As a child, I never found dolls that creepy. I even had a few. I remember being traumatized by the Child’s Play trailer at a young age. Other than that, though, I never really thought about them … until recently, that is. The weirdness. The uncanniness. Popular culture is quickly learning to capitalize on our psychologically rooted fear of dolls. It is with that that audiences get to check out M3GAN. Will this apparent blend of Barbie and The Terminator delight and terrify? Or will it end up in the cheap DVD bin in the blink of an eye?
M3GAN follows Gemma (Allison Williams), a toy designer with almost everything going for her. Well, her boss (Ronny Chieng) is a bit of a challenge. However, her life is thrown for a loop when her sister dies in a car crash, leaving her daughter Cady (Violet McGraw) in Gemma’s care.
All of a sudden, Gemma is struck with an idea. Cady is lonely and in desperate need of a friend. So, Gemma designs M3GAN. The robot does everything, including the important parenting tasks where Gemma falls short. However, when M3GAN begins to move past her programming (we’ve all seen these movies), things get bloody.
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Amie Donald, Jenna Davis, Jen Van Epps and Brian Jordan Alvarez co-star in the movie. Gerard Johnstone directs M3GAN from a script by Akela Cooper.
From the opening credits, M3GAN is a bit of a complex animal. A few things are going on here. The movie certainly is a fun bit of doll horror. Following the steps of Chucky and The Boy, it’s not hard to guess what you get in a movie like this.
Truthfully, I didn’t find M3GAN that scary. Most of the horror is based around jump-scares. The abundance of these will work for some (I am a naturally jumpy person.) These will perhaps fall flat for more seasoned horror viewers. Meanwhile, much of the violence and gore is relatively light and largely occurs off-screen.
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That said, the movie does tap into some of the inherent “doll” creepiness, and the film has a blast playing with the uncanny. You know these moments. M3GAN’s expression changes, and of course, only the audience notices. Even the sight of M3GAN slumped against her charger in a dark room is enough to induce a light shudder.
Outside of this light horror, the movie’s tongue is planted firmly in its cheek. M3GAN seems to relish playing with the campiness intrinsic to this narrative.
Many moments garner laughs in a packed theater, making this a great movie to see with a crowd. This ranges from the sight of a tongue-in-cheek doll commercial that should feel familiar to anyone who remembers “My Buddy” to M3GAN singing a wistful version of “Titanium” to Cady.
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Perhaps it is the very nature of “doll” horror which, at some level, works against the scariness. Even as M3GAN pursues a victim armed with a massive sword, it’s surprisingly easy to laugh. You wince at some level because it’s creepy, but you’re also still chuckling. This is a doll, after all. It’s funny in its absurdity. Dolls can’t kill us … at least, not yet.
At the same time, though, M3GAN’s character design goes a long way toward emphasizing the creepy and uncanny. While her face is very much that of a doll, there’s an impressive presence brought to the pint-sized character. This is mainly because this isn’t simply a computer-generated portrayal. Two performers bring a dynamic and surprisingly imposing physicality. That said, she isn’t too real, either. There’s a tricky line here, and the film’s work on the character is successful.
Meanwhile, the movie isn’t afraid to tackle complex and challenging stories. The main storyline is, of course, an examination of grief. Cady lost her parents. Gemma lost her sister. These characters are both hurting, and for good or for bad, M3GAN is the bandaid. Yikes.
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M3GAN finds an exciting relationship between Gemma and Cady. This is a complex situation surrounding a child fighting through some real issues. McGraw certainly has more to do as it relates to the narrative, and she goes through a far wider emotional arc. The young performer is magnetic, but some of her work feels abrupt, especially toward the end of the second act. While the narrative is a two-hander between the two leads, the script might have benefited from spending more time with Cady. It would have helped develop some of what happens with her character toward the movie’s end and ease a rough character transition.
Meanwhile, there’s also an interesting examination of technology and its role in our lives. Thinking about it, this story is perhaps even creepier than M3GAN‘s main storyline. The thought of the growing presence of robots, smart speakers and automated assistants in our daily lives is eerie. Fans of shows like Black Mirror might find these understated narrative elements particularly fascinating. There is certainly more to be said here, and M3GAN has only scratched the surface.
January is that fun time of the year when audiences are treated to a surprising number of horror movies, and M3GAN is ultimately a fun way to start the month. Is the film as scary as some of its horror predecessors? No. Though, M3GAN replaces some of this terror with a fun appreciation for its campiness. It’s uneasy and a bit weird, but it isn’t afraid to laugh at itself.
M3GAN opens in theaters around the country today.
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