By: JWBM
A couple gets the chance to move to a large house in a remote area for a fresh start. With a new career and a baby on the way, things are looking up. Yet, an item gets delivered to their home that sets off a chain of events that leads to an evil spiral of despair.
At its dark heart, "Malicious" is a simple story of a hopeful family being torn apart at the seams by a manifestation beyond their powers. It sets up a certain atmosphere with a growing collection of scares, though not much else. It's the kind of film that's catered to the audiences' perspective either with the score, camera angles, to certain crafty setups. The individual performances and chemistry, on the other hand, leave more to be desired. They manage to connect the scenes together and give this a certain flow at times, yet there aren't many scenes that give the actors more room to grow or expand on their roles beyond that boxed in scope. It's more of an aesthetic film that relies on past horror formulas than it is one of greater substance or creativity to break out of the mold.
The husband's range goes from either holding back his emotions, to jumping out of his shoes from fright when his eyes play tricks on him. The actor—Josh Stewart—plays the role with a mumbling intonation and in a sort of daze that never clears from the get-go. The wife is limited to a range of no-one-believes-me, to thanks-for-believing-me-it's-a-little-too-late. The sister—Melissa Bolona—plays an unlikable character on top of having wooden acting chops, which makes her on screen presence feel like unexpected lemon juice in the eyes.
There are some aspects that become redundant: such as returning to a random painting, or repeating a math phrase over and over. That or illogically included: such using evil doppelgangers that feel borrowed from other films that had a more effective reasoning for it, such as "The Broken." The villains also aren't the brightest bulbs and end up harming whatever diabolical plan they had in mind through their own volition.
This is the kind of horror that's going to hit you where you're most vulnerable, then dig in deeper just because. The first half of the film delivers some mystery and intrigue for what will come next. It had me scooting closer to the screen and nodding my head. Some work was put into the sets, camera angles, and score. However, when it eventually gets to its more action oriented scenes, it doesn't always come with a balanced upper hand that's passed from its victim to villain. What also holds it back towards the end is that its driving point for a greater dynamic or resolution starts to fizzle due to doing its worst early on. Then again, it's hopeless and dark, well, because it can be.
Rating: 4/10
Director: Michael Winnick (The Better Half; Code of Honor)
Actors: Bojana Novakovic, Josh Stewart, Delroy Lindo
Info: IMDB link
Trailer: YouTube link
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