, and also has an intriguing spirit in the shape of The Crooked Man, with its jerky movements, it has that sense of unease and puppetry in motion that has become something of a calling card in his calibre of work.

Also of note is The Nun character who will also be getting her own movie spin-off. It’s a character that haunts and delights with good measure.

So what’s with the criticism you may ask?

Well, it purely comes down to originality. Here Wan offers nothing new to the storyline around the Warrens, which is a shame because they were such strong characters in the original and it feels like both Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson are underused in this. As is Frances O’Connor, an actress that I highly rate but feel she never really gets that moment to shine.

Ultimately though I don’t want to rain on the parade too much as I still look forward to Wan’s movies when they arrive as he has a way of crafting a story that keeps the audience captivated regardless.

Perhaps it’s a good thing that his next movie Aquaman will be a break from the horror circuit to rejuvenate his efforts in the dark world.

But let’s he doesn’t turn his back on it completely as something tells me there are more horrific stories lurking in his mind waiting to be told.

  • Saul Muerte

Flashback Friday: Dead Silence (2007)

17 Friday Jun 2016

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THIS WEEK’S FLASHBACK Friday continues the James Wan theme in recognition of his current movie, The Conjuring 2 in cinemas as we write this article.

Dead Silence would see Wan collaborate once again with Saw co-creator, Leigh Whannel and would be his second feature in the director’s chair.

There would also be the all too familiar signatures that Wan brings to the screen, the obvious one in this instance would be in the puppetry, substituting Jigsaw for Billy, but let’s not forget his strong use of light and shadows combined with the strong build up of tension to play on the minds of the viewer.

Whilst still not his strongest movie, there are some delights to have along the way as he harnesses his skills and sharpens his tools in order to bring some more than adequate scares along the way.

Starring True Blood’s Ryan Kwanten as Jamie, who at the head of the film loses his wife in a brutal attack by the afore-mentioned doll, Billy.

This leads Jamie to venture homeward bound where he unearths the grisly truth of her 101 dolls.

A must-see for horror fans and a director at the start of what would be an impressive upward trajectory into the bloody genre and putting out all the stops to make this a confident if not perfect psychological thriller.

– Paul Farrell

The Conjuring (2013)

16 Thursday Jun 2016

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AS IT STANDS The Conjuring is sandwiched in the middle of James Wan’s directorial career, nestled nicely alongside Insidious, which was released two years earlier.

When you combine this with the likes of Saw, Insidious 2 and now The Conjuring 2, Wan has firmly established himself as a master in the horror genre field.

This movie was potentially (and arguably) a game changer for Wan and is most certainly an indication of a man coming into his own within his craft.

Upon closer scrutiny, the film treads familiar ground centring on a family haunted by an evil, malevolent spirt, that wishes to do some serious harm to them all.

There are even obvious homages to the original Poltergeist movie, but where it starts to tread new ground and where Wan shines brightly is through his storytelling and excellent use of light and shadow.

The pace of the movie is handled with great care. The balance of tension is beautifully interspersed with scares. And when those scare come, they come with genuine spine-tingling reality.

In fact, part of the appeal of The Conjuring is through its gritty realism. Throw in some strong performances from Lili Taylor, Vera Farmiga, and Patrick Wilson, and you’ve got yourself a credible and believable movie that captivates and entertains throughout.

– Saul Muerte

For more insights on the film check out the podcast discussions below, but be warned, I handed over host duties to Mr Antony Yee for this one and he pushed the time limit just a tad. But not without his charm and knowledge thrown into the mix.