Malignant (2013)

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

A man goes through an ordeal of losing his wife to cancer and takes solace in a bottle. Brad Dourif plays a demented doctor who decides to help him fight his addiction using unorthodox methods. These methods involve cutting him open and planting the latest mind control equipment. His therapy is simple, if he drinks he'll blackout and wake up next to a dead body that he murdered (he's usually provided with a video of him doing it). If he doesn't drink he'll be fine of course, but that never is the case.Dourif does a good job with the script he was given but it is a weak script. Most of it does seem far fetched but to each his own. It did remind me of Chop (2011) where the guy would wake up every morning with some body part cut off.This film did have a couple of scenes where a punch type tool was inserted behind the eye and tapped into the brain. I did get a slight headache from that one.

After Allex (Gary Cairns) loses his wife tragically, he turns to the bottle and makes a bad habit of it. Being an alcoholic is affecting every aspect of his life, including getting him on his boss' bad side. It seems like a lot of people around Allex have noticed his addiction, yet no one has stepped in to help. That is until The Man (Brad Dourif), tries to help Allex in unconventional ways, that only makes things worse for wear.After being approached by The Man, Allex wakes up to a nasty gash on his left pectoral muscle that's both sore, and already stitched up. The Man tells him that it's treatment, and that he better not drink again. Defying what he's told by the mysterious man, Allex drinks, and wakes up to a video on his computer of himself murdering someone. The Man calls him, and warns him that if he drinks again, someone else will be killed. At first he doesn't know if it's real or not, and relies on the opinion of his friend's opinion who tells him that it's fake.So, Allex drinks some more, and wakes up to another video. This time it's a woman he's killed, and the bloody crowbar used in the video is in his tub, covered in blood. Though he doesn't know how he's killing these people, he knows he doesn't want to do it again, so he pours out all of his liquor. By this point, it's been established that somehow he's being controlled and watched. And after being fired for not coming into work, his next victim is his boss. While he still has no memory, or answers as to why he committed the murder, he runs away and camps out in the desert, and even there, he still kills someone.While I don't have any major complaints about the movie, I'd be lying if I said that Gary Cairns performance isn't lackluster at parts. I feel there was room for more vast emotional acting, that if strong enough could have really pulled you into some scenes that are a letdown as is. Shortly after his victim in the desert, Allex cuts open his pectoral muscle and removes a disc, the little piece of high-tech machinery that was allowing him to be controlled to kill people by The Man.We come to find out that he's The Man's second experiment attempt at this, and is given a lobotomy through his eye socket, after a bit of shock treatment. There's some good makeup effects to be shown, especially towards the end. We also get some understanding of The Man, and learn of his backstory, which is tragic. There's a sudden turn of events as Allex gets the upper hand on The Man, and there's a plot twist of deception involving where The Man gets his high-grade technology apparel. In the end, 'Malignant' fails to be scary or very suspenseful, but it still pulls you in, if only to find out answers as to what's going on with Allex being controlled and killing people. Definitely a unique piece of cinema, but it doesn't stand out. If Dourif's name wasn't attached, I think this one might have slipped by people's radar. But I did like it, I just wasn't blown away.

Maybe the idea was good but surely the execution failed on many levels. Few good things I could say about this one, it's a little better than "Brainjacked", has an iconic horror actor and the acting was that of a acceptable B movie. So that's why I rated it a 3, cause in rest, everything is plain ol' forgettable. Overall I say this one is a bad example of low budget horror, that tries a tad bit more than those usual zombie/found footage films, but nothing memorable whatsoever. I would never recommend such a piece, except if you are looking for something to put you to sleep, then it might do the trick.Do try "13 sins", I really enjoyed that one. Is kinda on the same level, so you won't feel too deserted. Cheers!

Malignant (original title: "Black Butterflies") is a cautionary tale about the nature of addiction and the technology to control our behavior that is rapidly becoming reality. This story makes use of the same technology as Michael Crichton's "The Terminal Man," but here focuses on the forced relationship between the patient with the moral weakness and the Machiavellian mad scientist willing to cross ethical and legal boundaries to perform his experiments.The lead actors are worth mentioning: Gary Cairns as Allex plays sorrow very well, making the audience feel his loss, motivating his addiction. He and the script do a nice job portraying the bewilderment of a man being forced unwillingly into an experiment and learning with horror of the consequences. Sienna Farall's character brings a couple of rare moments of joy into the story, illustrating Allex's sorrow. I'd like to see Farall in more movies. Nick Nicotera's chad is written well as a nerd's nerd and the source of technology Allex uses rather cleverly to explore his predicament, but Nicotera's portrayal was rather wooden; maybe his character needed more back story. And Brad Dourif is the star of the show as the mad scientist. When the interactions between him and Allex kick into high gear, some of Dourif's performance seems a bit forced. Maybe his character needed more motivation or maybe the budget necessitated rushing the shooting schedule.The story flows smoothly, with the characters having motivation for what they do and the story showing those motivations to the audience. The horror is just the right amount of graphic. Kudos to one scene near the end that shows exactly the horror of what's going on; great effects. Without spoiling too much of the plot: It's a good mix of action, violence, and social commentary, well filmed and tense to watch.