by: Jake Nuttall
The new campy sci-fi thriller M3GAN follows the creation and subsequent havoc wreaked by its eponymous android doll. And it may be early, but so far it has my vote so far for best horror of 2023.
The story is the construct of James Wan (Saw) and screenwriter Akela Cooper (Malignant), a storytelling pair that continues to deliver delightful, campy horror experiences that know exactly what they are and what they are doing. Director Gerard Johnstone (Housebound) brings the vision to life expertly.
The movie begins with tragedy for its child star Cady, played by Violet McGraw (The Haunting of Hill House). She loses both her parents in an accident and is sent to live with her detached, career-focused aunt Gemma, performed by Allison Williams (Girls). Williams is compelling if not exactly likeable in the role — but the unlikeability is a testament to the strength of the writing. Gemma may be a workaholic who doesn’t want kids, but she’s well developed enough that her ultimate growth feels logical, despite the ridiculousness surrounding it.
Because with the death of Cady’s parents, Gemma suddenly finds herself in the role of a guardian to a child she doesn’t feel equipped to connect with. So she does what any expert roboticist would do — designs a robot to make that connection for her.
It is this context for the creation of the M3GAN — a childlike android performed by Amie Donald and voiced by Jenna Davis — that gives the movie all its depth and ultimately pays off on all the camp. The movie and its characters ask, what is it we want AI to really do? If it’s replacing the role of a parent, as Megan does for Gemma in her interactions with Cady, what are parents for? And by extension, what does it really mean to be human and interact with other humans?
In the age in which AI art is emerging and parents too often leave their children to the care of YouTube and TikTok, these questions are topical and powerful. And M3GAN turns a satirical eye to all of them, doling out comepunces in the gratuitously satisfying fashion only campy horror can provide.
Boy does M3GAN provide. The movie might be lighter on kills than you’d think, but its modern Chucky-esque star borrows the worst of TikTok and makes it creepy as hell. M3GAN forces us to look at our own reflections in a bloody paper-cutter blade, and that alone is worth the price of admission.
M3GAN likely won’t be the scariest movie you see this year — it better not be — however, the big ideas wrapped in the package of a four-foot killer doll are too precious to be ignored. And if you aren’t chilled and delighted by a talking doll that’s singing Katy Perry one moment and committing murders the next, this probably isn’t the movie or genre for you.
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