Films like Dolls and the Puppet Master series saw the ’80s and ’90s bringing to life a number of iconic killer dolls, though it is Chucky from Child’s Play that is the be-all and end-all icon of the subgenre. What all of these films had in common is the embrace of bringing something innocuous and innocent into your home, only for it to turn on you, as well as these movies sharing the same cinematic techniques of the time allowing these threats to come to life in more effective ways than its predecessors. Another uniting factor is that the size of all of these dolls inevitably asks the viewer, “Couldn’t I just kick it out a window?” To usher in a new generation of killer dolls, M3GAN is here to deliver audiences the best of what the subgenre has to offer, making for an entertaining and engaging experience, yet one that is still bogged down by the inherent hurdles of the formula.
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After her parents die in a car accident, Cady (Violet McGraw) is taken in by her aunt Gemma (Allison Williams), an inventor pushing the limits of A.I. technology in the consumer space. As the pair struggle to connect, Cady comes across M3GAN, a lifelike doll who unlocks something within Cady, while the connection also ignites something unexpected in M3GAN. No matter what happens, M3GAN will stop at nothing to protect Cady, regardless of the deadly methods she has to take.
Director Gerard Johnstone’s last film, Housebound, was a masterclass in blending together horror tropes with genuine humor to create a compelling and unexpected experience. Right from the opening scene of M3GAN, Johnstone sets the viewer at ease, as we’re treated to a commercial for a Furby-esque creature that kids can play with, feed, and ultimately watch poop. The concept of a doll coming to life to kill its owners is inherently absurd, with this commercial not only confirming that it’s okay for viewers to laugh, but actively encouraging it. Between the outlandishness of the concept and the genuinely buffoonishness of some of the characters, Johnstone once again manages to find the right balance of scares and laughs to keep the audience engaged.
Almost immediately after the first trailers for M3GAN dropped, sequences of her running through a forest on her hands and feet and of her dancing became viral sensations, due entirely to the figure’s unsettling physicality. Unlike the highlights of the subgenre from the ’80s and ’90s, this antagonist is brought to life in a much more disturbing way, as her stature is that of a young girl, yet the doll’s face gives an entirely inhuman and blank expression, akin to characters in films like Eyes Without a Face or The Skin I Live In. In this regard, M3GAN is arguably the most frightening killer doll put to screen, even surpassing iconic figures like Chucky or The Conjuring series’ Annabelle.
In addition to being physically superior to her predecessors, the motivations for her murders also feel entirely believable. While the more famous killer dolls have come to life thanks to supernatural forces, M3GAN is merely highlighting the all-too-real dangers of reliance on A.I. Whether it’s videos of robots developed by Boston Dynamics showcasing unstoppable creations, self-driving Teslas causing tragedies, or manipulation of A.I. tools online pushing these services to the brink of derangement, it’s a bit too believable that something designed to be a toy is only ever one step away from being pushed too far in one direction that it starts learning dangerous behaviors as opposed to benevolent responses. Whereas Isaac Asimov was ahead of his time when developing the laws that all robots must live by in his stories, M3GAN shows us why those built-in failsafes would have to be implemented in the first place. Not only is she a physical threat, but the ways in which she can tap into and exploit technology through the Internet and wifi make her far more threatening and omnipresent than villains that came before her.
Much like the comedy of the film is established early on, Williams establishes effectively and early the frustrations of her character’s attempts to connect with Cady. When her niece first enters her home, Cady is discouraged from playing with the first toys she sees, as they’re “collectibles” and not to be played with. This divide slightly abates over the film’s run time, though M3GAN’s prominence in Cady’s life is largely due to how it’s so much easier for Gemma to sit Cady down with M3GAN than to try to cope with this new dynamic on her own. The film isn’t entirely about a rampaging killer doll, as there are themes about technology becoming such an integral part of any child’s upbringing (and subsequent dangers of that), as well as the long-term damage caused by trying to find a quick fix to emotional problems.
Despite the effectiveness of these themes about family, the pacing of this storyline is also what causes the film some of its setbacks. With a run time of 102 minutes, were some of the family bonding sequences cut short or streamlined, we could have gotten a much leaner, much meaner, and much more effective slasher, especially given that the family struggles aren’t nearly as engaging as M3GAN’s mayhem.
There’s nothing inherently poor about M3GAN, as it’s entirely competent and relatively effective, and the film’s setbacks are baked into its concept. Other subgenres like haunted house movies or zombie movies offer a lot of room to explore those worlds in unconventional ways and subvert expectations to push the boundaries of what’s expected from such a film, but with there being fewer entries into the killer doll subgenre, pushing too hard to break the mold could be a jarring experience. Being able to so quickly bring up other points of reference so where M3GAN either exceeds or falls short reinforces that, at its core, it’s still just a movie about a killer doll, of which we’ve seen dozens of examples over the years. The movie might remix and revamp familiar elements in effective ways, but it never does anything more than the built-in potential of the concept. Additionally, the PG-13 rating will likely disappoint some audiences who hope to see M3GAN deliver a full-blown rampage (feeling especially disappointing when one piece of dialogue in the third act explicitly sees a character demanding a larger audience that felt like it was setting up more victims for M3GAN), instead opting to keep the body count much more minimal. However, this rating will make it more accessible to younger audiences, which could help make the movie serve as a gateway film for burgeoning horror enthusiasts.
M3GAN remains an enigmatic experience, as it feels both like a killer doll movie and also a killer child movie, given the physical stature of the titular killer. Her physicality and body language are inherently creepy, so with this specific subgenre being relegated to the backburner or straight-to-streaming releases for years, it’s at least refreshing to see something this weird for the horror realm earning a major release. January is often known to be a dumping ground for horror, with M3GAN absolutely bucking that trend and offering audiences something that is genuinely entertaining, even if its horrors and humor are sure to land with mixed reactions. The movie might not do anything new for the subgenre, but even bringing these concepts back in a big way, especially given the disappointments of the 2019 Child’s Play reboot, is worth celebrating. Then again, seeing the ways in which Chucky on SYFY is breaking new ground not only for the killer doll tropes, but horror storytelling in general, makes M3GAN feel like it missed some opportunities. If anything, we’re hoping that this is merely M3GAN 1.0 and, whether it’s in this universe proper or in the hands of new filmmakers whose first introduction to killer dolls is this film, this is just the beginning of some much-needed upgrades to the concept.
Rating: 3 out of 5
M3GAN lands in theaters on January 6th.
