March 28, 2024

M3GAN in M3GAN directed by Gerard Johnstone.

'M3GAN' isn’t going to blow open a hole in the horror universe. But this is much better than expected for a new year kick-off and a solid evening-time spook to enjoy at the cinema.

Preston Barta // Features Editor

M3GAN

Rated PG-13, 102 minutes.
Now playing in theaters.

I know what you’re thinking: Why watch another killer doll movie? We know what typically transpires in them and how they wrap up, and there really hasn’t been much to retool the subgenre. So, why bother now? 

Whether this is your thinking or not, this killer doll dances…and so much more, and it’s pure sinister joy. So, if you’ve been choking on all the serious, dramatic awards material that tends to accompany the winter movie season, allow Blumhouse’s 2023 opener, M3GAN, to cleanse your palette and set you up for cinematic success in the new year. It’s an absolutely bonkers horror thriller that slaps a goofy smile on your face and keeps the clap-worthy moments coming.

Written by Akela Cooper (the awesome Malignant) and directed by Gerard Johnstone (and the equally terrific Housebound), M3GAN has the narrative makeup of Child’s Play, Small Soldiers and RoboCop, and it sprinkles on the campy, stupid-greatness of Sam Raimi’s work. 

The story centers on a robotics toy engineer named Gemma (Get Out’s Allison Williams) who becomes the unexpected caretaker of her young niece, Cady (The Haunting of Hill House’s Violet McGraw). While navigating the emotions of this significant shift in their lives, Gemma decides to make Cady a lifelike doll that’s programmed to be her greatest companion and Gemma’s greatest ally – and hopefully, it has the same results for other parents and their children around the world as the next life-changing toy. Instead of dealing with the everyday annoying reminders of telling your kids to flush the toilet or use a coaster when drinking juice, the titular M3GAN is there to alleviate some of those parenting pains while also challenging the child to be more thoughtful and academic. 

This sounds like a recipe for success. So, there is no need to worry about a chip malfunction or an intelligence spurt within the doll. The toy couldn’t possibly swap out a happy pencil used for learning to be instead used as a weapon to silence any dirtbag kids and adults, right? Oh, no, no, no. 

It doesn’t take long for the film’s tone to establish itself after a cold opening. Much of that lovable absurdity is carried over from Malignant and Housebound, which amounts to a silly but very fun feature. While its PG-13 rating admittedly holds the violence back from hammering home its ridiculousness to completion, the oohs and ahhs remain intact for the most part. Fingers crossed there’s an R-rated or unrated cut that will exist on streaming or physical disc. 

The mechanics of the doll M3GAN and the committed cast ultimately keep the material fresh. Not every killer doll needs to operate and behave like a human. So, why not get animalistic and allow the doll to move about like a spider crawling through a forest, Ghost in the Shell or J-horror style? Why not let M3GAN do crazy flips and dances like it’s Ray Park in The Phantom Menace or X-Men? Fortunately, Johnstone and Co. abandon the slow-moving Jason Vorhees and Terminator approach to keep things ultra creepy. Sure, it could have used more of that to kick up your ticker, but the storytellers make it count and do well enough to mark it satisfactory. Maybe these elements will be on the front burner should a sequel come, and it should.

Williams and McGraw are terrific together. They both understand what kind of movie they’re in and know when to lean into the comedy (which, for the most part, is to play as straight as possible) and let the drama take center stage. There’s a surprisingly emotional scene toward the end, helping you to root for the human characters and less for the maniacal robot like you would during a Friday the 13th movie. 

Some well-done supporting characters turn up the laughs, especially one police detective who is literally only in the film for one minute. According to IMDb, if I’m not mistaken, the actor is Millen Baird, who also plays a cop in Housebound. With his mysterious wet hair and constant snacking during his questioning, he delivers a belly buster so good your stomach will feel the vibrations for hours. We need a movie based on that guy – stat!

M3GAN isn’t going to blow open a hole in the horror universe. But this is much better than expected for a new year kick-off and a solid evening-time spook to enjoy at the cinema. So, be prepared to laugh and get vocal about its awesomeness and creepiness. It’s a blast.

Grade: B

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