Not since Chucky have killer dolls been this entertaining. M3GAN unleashes an already iconic horror villain. But she deserved a better film.
She’s the best toy a child could ever ask for. She sings, dances, reacts to your emotional state and always looks perfect. But if someone threatens you, she kills the danger. We’re talking about the titular AI doll from the new horror film M3GAN, which already sparked a viral hype on TikTok with its first trailer appearance.
With Jason Blum and James Wan, two promising names are behind the Gerard Johnstone-directed horror film M3GAN, which was written by Malignant author Akela Cooper. Like Malignant, this film unleashes an exciting new slasher icon on the world: a Chucky successor for Generation TikTok. Unfortunately, the debut of the horror queen has a huge problem.
M3GAN combines the best of Chucky and Gossip Girl
After little Cady (Violet McGraw) loses her parents in a car accident, she comes to live with her aunt Gemma (Allison Williams), who can’t form a bond with the traumatised child. So the experienced robotics engineer from a toy manufacturer builds the sophisticated AI doll M3GAN (Model 3 Generative Android) to help raise Cady. And she is the undisputed star of the film.
See the trailer for the horror film M3GAN
here.
As befits a horror film, the innocent childlike-looking android doll begins to develop a sinister and dangerous life of its own after just 30 minutes. She defies orders and lunges like a mother lion at any threat to the mental and physical well-being of her primary user, Cady. A misogynistic boy’s ear is torn off before he is pushed in front of a moving car.
Yes, M3GAN is gleefully vicious like Chucky. But she is much more. What sets her apart from other killer dolls in the horror genre is her uncompromising penchant for theatricality and style. When she kills, she always looks fabulous. Not only does she dress like a rich Upper East Side teenager from the series Gossip Girl, she also displays the appropriate megabitch attitude and fires off one biting comment after another.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s threatening dance numbers, a ride in a sleek sports car or vocal numbers that come out of nowhere: M3GAN’s increasingly absurd behaviour is great fun – also because the funniest scenes are presented with dry seriousness. But a horror comedy shouldn’t neglect the horror either. Unfortunately, this one in particular does not do justice to its beastliness.
Not enough horror, not enough blood: the horror film M3GAN is not as iconic as its killer doll
The film is never as nasty as its now iconic doll killer. Fear, creepiness and blood-soaked violence are few and far between. Of course, M3GAN is more satirical horror-comedy than ultra-brutal slasher film. This is already made clear in the first few minutes of the film in the form of a quirky advertisement for pooping fake furbies. Yet in the end, the feeling remains that the film never realises its full potential.
M3GAN
Originally, M3GAN was much harder and bloodier, but had to be heavily edited in favour of a lower age rating. M3GAN deserved to have its murders be as pointed and stinging as its endless oneliners. Unfortunately, without graphic and disturbing spikes of violence, the horror doesn’t achieve the over-the-top factor that the main character does.
This also applies to the rest of the film, by the way. M3GAN does work as a smart satire on the relationship between humans and technology and allows for many exciting readings. But the killer doll wheel is not reinvented here. For that, the film follows the usual genre patterns too closely and behaves too tamely. More bite, more horror, more macabre wit would not only have underlined the danger of networked AI more strongly, but also let the techno-satire strike more intensely.
Unfortunately, M3GAN falls short to a large extent of the possibilities that its own concept could offer. In this respect, its puppet-slasher competitor Chucky is miles ahead. Fortunately, the film is already a genuine box-office success in the US. The inevitable M3GAN 2 will then hopefully be as crazy as the new horror queen deserves. Until then, the hope remains for a release of the uncut AI carnage.
