“M3GAN” Review
“M3GAN” is a new horror comedy from Blumhouse Productions about the titular artificially intelligent doll who begins to develop more nefarious ambitions.
In the modern and diverse landscape of horror, it seems as if two different studios do the most competing for audience attention. In one corner is A24 which offers more daring arthouse horror. In the other is Blumhouse which is more polished and is seen as more crowd pleasing. Both studios have their place and have made some of the best horror of the past decade like A24’s “The Witch” and “Hereditary” and Blumhouse’s “Get Out” and “The Invisible Man.” “M3GAN” is the perfect example of entertaining horror that is definitely going to appeal to a mass audience with a sick blend of humor and comedy.
After losing her parents in a car crash, Cady (Violet McGraw) moves in with her aunt Gemma (Allison Williams), a roboticist specializing in toy production, who finds herself ill-equipped to be a parental figure. Hoping to help her niece and further her career, Gemma develops the titular android M3GAN, a toy that is designed to protect the child it’s paired with and be a friend. At first, it seems that M3GAN is fulfilling all of Cady’s needs but, eventually, the robot’s true nature is revealed to be far more sinister as she becomes more intelligent.
I think the most frightening thing about this concept is how real it feels. With our overdependence on technology, is it really that far-fetched that a toy company would make something like M3GAN? The film has some really interesting things to say about how we use technology, how it often serves as a way to avoid human interaction instead of addressing our feelings and the ethics of how our advances can replace certain functions of society instead of assisting them.
When M3GAN is introduced to Cady, a strong attachment is formed with Cady appearing to be more comfortable talking to a robot than with her aunt. Both Allison Williams and Violet McGraw give strong performances as these two people grieving but who don’t know how to move forward together. In particular, Violet McGraw is fantastic and really does a great job of portraying a child who is experiencing so much emotion and finds solace in this toy. When people begin to become aware of what M3GAN is really capable of and try to separate her from Cady, you really feel her pain even though you know her best friend is a devious killer.
As for M3GAN, she is a truly memorable antagonist that had to be tough to design. Imagine making something that has to be adorable and also threatening while also being equally effective in comedic and scary scenes. I fully appreciate all of the hard work it must have taken to make this killer doll a reality with an onset actor (Amie Donald) doing the physical performance, CGI artists enhancing the facial features, puppets and animatronics being used for tighter shots and a talented voice actor (Jenna Davis) providing M3GAN’s vocals. It all is seamless and I can definitely see this character becoming an iconic costume every Halloween which is pretty high praise for a horror villain like this.
Watching this film in a crowded theater was a fun experience as the entire audience, including myself, loved the direction “M3GAN” took. Since some of this imagery is pretty silly, director Gerard Johnstone and screenwriter Akela Cooper know to add the right amount of comedy. There were so many hilarious moments throughout the film and they often were satirical of our need for technology to work its way into everything as well as how toy companies market themselves to children.
But when the film needs to be scary, it delivers while having a sick sense of humor. In “M3GAN’s” scary scenes, the buildup is often suspenseful but the payoff is pretty funny when you know that a doll is doing this.
While there is some fun commentary with the film, “M3GAN” knows exactly what it is, a fun campy horror film that is going to entertain you. Since sequels are fairly common for these kinds of films, I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing what the future has in store for these characters.
