Legends say I'm still laughing

Can’t stop thinking about this Dwight quote from the office 😂: “When my mother was pregnant with me, they did an ultrasound and found she was having twins. When they did another ultrasound a few weeks later, they discovered that I had resorbed the other fetus. Do I regret this? No. I believe his tissue has made me stronger. I now have the strength of a grown man and a little baby.”

Gabriel’s physical performer, Marina Mazepa, did all of the backwards movement and fighting herself, she’s a contortionist who was on AGT, she mastered the choreography of fighting all of those prisoners and cops completely backwards, she wore a cast of the main actress’s face on her face, and a animatronic Gabriel mask on the back of her head

"That is Waterfront Castle Property!" The best kind of property. 10/10 would not abandon.

When people say “You’ll never guess where Malignant is going” I don’t think they’re talking about the plot being a good mystery or anything, I just think they’re talking about the glorious absurdity of the third act

Movie almost felt like an origin story for a comic book villain

One thing that impressed me is that the Gabriel scenes were actually done by a dancer/contortionist. There's actually someone out there who can move like that backwards. That's pretty impressive. That said I didn't figure out the twist ( in retrospect I suspect I was being lazy ) so I enjoyed it a bit more but every one of your criticisms are spot on. I'll add one more criticism. There is no way that story should have a happy ending. She's got superpowers, a psychotic alter ego, and dozens of murders. She's either going to be locked up for life, turned into a lab rat, or killed on sight by SWAT.

Fun fact: The forensic investigator lady who's simping over the asian-ish detective is actually James Wan's wife who shares a writing credit on this movie.

When she started backwards punching I cackled. I glad I’m not the only one

A murderer who fails to kill a child and gets banished for years returns to finish the job, while killing anyone else who gets in the way, and is ultimately revealed to be growing out of the back of someone else's head... Basically Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone without magic.

I was so dead when Gabrielle said "that bitch didn't even know i was up there"😭🤣

When he threw that fucking chair at the detective me and my friends SCREAM laughed. Like we had to pause the movie. We could not breathe! 🤣🤣🤣

The prison scene is one of the best set pieces I've seen so far this year. Zoë Bell with an 80s mullet, throwing other prisoners at that thing, was hilarious.

Just remember that James Wan didn't direct that last Conjuring, so we can give him a pass on that one 😆

This felt very Sam Raimi, a goofy horror movie that didn’t take itself too seriously. Props to James Wan for being at a point in his career where he can make movies like this because it is very risky

This feels like the essays I write last minute when I have a clear picture of what I want it to be like, but it ends up a mess on paper because I was a bit too ambitious for the time frame I had

I love that Gabriel's voice actor is Ray Chase; he's in a lot of anime and video games, like Final Fantasy 15, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and, just recently, Tales of Arise

Glad someone other than Starkid takes advantage of the face on back of head bit.

after Emily locks away Gabriel, you can hear the lamp in the last scene still being affected somehow by electricity. this leads me to believe that her saving her family and jailing Gabriel, was actually an inception-like 'waking dream' created by Gabriel to make Emily think she won. Just a theory.

Also spoiler alert... why was there an industrial size fan in the attic of her house?

The underground tour of Seattle is much less cool then it sounds. It's basically just a mildew smelling walk through some random tunnels. 🙂

I instantly connected Gabriel being in the back of her head when she was talking with him on the phone in the police station and she turned to show her face and the back of her head in the mirror. Also all the, behind me puns.

Yeah, I definitely think it was deliberate to have the two different tones as a way to symbolize how Emily/Gabriel share a body. The production design and costumes also often felt off to me until I realized, "oh they're doing this to make the viewer feel like two disparate things are trying to share a whole." I think it maybe could have worked, but the "serious" parts didn't work on their own (the sisters' relationship definitely needed some reworking) so the entire movie did end up feeling like a mess.

Gabriel had some sick parkour moves.

I'm surprised they went so overtly with Gabriel being named after an avenging angel and her savior from abusers yada yada yada for them to give Emily a regular, non-religious name...like imagine how many theories could be made or went askew if Emily's original was Mary.

Saw this last night with the partner and we had a fucking _blast_ the whole way through. Still convinced that this was basically what James Wan wanted _Dead Silence_ to be without all the executive meddling. I am also convinced that this was the result of Wan watching his buddy Leigh Whannell's _Upgrade_ and thinking, "hmm, how can I make this with less tech and more skull eruptions?"

Before I understood what I was watching I was like wow this is bad but when the gigantic reveal happens in the third act I just starting laughing my ass off until the movie ended. Genuinely the wildest, fucking insane movie I’ve seen.

Oh yeah, the little glass tiles in the boardwalk are there to let light into the old city under Seattle. They still give tours for a couple bucks.

Somebody watched the final act of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and was like "I could make a movie on this concept alone!"

This movie puts the "back" in backstory... My expectactions were put on backwards... This movie should be seen "back-to-back"... I have puns people, from my toes to -head- back

I disagree, I thought it was hilarious throughout. Not as over the top all the time but there were a lot of subtle funny moments like Gabriel calling the first doctor and repeating her 'cancer' line, only for her to not have any idea what he was talking about. Or the sister driving to the asylum and parking her car literally half a foot from the edge. Or the blonde woman in the holding cell continuously throwing other prisoners at Gabriel to protect herself. It's easy to make a film that's farcical throughout but this one rode the line between taking itself seriously while still having funny, campy moments.

The jail scene, not only was he mad but like those women started beating them for no reason! Id be mad too! 😅

Tours of the Seattle underground are an actual thing and they are amazing. There's old set pieces from the Darkman movie from 1990 because some of it was filmed down there and when they wrapped up filming, they just sort of left it. Plus the tour ends at a pub and you get a drink ticket for a free beer

Being a twin myself, I find stories about twins that get reabsorbed like that absolutely horrifying. But this was not the way to do it. Not even slightly.

I personally loved it but I could definitely see why people wouldn't enjoy it

When the male cop just yeets himself onto a full on metal dumpster three stories up I cackled. I loved this movie 😂💕

Underground Seattle tour is legit. They turned the entire ground floor “skid row” into the first city-wide sewer by adding a street above and moving the entrances to all the old buildings to the second floor.

I think the reason that the crime scene tech with the ponytail survived was that she was played by James Wan's wife.

Aquaman is the scariest film ever made

A lot of people are comparing this to Basket Case and I can see the similarities. And the actual contortionist they got to play the role of Gabriel was on America's Got Talent showing off those contortionist skills.

I love how the end of the movie seems to think that Madison isn't going to serve like 583 years in prison for literally butchering like 32 cops. Best case scenario she pleads insanity and lives the rest of her life strapped to a bed in a nuthouse. This movie BLEW hahaha. 😂

I hate horror movies but absolutely love Amanda's reviews of them.

I loved the campy parts though because it's definitely more of a "wtf did I just watch" type movie above all else. I honestly thought they were conjoined twins where one was separated and used electricity to mind-control and give Madison super strength while in a jar or something, remote controlling her. I didn't fully expect a Cancer Voldermort reverse-bodying people, but lost it laughing at the prison scene.

So based off the trailer I thought this movie was going to be another supernatural horror film about an actual imaginary friend that turned out to be an evil entity or something in a similar vein. That was the only expectation I had and uh...welp LMAO. However if you want to see the imaginary friend thing done in a non-campy actually scary way, then do check out the film I referenced, it's 2019 unrated title called simply Z and was - Imo - rather good but in any case way better than Malignant.

That scene in the police department was literally so fucking fun to watch. I can't describe the feeling of that scene, but I loved it so fucking much

next level "business in the front, party in the back"

No bcs I was so confused with that woman that worked as a tour guide! I thought she WAS Maddison and somehow the demon thing split her in two???? I only realised it was another actual person when the cop literally said "This is her mother" lmao they looked too much alike for me

I had fun with the movie especially that third act.

I watched Malignant last week and was hoping to hear your thoughts on it. I felt the base idea for the story was good but it going back and forth between trying to be campy and trying to be serious just kept throwing me out of it. Though for me the only part that I truly hated was the apparent lack of knowledge about conjoined twins can only be identical twins; Fraternal twins merging is a Chimera.

Ah, yes, Aquaman, my favorite horror movie.

There are some theories that the father was actually some sort of demon which explains the electrical powers, the super strength is supposed to be Gabriel tapping into the strength of both Gabriel and Emily apparently

Man, I was scream-laughing at that reveal in the prison! And everything that came after that was the best Basketcase/John Wick crossover I never knew I needed. Also, the underground Seattle tour is fascinating! If you ever get to Seattle, definitely check it out.

Felt like a fun throwback. Sometimes felt like Sam raimi for camp and motion. The opening hospital and credits sequence felt like it was telling us what it was going to be. Doesn't feel like a twist in regards to monster but agree could have used more camp throughout

I watched this one last weekend with my 18yr old daughter and I definitely called most of the "twists" early on. But that jail cell scene...I was cheering at all the cheesy gore. It was great as far as entertainment goes. Definitely watch with others, it makes it way more fun.

I am absolutely in love with this movie. I watched it with my sisters and we were laughing, gasping and screaming the whole time. And it only gets better on the second watch when you finally see all the hilarious foreshadowing James wan littered through the whole thing.

i remember the whole cinema hall laughing when they showed gabriel for the first time (the scene where her younger self sits in the doctor's surgery room and they move the camera around her to show her back while they "wake him up"). it was sooooo funny a few people even left when the police station fight happened. as someone who watches every single horror movie in the cinema, this is easily the most ridiculous movie i've ever watched

Yo this movie was HILARIOUS. My friend and I were laughing so hard we couldn’t breathe, however the preview in no way prepared us for this level of camp

I watched this with friends on the couch and we had so much fun with it! I don’t know if I would have had the same experience with it if I had seen the full trailer, though. I went into it without knowing almost anything and also wasn’t being super observant of all the little details that Amanda is pointing out here, so I didn’t see the twin thing coming until the medical records were found. In all, I loved it and genuinely had a good time watching it with my friends! Also, if you’re even in Seattle I HIGHLY recommend doing the underground tour, it’s so cool!

I was only meh for it because the main actress was so bad but the twist had me hooked and inwas creeped out at how Gabriel moved. I loved it.

The story of Edward Mordake meets M Nights "Split" style superhuman with a sound track inspired by AHS 1984 and a pinch of psi-paranormal that never really develops past a plot device to give the monster a voice. Wasn't a fan of it as a whole. Its like Wan wanted to do Camp but wasn't willing to own it. Cinematography was great though. I also really enjoyed the sound design and soundtrack. The story for me just seemed uninspired though. I was ahead of the movie, for the remainder of the movie, only after the first act.

when the “big twist” came i think i mentally cracked because i started laughing at how stupid it was

I had so much fun watching Malignant! It was a wild ride for sure and all hell breaks loose in the third act. It was so hilarious to see madison's sleeping face on the back (front) of the head while Gabriel is going to town with his killing spree.

I guessed the twist early on. Her head constantly leaving blood everywhere was a dead giveaway he was prairie dogging out of the back of her head. Also backwards Gabriel, literally me when I flip my hair over pretending to be the grudge girl to scare my children 🤭 ( in a loving way, lol ) . We died laughing on the big raging kills they did. They were the saving grace of the whole film really.The superhuman strength with the infertility,abuse etc in the film seemed like multiple people wrote this. And it became a mess of different genres. Pretty hokey but I enjoyed the laugher it brought if nothing else.

I was dying maniacally laughing at the last act, after having taken the previous scenes seriously (with the exception of the first scene, which I found hilarious too). I especially found the scene you were talking about when she kills everyone in the county jail and in the precinct hilarious as well as when Gabriel was revealed on the videotape! It reminded me of Kuato from Total Recall LOL I'm glad I was the only one in the theater because I'm certain someone would have called the police on me. It's a shame, seeing that the poster made it look like Repulsion if it were directed by Dario Argento. And "Where is my Mind" only belongs at the end of Fight Club, I'm sorry.

I was half watching this while my fiance watched it- midway through I said, "oh, he's still living in her brain, huh," and he said no. I've been laughing ever since

Tone deaf horror is the new meta in Hollywood apparently

I definitely didn't think as much while watching this glorious joyride, I just let it unfold without trying to figure anything out and I loved every moment of it. I'm kind of glad it wasn't just 100% camp because it can get a little too much sometimes but this was perfect for me. Was wacky and out of pocket when it wanted to be and serious when it wanted to be. I don't think it needed to be one thing or another.

I had a lot of fun watching it, but I also respect that the execution was all over the place. It almost felt like it had two different directors.

When...you showed the twin killing the guards...I started laughing so hard - This look like an "Epic Early 00's Mortal Combat Fatality" Montage. How is this a movie ? I- ...

I cannot describe how hard I was laughing when the end credits started, I was crying.

Where is the interview with your friend who made Velocipastor? It'd be a dream come true! I mean that in the highest respect. Velicipastor is one of my favorite so bad it's good movies. I love it! I still envy you for having the shirt, just saying.

Amanda recaps Seattle tour in the room after going. It’s a way to have that video idea for the format, as opposed to a vlog (even though that would be in the dark).

I watched it twice and I thought it was way better! Understanding everything while watching was more interesting. Also I highly suggest immersing yourself in a dark room lol. Nevertheless I would recommend it!

I really enjoy it ^^ I found the campy moments refreshing. And it was nice to piece together the ‘mystery’ with my friend as we watched it. Great video as always!

Just a side note, he didn't direct this year's The Conjuring so I think we can breathe easier knowing that at least.

I love the tone and the switching between. Because from the outside this whole story is hilarious and all the violence is completely over the top. But then you stop and put yourself in Madison's shoes and everything is terrible and traumatic. I'm really tired when people complain about some cliches in movies, where when you think about it the problem isn't exactly the action, but that whatever they are doing won't help them in the genre. Like are you a character in Scream or Scary Movie? The concequences are different not because of the actions, but because of the genre. And I watched this and it felt like Madison and her sister were doing everything right, because they took this seriously, this was their life, this was dramatic. But Gabriel is like "nope, this is my revenge fantasy and I will flip the script". I enjoyed that very, very much. tbf I hadn't seen the trailer, just read a description and seen two pretty gifs that highlighted the areal shots and showed that moment with Madison screaming in bed with the red lighting. So I knew I was in for a visual treat and that's it. I do think the film doesn't try to hide anything for a twist and conjoined twins was on my mind right away. But still when Gabriel fully reveals himself in the cell, that caught me by surprise. Even though we could clearly see Madison's frame when Gabriel was walking around in his nice coat. It's not a super-secret-twist-surprise, but it's still hilariously fucked up when it happens that I sat there "I knew it, but I didn't get that detail right". The backwards walk and contorted movements are nicely shown in that long chase scene, and of course that head injury is important - and I appreciate the fact that all the information was there. That is kinda daring these days and against the standard. Then again I remember watching Saw when it came out and being bored out of my mind with that. Everything else James Wan has done was more entertaining and this is something I would want sequels out. But well Gabriel can show up as a cameo, I need to know what else that cliffside horror hospital was hiding!! There must be a reason it's abandoned. Please, three more movies with creepy (former) patients.

I think the ridiculous tone mixed with the serious subject matter makes it more effective. You'll probably never get general audiences to watch a serious movie about these issues, but you can slip them into something like this, and they aren't themselves depicted as silly, so if anything else it is more jarring and creates a conversation.

I would ALSO love to go on that underground Seattle tour. I *love* anything historic. I can at least thank this movie making me aware of this fact.

I watched this movie super stoned (it’s legal here, Colorado) and I strongly recommend I was living for it 😂😂 I’ll never watch it sober, you’re strong😂🙌🏻

I enjoyed it but it was way to easy to figure out when they called it malignant.

I want James Wan to make a hundred more OTT movies like these. I found it so much more refreshing than the kid-friendly "based on a true story" BS of the Conjuring universe.

Water-front castle property! Very valuable.

It sounds like you were *backed* into a corner by the tone of the movie. I'll get my coat.

Have you talked about Brand New Cherry Flavor? I'm really into it and it seems up your alley

I loved this movie! 😂 The twist was so bizarre My boyfriend didn't like that there was no explanation for the supernatural aspect but the movie was dumb enough that I could forgive it lol

SO MANY Amanda the Jedi videos!! It's like a holiday miracle or something!

I remember going to the undeground seattle tour with a friend even though I'm from around here and I was still pretty interested! They even have an adult tour where you can I think drink? and explore the really cool 'secret underground' business life' tied to the same company but we only did the basic which was still decent. If you by chance catch this tour on a rare dry day, highly recommend because it was a bit musty down there but neat nonetheless.

I felt like Malignant was 3 different movies that couldn't decide what it wanted to be and then in the edit they chose comedy when they realized nothing about this actually works or makes sense. Is it a giallo tribute or an attempt at making serious Basket Case without realizing that can't be done....

I think by the end of the movie, it should be obvious that everything is very intentional. Like the good actors are acting bad, Wan is doing the same behind the camera. This is the 'Dead Silence' Wan, 14 years later, with complete control. The first half of 'Malignant' is basically just a parody of his own movies. The houses, the interiors of the houses, the reject 'Saw' cops, sound design, music, lighting.... It goes on. Like it or not, after reading about his intentions, I think he did exactly what he set out to do (the video store thing). From his beginnings, it's pretty amazing that he has reached this level, at only 44 years old. He's been so profitable, that Warner is just going to give him a budget and say 'ok'. I'd rather watch a movie not entirely succeed, but be free from studio interference as much as this production obviously was. In any case, viewers are certainly reacting exactly the way he was intending.

I think that was the the point James Wan said dont put this in the same category as saw I think he just wanted to make something with a WFT did I just watch moment.

going back to watch your older videos, and with every one I regret not having found you sooner... I would have loved to hear you talk about "Soul Reaper" (2019)

I'm still kind of riding the high of that massacre in the jail.

The scariest part of the movie was the sister parking on the cliff!

“Look at his little wiggle arms.” 😆💕

Was waiting for this review since the trailer came out. I'm glad you were able to have a little fun with it at least

So I was 100% here for this ridiculous story. I did figure out what was happening fairly early, when the cop first runs into Gabriel I was like oh he's coming out of her skull but I was still here to see how it all unfolded because like you said, camp! But like then he was also telepathic (or whatever you'd call the radio/cell phone thing). Then he was also a super strong ninja. Then the sister bursts out with oh he's the reason you're having miscarriages (which makes sense but we never see when or how she figured that out she just knows somehow?). Oh and now all of a sudden without even practicing first she can do all the same things to Gabriel that he's been doing to her and now also has super strength despite being a very tiny lady who has never noticed this. Then we get that whole I love you and you're my real sister monologue and like, their relationship was always shown as being supportive and loving (yeah she said she wanted a blood connection with someone but it's not like she treated her sister poorly because of that) so...we didn't need this speech? TLDR: It's a lot bro. A lot.

We need a brand of Jello called Giallo for tie-ins with movies like this.

Just watched this movie and the whole time I was guessing what Amanda would say to make me less scared

so the twist is prof quirrell from the first hp movie

I was on a first date and he picked this movie. We got yelled at for laughing so hard throughout the whole movie. And yes, there will be a second date :)