'M3GAN' (2023) Reaction

2022 was a marquee year for the horror genre – established franchises made triumphant returns with the releases of the fifth Scream film and first Terrifier sequel, and original narratives dominated the box office and streaming platforms with The Black Phone, X, and Fresh being just a few examples. To say the least, horror was in a great place and had a lot of momentum going into a new year. There’s already a plethora of titles to anticipate this year, from the original and chronically intriguing dark comedy Cocaine Bear to the first installment of a planned reboot trilogy for the half-century-old masterpiece The Exorcist, but the movie to kick off 2023 in style was the latest killer doll sensation, M3GAN.

M3GAN had a solid team built around it, with a script written by Malignant (2021) writer Akela Cooper and the collaborative effort of James Wan and Blumhouse at the helm of production. Premiering earlier this month (January 6), the film opened to favorable reviews and has just recently passed the $100 million box office mark worldwide. In regards to the plot, here’s the official logline from Blumhouse:

“M3GAN is a marvel of artificial intelligence, a life-like doll programmed to be a child’s greatest companion and a parent’s greatest ally. Designed by brilliant toy-company roboticist Gemma (Allison Williams), M3GAN can listen and watch and learn as she becomes friend and teacher, playmate and protector, for the child she is bonded to. When Gemma suddenly becomes the caretaker of her orphaned 8-year-old niece, Cady (Violet McGraw), Gemma’s unsure and unprepared to be a parent. Under intense pressure at work, Gemma decides to pair her M3GAN prototype with Cady in an attempt to resolve both problems—a decision that will have unimaginable consequences.”

Cast-wise, Williams and McGraw give great performances together and on their own. Their characters have an interesting dynamic given the circumstances around them, and the two actors give performances that make the audience believe every second of their onscreen relationship. Additionally, the supporting/secondary cast does a phenomenal job – if there’s a character in the film that the viewer isn’t a fan of, it’s most likely because they’re not supposed to be. Another strong element of the film is Anthony Willis’ music score. The composition brings an added sense of atmosphere, particularly in the second half of the film, and there are noticeable sonic inspirations from horror greats such as Scream (1996).

One of the biggest assumptions about this film when it was first announced was that it would just be another Chucky ripoff with no substance of its own to offer. Sure, there’s a killer doll, but there’s so much more to it than that. For starters, the movie isn’t really even about M3GAN – instead, it’s about Gemma and Cady. To compare it to Child’s Play (1988), there are much more tangible themes on the dangers of advancing technologies and modern parenting skills than there are on voodoo and capitalism. It bears some conceptual similarities to the 2019 Child’s Play remake due to the artificial intelligence aspect of both films, but unlike the Chucky resurrection, audiences were more accepting of M3GAN’s debut – as alike as they may be, the Child’s Play remake might have been viewed under a more condemnatory lens because that kind of contempt is simply an audience’s knee-jerk reaction to any established franchise daring to try something new, but that’s another conversation for another article.

Another popular topic of conversation around M3GAN was the PG-13 rating, and whether or not the film would’ve been more shockingly enjoyable with the gory freedom of an R rating – while I’ve always been an advocate of studios making more R-rated horror films, I personally felt that the kill scenes in M3GAN were fine the way they were, and the “less is more” approach of the iconic Jaws (1975) and An American Werewolf in London (1981) is an argument that holds just as much weight as the occasionally contrarian fanbase. With that being said, there supposedly is an unrated cut in the works to be released in the near future, so it’ll ultimately be up to individual interpretation to determine the superior version.

All in all, M3GAN was a well-deserved success and a great way to start off the new year. A sequel is already in development for an early 2025 release with the potential of additional installments down the line, so it’ll be interesting to see how the films advance with the technology. Until then, the film can still be seen in theaters, with a physical release/streaming date still up in the air. To learn more about M3GAN and buy tickets, click here.

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