Director Gerard Johnstone and screenwriter Akela Cooper have their tongues planted firmly in their cheeks from the very start of M3GAN, a satirical tale of treacherous technology in which the shocks and scares and even the cautionary notes are not lessened by the enjoyable vein of campy humor. While comparison to the Child’s Play and Annabelle movies seems inevitable, the malevolent agents in those franchises clearly are dolls. The Model 3 Generative Android known as M3GAN, by contrast, is a sufficiently realistic humanoid to be subversive as well as creepy, echoing AI insta-classics like Ex Machina.
Given that horror fans have been among the most dependable demographics to return to the multiplex post-pandemic, Universal should be able to count on a sizable young audience for this cheeky chiller from Blumhouse and James Wan’s Atomic Monster. It won’t hurt that although M3GAN is styled like a ‘70s flight attendant, she’s also a quintessential mean girl in the Regina George mold that could fit right into any teen comedy, one whose intelligence you underestimate at your peril.
The Bottom Line Trouble in toyland.
Release date: Friday, Jan. 6
Cast: Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Ronny Chieng, Brian Jordan Alvarez, Jen Van Epps, Stephane Garneau-Monten, Lori Dungey
Director: Gerard Johnstone
Screenwriter: Akela Cooper; story by Cooper, James Wan
Rated PG-13, 1 hour 42 minutes
Right off the bat, the creative team let us know it’s OK to laugh, starting with what could almost be a Saturday Night Live parody commercial about the key advantage of robot pets over actual animals — they don’t die. The product being advertised by the Funki toy company is a PurRpetual Pet, a googly-eyed, troll-like furball that can talk and eat, as well as fart and crap cute pellets.
Ever since 8-year-old Cady (Violet McGraw) was sent one of the robo-pets as a birthday gift from her aunt Gemma (Allison Williams), her parents fret about the amount of time the girl is spending operating the gadget via her iPad. But their attempt to provide other distractions on a ski trip is cut short by a head-on collision with a snow truck. Gemma is granted temporary protective custody and Cady goes to stay with her aunt in the Seattle suburbs.
Orphaned Cady is understandably traumatized and disinclined to bond. But she sparks up when she sees Gemma’s college robotics project Bruce in action in a brief appearance that serves as foreshadowing for later, when the hulking AI contraption will come in handy.
Coding expert Gemma leads the robotics team at Funki, where pugnacious CEO David (Ronny Chieng) is leaning on them to come up with a cheaper PurRpetual Pet option, since their competitors are undercutting them with ripoff models. David is unimpressed by their expensive side project M3GAN when she malfunctions during a premature demonstration, telling them to can the “cyborg puppet show.” But Gemma, faced with Cady’s sadness and her own lack of parenting skills, plunges ahead, bringing M3GAN home to play. Bad move.
David changes his mind about developing the M3GAN line once he observes the 4-foot doll interacting with Cady. That hilarious scene involves the robot whipping up a spitting-image portrait of Cady with a few swift strokes and just two colors of highlighter pens. “Will it cost more or less than a Tesla?” is David’s only question, before declaring, “We’re gonna kick Hasbro’s dick!”
A new and terrifying story about a killing doll coming to life, M3GAN is set to premiere in theaters in January. This is a fine way to start the year off, as horror movies seem to be undergoing a high-quality revival. M3GAN was co-written and produced by James Wan, and it stars the modern scream queen Allison Williams (Get Out, The Perfection).
M3GAN is an AI doll created to be a little girl's companion and protector. However, her programming takes that literally, eliminating anything and everything that puts the girl in harm's way. By the looks of it, this is going to be a James Wan classic - an intriguing story with great visuals and tons of jump scares.
No one can convey the discomfort of technological advancement better than Alex Garland. He did it with DEVS, but before that show, he did it with Ex Machina. Oscar Isaac, Domnhall Gleeson, Sonoya Mizuno, and Alicia Vikander star in this tense and dark feature that's almost certainly a modern cult classic.
Ex Machina is about a young programmer Caleb who gets selected to spend time in a reclusive scientist's home (Isaac), testing the humanoid Ava (Vikander). Caleb discusses various topics with Ava, getting to know her and her intentions more. The secluded but beautiful home they spend time in sets the tone for the film - it's a futuristic space with the most advanced tech, buried deep in nature. Garland's idea of combining the two never ceases to amaze.
While the expectation was for Julia to help the scientist finish his experiment and perfect it, Tau has a different idea. For it, elimination is imminent and disobeying its commands results in instant (and usually violent) death. This exciting sci-fi thriller with horror elements is stressful, exciting, and packed with action sequences.
Alien, the cinema and sci-fi classic, was one of the original rogue AI scary stories - although that's kind of a spoiler, sorry. However, most fans of the genre have likely already seen this legendary Ridley Scott feature and know what the story, starring Sigourney Weaver, is all about.
For those who haven't watched the movie - a crew of astronauts on a commercial spaceship gets awakened by a transmission from space. As they go to investigate, they come across what appears to be alien life forms. Not to spoil this, but the evil robot is a major plot twist - and best left for newcomers to find out. This movie remains one of the all-time favorites, and there's even a fantastically portrayed (and also rogue) AI in the latest sequel, Alien: Covenant.
Another early day evil AI depiction comes from none other than Stanley Kubrick. His 2001: A Space Odyssey was recently voted as the best movie of all time by various directors in a Sight and Sound poll. This choice wasn't surprising - Odyssey is a visual masterpiece, with a story that was arguably way ahead of its time.
Astronauts travel to investigate an artifact in a ship equipped by the supercomputer HAL 9000. HAL has a human personality, and a knack for survival like most men, if not better. Besides there being a fascinating and somewhat terrifying story, the movie is an invitation to enjoy cinema in its purest. Symmetry, beauty and art come together and depict a fantastic story.
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