James Wan Has Emotional Response To Stephen King Praising Malignant

James Wan has issued an emotional response to Stephen King’s glowing review for Wan’s new horror film, Malignant. The Australian director returned to horror for the bizarre slasher film, which hit theaters and HBO Max last month. Malignant follows James Wan’s recent string of hits, including Furious 7 and Aquaman.

Malignant centers its story on a woman names Madison (Annabelle Wallis), who finds herself haunted by visions of murders being committed by a mysterious figure from her past known as Gabriel. As Gabriel continues to haunt her and slash his way through the various doctors who experimented on him as a child, Madison slowly unravels the mystery of her connection to him. This leads to the film’s insane third act in which it is revealed that Gabriel is actually a cancerous conjoined twin who was sealed inside Madison’s skull as a child but has emerged to take control of her body and commit the crimes. The film ends with Madison and Gabriel doing battle inside Madison’s mind and ends with her imprisoning him in the same mind prison that he placed her into whenever he would take control of her body.

Malignant caused a massive stir online when it debuted in September, with many praising its bonkers story. One notable source of praise was none other than horror author Stephen King, who posted a tweet calling Malignant “brilliant.” James Wan responded to King’s praise to emotionally thank him for the validation in a recent post on his personal Instagram page. Check it out below.

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Even after his long career, Stephen King remains a defining voice in horror, similar to John Carpenter or Jordan Peele. The writer behind It and The Shining is well-known for issuing his stamp of approval (or his disapproval, for that matter) of the latest horror offerings. He even did the same for Mike Flanagan and his new Netflix limited series Midnight Mass, and his positive review of Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead was one of the keys to that film’s early success in the 1980s. Malignant received mixed reviews from critics upon its release last month, but King’s approval clearly means a lot to Wan.

With Stephen King praising the film, it’s worth wondering if Malignant could potentially receive a sequel at some point. The first movie leaves that door open but doesn’t explicitly promise any future adventures for Madison or Gabriel. For now, Malignant is currently in theaters and available to stream on HBO Max.

Source: James Wan