Cinematography was decent, makeup was good, Florence Pugh and Celia Imrie were wonderful to watch, but the writing and directing overall lacked in a big way. When the writer and director don't respect their characters enough to give them basic common sense there's a problem...
For example if you have the jump on the maniacal duo obviously brutalizing your hopeful girlfriend maybe don't announce your presence right when you get within striking distance, maybe just strike. And if you manage to escape with all your friends alive and even manage to drive through Tammy the friendly ghost (and take out the gardener, that's who that was right?), maybe don't loose control of your car for literally no reason at all. Give your characters more credit. Your audience will thank you.
And ghost girls, ya'll really need to pull your weight. Obviously you had stake in this scenario and had the ability to exact revenge at any point, so why the heck did this storyline even need to take place?!
I think the most disappointing aspect of this film was the character development. There was so much potential for a great story here and I felt that it was blatantly squandered. There isn't a character in this film that underwent more development than a naming and a brief introduction to their role (and sometimes that's not even clear). Even in regard to the villain the most development that took place was when she implied she was the villain (wayyyyyyy to early).
Along with not building characters there was very little suspense building as well. In fact while the characters seem to know a lot about the grim past they are stepping into the audience is given very little information on said past and the film never fully delivers on that aspect of the story either.
I love horror (I've had the opportunity to teach critical analysis courses on the horror genre) and it kills me when a fun idea comes along (coupled with pretty good acting) and it's botched due to a lazy execution, and that was the problem with Malevolent. It was lazy.
Overall, fun watch, but amature in a genre that doesn't demand a whole lot of its audience anyway. Even if you're an expert at suspending belief, you may find yourself celebrating the much deserved misfortune of these characters suffer throughout the film. Not even my yelling, "WAY TO ANNOUNCE YOUR PRESENCE YOU DESERVE TO HAVE YOUR MOUTH SEWN SHUT!" Could wake the moderate viewers who had slipped into deep slumbers by about 20 minutes in. Folks who worked on this project, keep going, you're almost there.
For example if you have the jump on the maniacal duo obviously brutalizing your hopeful girlfriend maybe don't announce your presence right when you get within striking distance, maybe just strike. And if you manage to escape with all your friends alive and even manage to drive through Tammy the friendly ghost (and take out the gardener, that's who that was right?), maybe don't loose control of your car for literally no reason at all. Give your characters more credit. Your audience will thank you.
And ghost girls, ya'll really need to pull your weight. Obviously you had stake in this scenario and had the ability to exact revenge at any point, so why the heck did this storyline even need to take place?!
I think the most disappointing aspect of this film was the character development. There was so much potential for a great story here and I felt that it was blatantly squandered. There isn't a character in this film that underwent more development than a naming and a brief introduction to their role (and sometimes that's not even clear). Even in regard to the villain the most development that took place was when she implied she was the villain (wayyyyyyy to early).
Along with not building characters there was very little suspense building as well. In fact while the characters seem to know a lot about the grim past they are stepping into the audience is given very little information on said past and the film never fully delivers on that aspect of the story either.
I love horror (I've had the opportunity to teach critical analysis courses on the horror genre) and it kills me when a fun idea comes along (coupled with pretty good acting) and it's botched due to a lazy execution, and that was the problem with Malevolent. It was lazy.
Overall, fun watch, but amature in a genre that doesn't demand a whole lot of its audience anyway. Even if you're an expert at suspending belief, you may find yourself celebrating the much deserved misfortune of these characters suffer throughout the film. Not even my yelling, "WAY TO ANNOUNCE YOUR PRESENCE YOU DESERVE TO HAVE YOUR MOUTH SEWN SHUT!" Could wake the moderate viewers who had slipped into deep slumbers by about 20 minutes in. Folks who worked on this project, keep going, you're almost there.