As much as Pixar tells us that they are harmless and only come to life to follow us in the car when we move and protect us, it is inevitable to be afraid of our toys when the lights go out.
From ‘El muneco’ from ‘Stories to not sleep’ to ‘Puppet master’, ‘Dolls’ or the most modern ‘Annabelle’, toys that open our eyes to try to kill us are part of the collective imagination. Now, ‘M3gan’ comes to join it, borrowing from here and there but, at the same time, feeling like something completely original.
This was a triumph
The first minutes of ‘M3gan’ completely set the tone for what will follow after. Instead of focusing on a murder, a factory struck by lightning, or a murderer creating a robot, we see an ad for adorable, eternal kitties that eat thanks to an app, relieve themselves, and talk in a, shall we say, modern way. From the beginning, the film indicates that what we are going to see is suitable for teenagers, but it will have a bad mood that will fly over it continuously.
The Blumhouse film draws heavily on three basic references: Chucky’s personality, the irony of GLaDOS (the antagonist of the fabulous ‘Portal’) and the anti-pantalism of the always influential ‘Black Mirror’. You have seen the cocktail that comes out before, and from the beginning you can decide the basic lines that the film will follow (from which it will not distance itself at any time), but the important thing, once again, is not the what, but the What.
‘M3gan’ is not a horror movie, or at least not to use: yes, it has a doll with murderous desires, but it is so concerned with being light that it becomes a hilarious comedy in which, by the way, there are some What another murder somewhat lacking in originality and gore. If you go to the movies willing to scare yourself, you’re going to be deeply disappointed. Now, if you go with an open mind, you are before a not inconsiderable mix of genres that will leave you satisfied.
I’m making a note here: Huge Success
The biggest flaw of ‘M3gan’ is not playing adult horror comedy: all the murders take place out of shot and we practically don’t see anything of them, with some less bloody and cruel exception. By focusing on humor, the film evades any pretense of terror, something that works slightly against it. Trying to get more in touch with adolescents, paradoxically he loses what interests a public full of hormones the most: scares.
In return, the film, directed by Gerard Johnston who already tried his luck in the horror comedy ‘Housebound’, shows a unique tone and a different approach to the world of murderous dolls: M3gan does not have the soul of a psychopath inside, nor does it intend to end everyone for good. In fact, he has more in common with Asimov’s robots than with a typical Slappy: his protection orders are clear and he intends to follow them to the last consequences.
The film evades an insane environment typical of horror films to turn it into an industrial, capitalist one, more concerned with the semester’s data and finishing the modeling on time than with the possible immorality of an android girl who learns as she is used. and whose acts are unpredictable. Horror movies, since Charlie Brooker, put aside the ancient curses to focus on the terror of the immediate future. The little screen, what would our parents say.
And while you’re dying I’ll be still alive
The design of the assassin android is an absolute success: no one would be surprised to see her in the near future as an evolution of voice assistants. And it is that, deep down, M3gan is nothing more than that, only with improved artificial intelligence, permanently connected to the Internet and with the ability to make its own decisions. Even if those decisions are to put the knife to an enemy of her primary user.
After making the best horror comedies of the decade (the fabulous ‘Happy Death Day’ and its incredible sequel), Blumhouse has tried to follow the thread of mixing a genre defenestrated by critics with another ignored by the public. The result is hilarious: the film’s black sense of humor has not been present in such a blunt and shameless way for a long time. Because, above all, ‘M3gan’ is a film that knows it has nothing to lose and decides to be itself from beginning to end, without concessions to the mainstream.
From its beginning, more typical of a channel like Boing, to a hilarious final battle, the film has no problem showing all its cards and taking its proposal to the limit. It’s not just Chucky’s jokes: everyone here, from the police to the gossipy neighbor, has moments of comedy that will only work if you’re willing to accept them. The big problem for ‘M3gan’ is going to be finding its audience, something that seems difficult if through the promotional material you think that they are going to see a new ‘Annabelle’ and that it will probably come out confused and repeating the usual “It’s more than scary It’s funny” without wanting to realize that, indeed, that is what should happen: after all, it is a comedy.
