M3GAN stands for Model 3 Generative Android and within 102 minutes she has already cemented herself as a horror icon. M3GAN is fully aware of what sort of film it and what its main character is, making it the most self-aware horror movie since Scream.
Gemma, played by Get Out’s Allison Williams, is a robotics engineer for toy company Funki making Furby-esque toys called Purrpetual Petz. She’s also been using Funki money to work on the artificially intelligent robot doll that is M3GAN.
However, before M3GAN is fully completed, Gemma’s niece Cady moves in with her after her parents both died in a car crash, leaving Cady as the only survivor. To help look after Cady, Gemma finishes off M3GAN and fast forward a few weeks and M3GAN is all up and running, soon to be revealed to the world. But, as the weeks go by, a few technical hitches come to light and M3GAN turns out to be a bit too overprotective of Cady, leading to some violent and terrifying results.
Whilst she has just lost both of her parents, Cady is one annoying little kid which makes it that bit easier to get excited by M3GAN’s antics. Everything about M3GAN is creepy. From the way her mouth moves when she talks, to the way she looks and the way she just stares. Forget the Kubrick stare, it’s all about the M3GAN stare. And I haven’t even mentioned her fantastic dance moves or singing skills yet.
Coming from the mind of James Wan, M3GAN knows exactly what sort of film it is and fully embraces this campy, crazy and fun side of itself. It’s a horror-comedy, and whilst it’s a little light on scares and certainly leans more towards the comedy than the horror, it’s just absolute mayhem and a joy to watch.
Seeing M3GAN crawling around on all fours chasing after a kid really is peak horror cinema. The scares only start to pick up in the last half hour or so and it only ever has you truly shocked or scared for one or two short bursts at a time, but it’s the comedy that really makes M3GAN what it is.
Seeing M3GAN with a crowd and hearing all the gasps and laughs from the audience is great and M3GAN truly is one of those films that needs to be seen in a packed-out cinema. I know it’s only January but by December, M3GAN is for sure going to be one of the most fun movies of the year and you’ll struggle to find a horror film as entertaining as this in 2023.
Whilst more creepy than scary, M3GAN is an instant horror classic that does something that so many recent horror films have failed to do. Create a horror icon. Everyone knows Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers and Freddie Krueger. But has there been a new horror icon in the past 20 years? Have Freddie or Jason really done anything with their cult horror status over the past few years? Not really. But M3GAN is here to change that by providing us with a truly great horror icon that will hopefully spark many more films.
I’m not sure who exactly would pay the $10,000 price tag to buy their very own creepy-looking AI doll toy, but M3GAN is well worth the price tag of a cinema ticket and it’s an absolutely joyous, utterly stupendous horror film.
M3GAN releases in UK cinemas on Friday 13th January.
York Student Cinema are holding an interactive screening of the film on Friday 24th February.