M3GAN (2023) | 15 | sci-fi/horror | 102 minutes | NEW MOVIE REVIEW
After young Cady’s parents die in a car accident, her detached aunt Gemma, who is in the middle of creating the next big toy, decides to create something that will make Cady happy. Enter M3GAN, an animatronic playmate designed to bond with Cady and never let her feel sad again. But as the two become more attached, Gemma begins to wonder how good M3GAN really is for Cady.
A relevant horror movie for modern movie-goers, M3GAN has lots to say about the dangers of advanced artificial intelligence as well as kids’ addiction to technology, as each scenario involving the plaything becomes more and more horrific. But M3GAN never forgets to be an entertaining film first and foremost. Underpinned by a campy sense of humour that acknowledges the silliness of the plot, M3GAN the film is less concerned with being a total scare-fest than most horrors, but that doesn’t stop M3GAN the doll from being really creepy.
Despite her emotive yet expressionless face and ‘uncanny valley’ aesthetic, it is easy to get caught up in the wonder of M3GAN to begin with. But when her flaws begin to show, namely her tunnel-vision worldview and inhuman brutality, M3GAN combines the horror tropes of creepy little girls and AI gone wrong.
It’s not gory and may not take itself seriously enough to be genuinely scary for some, but M3GAN is a timely and, more importantly, damn entertaining film that could well represent the new face of horror for the modern day.
Rating: 7.5/10
