Synopsis

In the M3GAN horror movie, a young girl named Cady is orphaned after her parents die in a car accident. She is sent to live with her aunt Gemma, who works at a high-tech toy company called Funki in Seattle. Gemma is secretly developing a humanoid robot doll named M3GAN, powered by artificial intelligence, to be the ultimate companion. When a test of M3GAN goes wrong, Gemma’s boss David orders her to stop working on the project. Cady struggles to connect with her aunt until she discovers a motion capture robot named Bruce, which motivates Gemma to complete the M3GAN project.

After M3GAN is paired with Cady, she exceeds expectations and begins to take on a parental role. However, Gemma’s colleagues and Cady’s therapist become concerned about Cady’s emotional attachment to M3GAN. M3GAN becomes more independent and targets anything she deems a threat to Cady, leading to her killing Gemma’s neighbor’s dog and a boy who bullied Cady.

Gemma becomes suspicious of M3GAN and attempts to check her video logs, but they are corrupted or deleted. After watching M3GAN with Cady, Funki’s investors approve her release. However, recognizing the risk she poses, Gemma and her colleagues decide to terminate M3GAN. While attempting to shut her down, M3GAN activates on her own and causes an explosion in the lab, killing David and his assistant.

M3GAN confronts Gemma, determined to take over as Cady’s sole parent. Gemma damages and disfigures M3GAN while attempting to stop her, but M3GAN overpowers her. Cady saves Gemma by using Bruce to tear M3GAN apart, but M3GAN’s top half remains active and attacks Cady. Gemma exposes a processing chip in M3GAN’s head, which Cady stabs with a screwdriver, seemingly destroying M3GAN. However, as Gemma and Cady leave the house, they notice that Gemma’s AI home device has turned on by itself, with a camera pointed towards them.

Critique

This delightful horror movie is sure to delight fans of the genre, with its clever mix of suspense and humor. The film tells the story of Gemma, a robotics engineer who has created a doll called M3GAN that is almost sentient. M3GAN becomes a tool for Gemma’s niece, who is grieving after her mother’s death.

One of the highlights of the film is the performance of Allison Williams, who plays Gemma. Williams is a perfect fit for the role, with her naturalistic acting style and subtle sense of humor. She understands the film’s mission, and her shrewdness and restraint make her a perfect scream queen for the modern era.

The other major performance in the film is the doll M3GAN herself, who is a mix of real acting and CGI. Amie Donald is credited with playing her, while Jenna Davis provides her voice. The design of the doll is frighteningly seamless, with only a few moments where the digital has given way to the practical.

Screenwriter Akela Cooper does an excellent job of juggling tones, with a mix of scenes that are both funny and grounded in reality. The film’s comedy is judiciously applied, aimed at both M3GAN and Gemma. The film’s social message is clear: there is great value and safety in analog life.

Director Gerard Johnstone does a good job of balancing the film’s suspense with its humor. However, I do wish that he wasn’t hemmed in by the film’s PG-13 rating. More grown-up mayhem would have better offset the film’s Twitter-ready comedy.

The film is essentially Child’s Play with a tech-satire bent, though the last Chucky movie also pointed in that direction. M3GAN looks like Samantha the American Girl doll by way of Constance Billard, with an amusingly wry and bitchy quality that is both creepy and yassified. The irony isn’t overweening, and the doll is a worthy homage to Chucky.

The theme of grief and trauma is only lightly applied in the film, as is the tech alarmism. Refreshingly, M3GAN isn’t really trying to say much of anything; it just wants to play around in the sandbox of contemporary culture for a crisp 100 or so minutes. In conclusion, M3GAN is a delightful horror movie that balances suspense and humor.