We have returned to our former glory, horror fandom. M3GAN is a brand new original film from the sick imagination of James Wan, writer and director of the Insidious and The Conjuring film series. The initial poster for this film gave us a taste of what was to come, and we knew right away that this latest Blumhouse offering would be, well, uncanny. Now, the first official trailer for the film introducing the world to the Model Three Generative Android (or M3GAN for short) has been published by Universal Pictures. The first original genre script of 2024 comes from the same team that brought you Malignant, 2021’s blockbuster horror treasure for the ages, and the producer of The Black Phone.
M3GAN, a film that will hit cinemas in early January, takes a look at the shadowy side of technical advances in artificial intelligence, a line that people both respect for its advantages and dread for its murky unknowns. Gemma (Allison Williams of get Out) is a clever roboticist who decides her recently orphaned niece Cady (Violet McGraw) would make a good test subject for her creation of a lifelike doll that utilises artificial intelligence to learn about her companions. In the preview, set to the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Taylor Swift’s “It’s Nice to Have a Friend,” we discover that Cady recently lost both her parents in a car accident and is now living with her aunt.
Gemma, a renowned robotics engineer for a seemingly futuristic toy firm, is in a tough spot since she wants to provide her niece with a stable and loving home life but is also under a lot of pressure at work. What’s her answer? This, of course, is the M3GAN doll, created to “be a child’s best buddy and a parent’s greatest ally.” When Gemma expresses that she wants to “protect Cady from harm,” M3GAN will do so, regardless of who or what M3GAN perceives as a danger, since M3GAN is able to listen, learn, and bond with their kid. Wan and his Malignant co-writer Akela Cooper reteam for M3GAN, infusing the picture with the same ominous emotions that made Malignant’s unsettlingly human design so effective, while award-winning filmmaker Gerard Johnstone (Housebound) provides keen direction to his sophomore feature film.
The clip demonstrates the abrupt swings in tone, from Cady and M3GAN Tik-Toking their worries away to the AI doll chasing after a toddler on all fours. When Gemma is helpless to control M3GAN with her remote, the film poses the question, “How far is too far?” in the vein of other cautionary blockbusters like Terminator and Alex Garland’s Ex Machina, and notably the ’80s Cabbage Patch nightmare Child’s Play. The cast of M3GAN also includes Brian Jordan Alvarez, Jen Van Epps, Lori Dungey, Stephan Garneau-Monten, Michael K. Williams, and Tim McGraw (The Haunting of Hill House), with Davis providing the voice of the titular AI. Williams is not only directing the movie but also producing it.
M3GAN, in cinemas on January 13, 2023, explores the development of friendship through the lens of a video game.