Malignant’s Biggest Unanswered Questions

James Wan’s most recent horror film Malignant is an ode to B-movie cult classics, but it still doesn’t address all of the movie’s biggest unanswered questions. The film itself draws out its mystery and toys with audiences’ expectations until unleashing a truly gonzo third act culminating in Malignant‘s bonkers twist ending, but that structure inevitably opens it up to interrogation. In fact, there’s an argument to be made that the film sacrifices a tightly written plot in order to focus on the sheer shock and absurdity of its climax.

Malignant follows a woman named Madison, played by Annabelle Wallis, as she receives mysterious visions of murders that are actually happening in real life. The marketing for the film was noticeably cryptic, keeping key plot details under wraps so as to not ruin the impact of the twist. It was unclear if the film was another one of Wan’s supernatural ghost stories or a giallo revival-inspired slasher mystery, and different trailers and posters purposely misled people. Although Malignant contains elements from different types of horror movies, it has more in common with exploitation grindhouse films from the 70s and 80s.

It turns out that the reason why Madison is witnessing the murders is that she has a cancerous conjoined twin named Gabriel who can secretly take control her brain and body. That makes for a grotesque creature reveal and an imaginative and over-the-top fight sequence in the film’s gloriously unhinged final act, but it also opens up a ton of questions about the nature of Gabriel himself. It’s possible that these inquiries will be addressed in a later sequel, but there’s currently no word on a follow-up from Wan. For now, all that remains is speculation.

How Does Gabriel Have Electric Powers?

Malignant‘s Gabriel may be a stunted parasitic twin that grew a mind of his own, but that still doesn’t explain how he can manipulate electrical signals. Presumably, there’s a supernatural explanation for this, but the movie never actually explores this concept. Gabriel’s ability to communicate through audio devices as if he has some sort of electrical telepathy does serve a purpose in the context of the story, though, since it keeps his true identity a secret and may even misdirect audiences into thinking he’s a more spectral villain like a ghost or demon. The fact that he can talk out of radios and speakers means that he doesn’t have to turn his body around and reveal that he’s attached to Madison. However, electrokinesis isn’t the only superpower the living tumor seems to have.

How Does Gabriel Have Super Strength and Agility?

Gabriel has also developed super strength and even agility to boot, being able to throw heavy objects, crack skulls, and take down an entire police squadron all by himself when taking over Madison’s body. That’s a tall feat considering that he peers out of the back of Madison’s head and so is operating out of a backward body. To make it even more confusing, Madison gets his strength after taking her body back, implying that the superpowers were inside her all along. (It’s unclear if she gets Gabriel’s electric powers, too). Although there isn’t a clear plot explanation for any of this, it does serve as an excuse for a very cool, very memorable, and very bloody third-act fight sequence.

How Did Madison’s Head Injury Actually “Awaken” Gabriel?

Malignant explains that when Madison’s abusive husband hits her head against the wall, the physical trauma awoke a dormant Gabriel living inside her head. On the other hand, Madison’s sister Sydney informs her that Gabriel was feeding off of her unborn fetuses, which was causing Madison’s constant miscarriages. That means that Gabriel was always somehow active in Madison’s body, causing her misery even when he couldn’t physically take her over. In addition, Gabriel is still able to influence Madison’s mind as a child until she loses her memory, implying that there needs to be a mental and emotional connection between the two in order for Gabriel to manifest his influence. So does that mean that Madison’s head injury in Malignant just acted as a physical entryway for Gabriel to squeeze out of her head, or did it jostle something deep in her brain? The specifics are never fleshed out.

How Does Gabriel Become Dormant?

The folks over at Simion Research Hospital cut Gabriel out of Madison like the tumor he is but never reached the brain, which explains why he was able to come back with a vengeance. However, Madison is able to defeat her parasitic twin with sheer willpower after learning that he was the reason for her miscarriages. She tricks Gabriel into thinking he killed her sister Sydney, manipulating his mind like he did to her. Madison is fully aware of Gabriel’s presence at the end of the movie and does not physically sever him from her body, yet is still able to control and defeat him. If a horror movie villain needs a weakness, Gabriel’s is ill-defined.

Why Is Gabriel So Evil?

In the creepy flashback scenes of Madison’s childhood, she says that her “imaginary friend” is the devil. It’s actually Gabriel, of course, unless Gabriel in some indirect, roundabout way is, in fact, demonic in nature. He does have superpowers, and he does seem to enjoy violently murdering people. He’s clearly jealous of figures in Madison’s life and obviously wants revenge on those that literally cut his independent life short, but he still seems evil for the sake of being evil. Critics have pointed out that director James Wan probably took inspiration for Malignant from the cult classic Basket Case, a film that’s also about a deformed murderous twin angry that he was separated from his other half. In that movie, however, the normal-looking human twin has a loving relationship with his brother and is in on the revenge scheme against the surgical doctors. Gabriel lacks the same clearly defined motivations.

Why Did Gabriel Kidnap His Mother?

On that note, it’s also unclear why Gabriel kidnapped his mother Serena from the Seattle Underground city tour and tied her up in Madison’s attic. She’s probably not as high on his revenge list as the surgeons were, but it’s still unclear why he never just outright murdered her. At the end of the movie when Serena is in the hospital, Gabriel tells her that he wanted her to see the monster he’s become before finally ending her life. It seems like a lot of effort for Gabriel to make a statement about his abandonment issues. Of course, there’s also the added bonus of framing the kidnapping on Madison since Serena is trapped in her attic, but Gabriel never intentionally frees her. It’s presumably just one long act of psychological torture, making Gabriel quite the theatrical monster.

Why Were the Videotapes About Gabriel Located in an Abandoned Hospital?

There’s no logical reason why the videotapes and medical records revealing the relationship between Gabriel and Madison would have been left in the basement of an abandoned hospital instead of kept with the surgeons or stored in an offsite database. This one is easy to explain, though. There needed to be some excuse to show that creepy Gothic asylum in its abandoned glory, even if nothing scary actually happens when Sydney goes to retrieve the footage. It’s just one of the additions Malignantmade that helped form the bonkers, entertaining movie that was nonetheless not explained.

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