From rip the horror community is a key part of Bowie's story. Her first role is as a final girl facing off with a killer clown that she is able to defeat as she delivers her terribly awful line, “The circus just left town, bitch.” She’s less than pleased about it, even interrupting the scene to confirm that the line is what the director wants her to say but they inform her it likely won’t make the cut and she does it. The scene on set of her movie cuts to Bowie at a convention, Slasher Con, while she’s taking a video with a fan, reciting that very line.

Revealing that the film didn’t provide her with stardom but did get her a small spot at horror conventions. The fan asks if she has anything coming soon and when she gives a less than inspiring answer he encourages her to stay positive, revealing the bleak outlook of her career at the point in time the movie opens. Through a conversation on the phone as she’s leaving it’s revealed that Bowie chose an Indie horror project over a national bank ad campaign due to the bank having a history similar to that of Wells Fargo.

Despite not getting an appearance fee for Slasher Con like her male counterparts or a cut of merch sales Bowie completes the convention while downing pills. While in the parking garage after the con a dark figure is clearly following her but not seeing him she leaves with him tailing not far behind, going directly back to her girlfriend’s house where she stays.

From the 2nd scene in the film it is clear that the women, including Bowie, are more than over the things that come with their careers online like unsolicited comments on their appearance. Jessica, her girlfriend portrayed by Danielle Lyn, gets a call that she got a big role and is off to London after the former lead was fired for an offensive post. Her girlfriend is recognizable but doesn’t claim her publicly, Bowie relegated to taking photos of her and her fans rather than having her own fans outside of the horror world.

Bowie gets an email for an audition as Jessica leaves for her role, now throwing herself into that process with the help of her friend, Ryan portrayed by Danny Kang. She shows Ryan another DM that she has received from a government official which is explicit and very inappropriate to his shock. She seems more than used to the unwarranted, often negative or sexual attention, commenting that her veganism draws ire from people.

Ryan reveals that the project he’d been working on is going with a different actress than her and he retorts that she should be happy for him despite her feelings about male privilege, nepotism in the industry, and the lack of meritocracy. Their back and forth causes Ryan to decide to leave and Bowie admits her feelings center around not understanding why she isn’t enough for Hollywood. Ryan suggests she’s in a lull and that she should make her own things while in that period, agreeing to help her with her own film once his is done.

Bowie spends the night watching old footage that appears to be her and Ryan as younger teens. She starts to try and work on her own script for a film but quickly gives up and opts for smoking while she makes Cameo-like videos for fans. She keeps receiving calls from a blocked number and feels inundated with the negative news from around the world coupled with hateful DMs and comments on her social media.

Despite her efforts she’s unable to focus on her career and decides to get wasted while doing autographs and dancing around the living room. She smashes a framed review of her movie and burns it outside in her grill, looking at the low rating as it burns to a crisp and drinking to pass out. When she awakens her life takes a very unexpected turn as a clown mask wearing assailant, presumably the man who followed her home, breaks in with a machete. As he walks through the house he observes the remnants of Bowie’s night while she makes faces at herself in the bathroom mirror and hops into bed.

Before she is able to pass out however she goes to find her phone downstairs and discovers it outside with a plethora of alerts from her security camera system. Her system also captured the masked man coming into the house and once she sees this she attempts to calmly exit but is attacked by the man. Able to defend herself she escapes upstairs and locks herself in her bedroom and attempts to get one of her old devices to turn on so she can call for help. She finds her machete under the bed where she’d placed it earlier and makes her way towards the main area of the house. 

The man tries to attack Bowie when she goes for her keys but she headbutts him and slashes his arm which immediately turns him into a little bitch. He whimpers and claims to have no intention to hurt her but rather is a mentally ill man who wanted to play out a fantasy. He hands her her phone back but she chops his shin and then slices his neck after he calls her a bitch.

The man dies on her rug and she’s left covered in his blood splatter while still in shock about the whole scenario. Before she can decide what to do however someone knocks on her front door, an Atlanta police officer checking in on her. She covers herself with a blanket and goes to open the door, not admitting to the officer what happened or the dead body in her living room. This decision kicks off Bowie’s descent into madness as she decides that her next project will be murdering her parasocial fans on camera, the first kill caught on her security system. Following her killing the intruder she gets another call from an unknown number and this time answers it and invites the person over. He shows up with a clown mask and assumes she’s just freaky and into the kink of it all, Bowie calling him out for being shy despite calling her twice a week.

Following her into a dark room with neon paint on the walls, strobe lights flashing, and loud metal music playing he is ambushed and knocked out. When he awakens Bowie has tied him to a chair and placed a camera in his face, filming what she’s doing to him. She’s giggly and amused, allowing him to believe it is all part of some kink game but her demeanor changes when she reveals she is tired of him and people like him getting away with being cretans.

Bowie also reveals she went through his DMs and has seen he messages young girls, him protesting it was a mistake but Bowie confirming it was a frequent choice. She plays along at first but is clearly sarcastic and then stabs him through the shoe, slicing his foot. She tells him to smile for the camera, commenting he’s prettier when he smiles and proceeds to slice off a portion of his hand.

Now that Bowie has developed her method of murder and how she plans to create her masterpiece she then invites over a conservative, older married man. She kills him after playing cat and mouse with him over dinner where she’s actually drugged the wine he’s drinking so she’s easily able to tie him up. Bowie’s mental state is clearly declining throughout the murders, becoming infatuated with the gore and blood of her kills.

After killing both men she resolves to have a 3rd and final act in which she chooses to be a female social media user who attacks women online. Another conservative woman, this lady ends up having a pink gun in her purse that she attempts to use to stop Bowie. Unfortunately for her this only inspires Bowie to go harder, emptying the gun into the ceiling and ultimately tying the woman to a chair after knocking her out. She films herself setting the woman on fire and burning her alive, leaving her a crisp tied to a chair in the garage.

During the face off with the woman she is stabbed in the abdomen just below her ribs and begins to bleed profusely. This doesn’t stop her however and she edits all of the footage from her murders into a video that she then uploads to the internet, a snuff film with meaning is the vibe. This is her masterpiece and she dons the blood, charred skin, and rotting flesh for clown makeup and dresses up awaiting the police.

Bowie films herself breaking down once she’s in full gear which is the same shot from the opening of the movie. The police discover the bodies throughout the house after they arrest and take away Bowie from the scene. Left on each body is a performance release contract, as if the victims had consented to be part of her film and therefore can be legally filmed being murdered. An officer vomits after he discovers the conservative man dead and tied to a bed with his own severed penis in his mouth, something implied earlier in the movie but not shown or confirmed.

Jessica is seen having starred in a movie called Blood Monsoon at the end of the film, her role as Bowie being questioned by the interviewer. She claims to have wanted to bring care to the portrayal and also that she was close with Bowie and recognized that she struggled with her mental health. Ryan is the one filming this interview, part of the movie and promo for the project as Jessica wants to move on to a different topic.

A voiceover reveals that the case has sparked true crime podcast coverage and the series that Jessica will star in. Some of the voiceover comments indicate that people have sympathy for Bowie while others state that she had no reason to hate her life or crack. Bowie is in a psychiatric hospital and the last line of the film is, “What’s next?” from a voiceover covering the case and upcoming film. The blonde woman from earlier in the film that also struggled with the online hate is listening to a bro podcast discussing that Bowie signed up for it and had no right. She looks at a knife in the room then to the camera and gives a cheeky grin like she plans to pick up where Bowie left off.

The movie opens on a quiet winter night, the ice beginning to melt, indicating it is the tail end of winter when the snow goes between slush and frozen throughout the day. The quiet is interrupted by a car coming down an isolated road through the forest setting, loud inside with what is a family. Casey, played by Hannah Tointon, is a teenager and one of the main protagonists throughout the film who is the first character revealed in the film. The noise around her informs annoyance with her younger siblings, Miranda portrayed by Eva Sayer and Paulie portrayed by William Howes. It’s revealed their mother, Elaine portrayed by Eva Birthistle and her husband, Jonah portrayed by Stephen Campbell Moore, are in the front portion of the car.

As they arrive at their destination Miranda asks why they can’t live in a nice house like “Auntie Chloe” who is Elaine’s sister and portrayed by Rachel Shelley. Jonah responds to her that anything is possible through hard work and dedication in the way you would say that to kids as the mansion dominates the screen, still decorated from the Christmas holiday. The family in the car is greeted by 2 kids and 2 adults screaming and running from inside a garage “yay!” with excitement to which everyone but Casey excitedly responds back, jumping out of the car. The 2 adults are Chloe and her husband, Robbie portrayed by Jeremy Sheffield, and the 2 children are theirs, Nicky and Leah, portrayed by Jake Hathaway and Rafiella Brooks respectively. Both of her kids are around the same age as Casey’s younger siblings and Casey is the only teenager amongst the group. An awkward almost kiss happens between Jonah and Chloe as they greet one another, both going the same direction for a cheek peck.

Casey doesn’t immediately exit the car with the rest of her family, showing the clear divide between her and the group even this early on in the movie. Jonah, her stepdad and her sibling’s biological dad, knocks on the window to attempt and coax her out while the rest of the 2 families begin to move inside. Nicky approaches Casey with equal excitement as he did for everyone and she is snarky in response right as Robbie approaches to hug and kiss her. Casey’s family has brought Christmas presents, indicating they haven’t seen their relatives recently and Chloe helps Elaine unload them, mentioning her daughter Leah’s health struggles. Elaine’s mood falls immediately when Casey is brought up and this whole dance amongst these characters is fairly similar to how they relate to one another for much of the build up to a terrifying and faster paced 2nd half full of gore and discomfort.

The groundwork for the initial horror kicks off in this scene when Casey expresses she’s upset she’s missing a party to Elaine and Elaine calls her Mouse, a term of endearment between the 2, to soften her anger and reason with Elaine's decision to not let her go. This interaction is disrupted by Paulie, Elaine’s youngest, screaming for help and throwing up near the edge of the driveway which sends her running to help him, disgusting Casey which she expresses with a snide comment. Elaine then asks for Casey to be in a positive mood and help with her siblings, particularly Paulie, and all of this comes into play with the interpersonal relationship aspects of the plot that play out with the family. Already it becomes clear Chloe is the “good” sister, the more natural and active mom with a conventional family structure who has wealth and Elaine is the sister who’s had a less traditional path and perceived as less put together with a shakier financial situation. This information is shared amongst the adults comments towards and about one another, particularly between the 2 sisters while the kids open presents right after everyone settles in.

It's also clear that Casey's Aunt Chloe has weird energy towards her, of a jealous or judgmental nature depending on who Casey is interacting with. She is upset but won’t admit she is that Casey got Leah a kid’s makeup kit as a present, everyone noting that their presents weren’t the best because Casey got them. It wasn’t totally clear if Elaine actually got the presents and just blamed Casey when it went awry because Casey looked amused when Elaine pointed the finger at her. Despite smoking cigarettes in front of the kids in the same scene Chloe is really concerned about vaccinations and how dangerous they could be for her kids. During this family present opening sesh Paulie also hits Jonah in the face, which alludes to another weird dynamic of favoritism in Casey’s family that is openly acknowledged and used to upset one another. Every physical horror aspect has an equally horrifying emotional or mental aspect during this family’s holiday vacation but things start out only mental and emotional for the first 1/3 of the film.

Casey’s uncle Robbie, who is judgmental-Chloe’s-husband, immediately offers Casey alcohol which Miranda tattles on her about it only to be ignored by everyone but Jonah. With the promise of a “gold star” on her micromanaging chore board Chloe coaxes Miranda to take Leah back upstairs when she comes down to share that Paulie is freaking her out. Chloe acknowledges prior that Leah had been excited to see Paulie before, implying that he’s acting odd without having to show what he was like pre-movie and pre-infection. The sisters take the opportunity of no little kids around to debate who’s the better mom more openly and Jonah tries to create a segue for his business pitch to Robbie which is cut off quickly. Cut aways show that Leah is still afraid of Paulie and rightfully so because he’s staring at her with a blank expression while smacking a children’s xylophone. Back with the adult-ish group Robbie shows Casey where she can get reception in the woods, leaving her with a flashlight to call her friends as he makes his way back to the house.

Casey calls her friend Lisa to confirm that she’s getting picked up tomorrow afternoon to attend the party and after her call she hears a cat, which she thinks is the family’s missing cat, Jinxie. She doesn’t find the cat despite hearing the jingle of its collar in the woods by the reception spot. Casey makes it back to the house, passing Chloe and Robbie having a conversation about kids on the porch as he chops wood. Chloe shoots her a look and then makes a look to Robbie like he’s meant to know exactly what she means, like she’s definitely expressed negative opinions about her niece. In their own room Elaine and Jonah settle in while Jonah interrogates and then reprimands Elaine for feeling cut off earlier when he wanted to pitch his business idea that is centered around Chinese medicine. Their dynamic is stinky, bad vibes through and through, in particular with Jonah but Elaine has bad vibes also and Casey seems to be the scapegoat.

Back in the kid’s room Miranda has received her gold star for helping and Chloe kisses Leah goodnight, who is still watching Paulie. Paulie is looking out the window dissociated but none of the adults seem too concerned about his behavior or what Leah had to say. Earlier Leah also began coughing like Paulie and wiped something she coughed up onto her pillow which also goes unnoticed by supermom Chloe. Images of microscopic amoeba looking specimens flash over the screen that cut to the particles in a snow globe that transitions the scene. The following morning everyone is having a snowball fight outside and sledding down a hill intermittently. Paulie, having stayed up all night staring, is still smacking his xylophone and Jonah attempts to stop him to no avail. Chloe warns Robbie not to sled down the hill anymore because it will be too icy and he’ll crash out because he’s a full grown man, which is a foreshadow.

Things build as the characters are doing their own thing: the children are being weird in the tent while becoming increasingly ill, the 2 moms are making hot chocolate in the kitchen, Robbie and Jonah are also outside playing in the snow with the children not in the tent, and Casey goes off into the woods to confirm the plan and location to meet her friend Lisa. Lisa suggests that Casey quote, “hook up with her horny uncle to kill time,” while she waits for Lisa to come get her, gross. She makes her way back to the house and Miranda shouts at her that no adults can come in the tent to which Casey brushes off to go play wrestle with Robbie. This playing in the snow catches Elaine’s eye from inside the house and she takes that as a sign to ask Chloe about her and Robbie’s relationship and if it is going well. She implies that his going on business trips could make Chloe worry that he might cheat but the topic flips to Elaine wanting to spend more time with everyone as a family. Chloe asks if Casey knows about Elaine’s plan and if she approves of it, seeming skeptical about Elaine’s claims.

Outside Jonah has finally cornered Robbie to make his business pitch, with his materials and everything, which kicks off with Casey remarking what Jonah is showing him is another internet scam he fell for. Robbie is clearly more interested in Casey and the children rather than the business plan, trying to make it obvious he’s not interested and laughing when Jonah tries to show him the positive impacts of the Chinese medicine protocol only for the images to have been drawn on by the children. Jonah is pissed when he realizes and shortly after the moms come out carrying trays of hot chocolate free off the stove. Paulie from atop the hill sends the sled down and it knocks into Chloe when she brings out the tray and the hot liquid spills all over Jonah and the kid’s table they’d been sitting at.

Jonah becomes incensed and jumps up, runs over to Paulie, throws him down on his stomach and spanks him several times while he screams. This imagery is upsetting for viewers and character alike (though it is filmed in a way that clearly no child was actually harmed to make the scene) and Robbie and Chloe immediately call him out for physical discipline, condemning him. Rather than take responsibility for his reaction blames Casey and demands to know why she wasn’t watching Paulie. Back inside Miranda doesn’t want to be in the room with the kids and Nicky also says that he is sick but Miranda is bribed with more gold stars by Chloe to continue watching them and helping out. Chloe is annoyed to find Leah has put some of the play makeup on, which makes her dead pan stare even scarier, and Chloe tries to rub some of it off which makes it even more eerie. The 3 youngest now infected are all on a top bunk staring down at Miranda, still not infected but looking and acting more ill, before the scene cuts to Robbie smoking in the outdoor greenhouse.

Casey comes into the greenhouse while he's smoking and asks if she can have some, coughing when she goes to inhale smoke. She confides in him that Miranda and Paulie are nightmares and he advises that they need boundaries but that Casey does also, just yucky. Casey goes to pull down her shirt that was lifted when she coughed and Robbie sees her tattoo and asks what the tattoo is. The tattoo is of a small baby with an umbilical cord like strand connecting it to Casey’s belly button and she explains that she is the “abortion that got away” and that it’s a self portrait. Robbie is shaken but Chloe comes in then and interrupts this heinously odd interaction to find Robbie and Casey lying that she’d been looking for Miranda. Chloe suggests Casey look for her amongst the other kids as she rushes out and the scene cuts to dinner shortly thereafter.

At the New Year’s dinner they wear paper crowns and cheer toasts wishing Happy New Year all around but Paulie is being moody and defiant while Leah starts having violent flashes of a bloody babydoll in their yellow tent which flash across the screen. After one of these flashes she grabs a knife and holds the doll she’s playing with but the knife is quickly taken away by an adult. Nicky is also being aggressive and defiant at that point and Jonah is still trying to pitch his business endeavor. Robbie finally has to let him down harshly and calls Jonah unrealistic because they have integrity in their brand and don’t think there’s proven science behind his plan. Chloe takes the opportunity to call out Casey’s tattoo, pretending she assumed Elaine already knew it was like some weird 4-D chess attempt. This is weird because Casey is a literal child and Robbie is a creep for hitting on or flirting with that child and Casey doesn’t need to be “punished” for the interaction but I digress. Elaine is upset that Casey never told her about the tattoo, but it is fairly visible and noticeable based on the few outfits Casey has worn.

Casey stands up at the table to pull up her shirt and show everyone the tattoo and Jonah says that it is very seasonal while it causes Leah to have another violent flash. Robbie tells Casey it is a cool tattoo even after she says it is a self portrait and shoots her a look that both Elaine and Chloe catch. Suddenly Miranda cries out which starts all of the kids groaning louder and louder becoming a chorus of annoying and overwhelming noises. Chloe’s solution is to offer a gold star because she ate her peas despite this breakdown and Miranda snaps, attacking her and injuring her head. Jonah then intervenes and lifts Miranda out of there, her still screaming and thrashing around for what appears to them as no reason. Paulie has flashes of the kids standing at the top of the snowy hill looking down and staring, this made me think they are having some sort of interconnected visions or communication to know what the plan is without saying anything.

Robbie and Casey take the children outside while Jonah handles Miranda and Elaine helps Chloe who is distraught at the series of events. Miranda can be heard screaming in the background of the 2 scenes she’s not in and I love this continuity and immersion into the events on screen no matter where on the property you’re tuning in. Elaine suggests Miranda could be behaving how she is because of being sick and Chloe berates her for bringing a sick kid to their house because of Leah’s health issues. They argue because Elaine rightfully believes she couldn’t predict anyone's future or possible illnesses. Casey goes into the woods again to call her friends while the kids set into motion a sinister plot that seems like a coordinated and deliberate effort.

Leah and Paulie pretend to be excited and playful to lure Robbie to the top of the hill they’d sled down earlier that Paulie had recent visions of. Down at the bottom of the hill by the yard’s stone wall and gate Nicky pulls a red cart with tools and toys on it into the path of the sled. Paulie positions the sled and Lead guides Robbie over, his weight doing the rest of the work to push him downhill. As soon as the sled takes off and his fate is set the 2 kids stop smiling and laughing, then silently looking on instead. Just as Robbie is picking up speed down the hill it is revealed that a metal tool from the cart has dislodged and is directly where his head is headed. As Robbie is hit off screen Casey falls and Miranda attacks Jonah but everyone hears Leah scream, including Elaine and Chloe. Everyone rushes to the site of the screams and Chloe runs to Robbie's side, his head bleeding as he lay in the snow, blood pooling in the white beneath him.

Robbie's face was mangled by the tool and a piece of his skull flaps back when they move his body, confirming he’s suffered severe head trauma and likely brain damage. Understandably everyone is panicked so Casey and Jonah collect the kids while Elaine dials emergency services and Chloe tends to Robbie who’s barely hanging on. Paulie proceeds to cut Jonah with a knife when he attempts to wrangle him and Elaine is informed the police will be at least a half hour before they can get to them because the road conditions are bad. Elaine is concerned about Paulie rather than Jonah when she learns of their incident after she hangs up with emergency. Paulie has run off outside after this and Elaine goes off to follow him and Casey follows closely behind but they’re stopped when they see Chloe is over a now-dead Robbie sobbing. Chloe starts to realize after they approach that the kids aren’t around any longer and demands that someone search for them in the woods, trying to go herself as well.

In the woods Elaine yells for Leah and Nicky but instead is jump scared by Casey approaching and hugging her, relieved to see her. Elaine asks Casey what happened and she explains she doesn’t know, which confuses Elaine because she believes Casey was helping Robbie with the kids. Casey admits she was going to meet her friend to go to the party her mom had forbidden her from going to because of the family holiday. Upon realizing this Elaine’s demeanor changes and she seems distant and disgusted with Casey, telling Casey to look for the kids because she should be with Chloe. She goes off and Casey receives a text from Lisa asking where she is just as she sees a flash of Leah’s coat through the foliage. Casey chases after her, not bothering with the party business in order to look for the children now, following noises she’s hearing like coughing or crying. As Casey approaches the noises start to sound more like giggling than crying and in the blurry background Nicky rises from the bushes with his arm raised to attack, the 2 having set up a trap for Casey.

When Casey gets close enough she sees Leah is stabbing and playing with their dead cat and falls back into a pile of vomit goo. Inside Miranda asks if Jonah is angry with her and asks about Robbie despite looking infected and ill like the other kids and she further proves she’s manipulating when she blames everything on Casey. She claims she’s upset because of Casey just as Elaine and Chloe come in because emergency services advised they can’t move Robbie. The scene fade cuts to Jonah pacing in the living room, noting that services have taken way longer than a half hour to arrive on scene. Everyone is ready to go in anticipation of the arrival which they are advised is still over a half hour due to conditions outside.

Elaine goes to get someone's jacket and sees in passing that Robbie’s body isn’t where it was when her and Chloe left it. She goes to investigate outside which is a dope birds eye view of the blood splatter and trail in the snow, the blood tracks implying Robbie’s body was put back on the sled to be moved. Elaine slowly follows the trail, her dread increasing with each step as Leah’s giggles are heard inside the tent despite her refusal to answer when called out to. Elaine begins to unzip the tent but then hears Paulie in the distance and goes immediately to help him. She finds Paulie on top of a frozen monkey bars set crying for help, immediately sending her up the icy ladder in her heeled boots. As she climbs the structure however Paulie inches back more and more, causing her to go up more and more steps on the ladder until she’s practically reaching across the top of the bars to him. Once she’s at the top she slips and falls backwards, her leg caught in the bars as she falls and snapping her shin in half before she falls onto the snow which cuts the scene to black. A close up of Elaine’s eye and her blood spilling into the snow bring the focus in granularly as the background sounds fade, simulating the shock Elaine is experiencing after her accident.

Casey breaks this up as she rushes to her mother’s side and begins helping her by taking her into the greenhouse and using wood poles and makeshift tourniquets to stabilize the break. As she is doing this they hear Paulie’s xylophone’s signature out of sync tones and both her and Elaine stop dead in their tracks until Nicky throws a rock through a window. Paulie starts climbing through the broken window pane through the wall shelving like Chucky, full of determination to finish off Elaine. The breaking of windows alerts Chloe, Miranda, and Jonah who’d been cuddling on the couch together in that order. Nicky is attacking from the outside while Paulie is acting as a lure and Leah runs off, making Elaine send Casey after her. Inside the tent Chloe finds a bloody sheet and begins to take it off, revealing it is Robbie. She removes the remainder of the sheet and to her horror finds Robbie’s abdomen has been cut up and Leah’s baby doll has been crudely shoved and twisted into his abdomen, now sticking up like Leah’s violent flashes earlier. The doll’s voice motor is dying making it sound deeper as it repeats “mama” over and over.

Robbie then jumps up, popping wide awake and still alive somehow, and Nicky starts slashing the tent with a sharp gardening tool from outside as Robbie fades away again. Just then Casey comes into the tent to rescue Chloe with a gardening tool but Chloe assumes that Casey is the perpetrator and locks Casey out of the house. Back in the shed Paulie tries to stab Elaine, slowly advancing on her, but Casey arrives and pushes him into a glass pane that shatters with one long, sharp shard sticking up still. Casey then falls and is trapped until a fallen shelving unit and Paulie approaches to stab her instead of Elaine and seeing this Elaine yanks his hoodie to pull him back from hurting Casey. This action causes Paulie to fall back on the shard of broken glass which impales him and leaves a trail of blood spilling out beside him. This is also filmed in a way where you don’t see anything but rather you hear what is meant to be happening and then see a blood trail to confirm prior to Jonah lifting him and the child actor crushing their performance in playing dead.

This is obviously unintentional but also Elaine’s fault kind of so she’s very distraught and blaming herself whilst facing the shock of everything. Jonah is consoling her until Casey reveals that Elaine killed Paulie to save Casey which makes both Jonah and Chloe turn on her as they believe Casey is the issue and blame Elaine for making her their issue. They don’t believe Casey at first until Elaine confirms that she hadn’t meant to kill Paulie or sacrifice him for Casey. Chloe accosts her that despite their mother sucking even she wouldn’t kill her own children and turns to Jonah for guidance on what to do now. Chloe becomes increasingly agitated when it’s suggested they leave to get help and when an altercation is about to pop off Jonah throws Casey across the room into Elaine’s leg to protect Chloe. Jonah tells Elaine to stay and wait for authorities while he and Casey look for the kids but Chloe freaks out at that suggestion and screams at Casey to stay away from her kids and runs out with Jonah following right behind her.

Casey attempts to talk to Elaine and console her, using their nickname, Mouse, to try and break through to her in her dissociative state. She explains to Elaine that she needs to stay away from the kids because they are sick and dangerous but Elaine doesn’t want to hear that and shushes her. Outside Chloe is looking for her kids and Jonah finds a bloody rock in the woods before Chloe pushes him to the ground and screams at him to take control. He pushes past her and goes back inside at this suggestion while Miranda approaches Elaine inside. She’s trying to take out the stabilizing wood pieces from Elaine’s makeshift splint and pretending to want to console Elaine but Casey interrupts and makes Miranda come help her look for the missing landline phone. Leah runs up to Chloe outside and she’s worried about Leah’s state of possible hypothermia, noting her blue toned skin and frosted icy portions of her face. Unbeknownst to Chloe but shown via the camera angle Leah has some sort of growth behind her ear that looks like it is part of whatever illness is taking over the children. As she examines Leah, Nicky crashes into them both, which is utilized as a jump scare that cuts away to the action back inside of the house.

Elaine is on the couch while Miranda and Casey presumably search for the landline and have the knife that Casey gave her to defend herself. She’s lining up the blade on her wrist and indicating that she is contemplating killing herself in light of the events that are unfolding. All of these scenes are intercut with one another and the shot of Elaine cuts to Casey searching for the phone and following cat noises coming from the far side of the kid’s room. She walks slowly forward as the sound becomes weirder and less cat-like but more little girl-like and it is revealed to her horror that Miranda is the source of the noise and she is gripping the landline phone. Meanwhile Chloe is trying to talk to the kids who become infatuated with her earring, Nicky pulling it harder and harder until she’s lying back on the ground. Leah grabs a sharp object while this happens and proceeds to stab Chloe through the eye just as Jonah comes into the room Casey and Miranda are in and finds Casey overtop Miranda choking her.

Jonah throws Casey across the room, off of Miranda, and she tries to keep coming for her but Jonah smashes her in the head with a jar and she falls to the floor with a bleeding head wound. He threatens her if she goes after Miranda again and she looks up at him shocked saying, “Dad?,” but he just looks on at her in disgust and disappointment, shaking his head as he leaves the room. He locks Casey in the room and Miranda runs down the stairs into Elaine’s arms, who is confused about the commotion. Jonah follows and with a blank stare grabs Elaine and throws her back onto the couch and tells Elaine that she and Casey deserve one another. Miranda hugs Elaine then and tells her goodbye as Jonah is collecting their coats and car keys then tells Elaine to be nice to the other children before yanking both pieces of wood from her splint. Elaine cries out in pain as her broken shin falls apart again while Jonah picks up Miranda and heads out to the garage to take Robbie and Chloe’s nicer car. They head out and from the upstairs room Casey sees the car driving away from the house and believes that Elaine has left her and she falls to the ground crying.

Back outside Leah and Nicky confirm Chloe is dead and then head back to the house while snow begins to fall again, covering the blood patches in the yard to look pristine again. The door to the yard is still open from all of the earlier action but Elaine is now convinced something is wrong with the children following her interaction with Miranda and starts to hobble over to the stairs to let Casey out. Upstairs Casey sees Leah and Nicky through the window as they stand at the stone fence in the yard staring up at the house and her in the window. Casey freaks out and begins bashing into the locked bedroom door trying to break it down and run away. Elaine hears this and calls out to her which makes Casey relieved to know she is still there and Casey alerts her to the open door which Elaine just barely closes in time. Unfortunately the camera lingers on the cat door, implying that the children can easily still get into the house.

Elaine makes her way quietly up the stairs backwards as she drags her broken leg and body up the stairs with a fire poker across her lap. The kids have made it inside but they don’t know where Elaine is so she continues up the stairs as Casey watches helplessly from the keyhole. Elaine knocks a toy down a step that clatters despite her catching it before it gets worse but Casey freaks out and goes full force on the door. The 2 children scarily appear with blank stares and faces sallow with cold and the illness just staring at Elaine on the stair landing. Elaine tries to talk to them normally but sees Chloe’s hoop earring in Nicky’s hand as he plays with it and a piece of Chloe’s earlobe is still attached to it. She holds the fire poker out as a deterrent but the kids keep advancing until they’re right in her face and she realizes she’s incapable of hurting the children, apologizing to Casey because she folded when Leah asks her where her mommy is.

The makeup design for the children is spooky and coupled with their performances it sucks you into the on screen suspense and fear extremely effectively. Leah approaches Elaine and strokes her hair as she turns away in utter terror, extremely afraid of the children’s next move. Leah then lifts Elaine’s shirt and Nicky reveals he has a garden sheer and a Blair Witch Project looking object, yarn like string tied around crossed sticks that they place over Elaine’s stomach, indicating a similar situation to Robbie’s body in the tent. Luckily for Elaine, Casey smashes through the door then grabs Nicky through the broken door pane and impales him on a spike of wood still in the bottom of the frame, similar to Paulie but face first rather than back first. She goes to grab Leah also but Elaine pleads with her to let her go which she does. They make it out to the car with Elaine leaning on Casey and limping then get the car started after a few scary transmission failures. Elaine apologizes to Casey and she responds that she told her mom Jonah was a knob.

The movie could end there, believing the incident to be isolated to this house and now going off to face whatever world exists with Miranda spreading the virus. As Elaine and Casey make their way down the wooded dirt road they run into the car Jonah fled in, swerved off the road and crashed into a tree, the car’s hazards still flashing with doors hung open. It seems clear that they’ll find at least one person dead in the car and Elaine goes to motion to get out of the car to go investigate but Casey stops her and volunteers instead. She approaches the car slowly and sees that the driver, Jonah, crashed through the window and she tries to find him, seeing a patch of red in the snow that is still falling. That patch ends up with Jonah still alive and behind her Miranda appears across the road with a raised arm and tire iron in her hand, locked onto Casey. Elaine sees this and tries to scream to warn Casey but can’t so she slams on the gas and crushes Miranda between her car and Robbie’s crashed car. From inside the car the camera angle shows Miranda slide down the car window which leaves a trail of blood behind as her body collapses in the snow.

Right after this happens Casey walks across the road and vomits in the snow, appearing to be the same bright greenish color of the children’s vomit when they’d become ill. She could be vomiting due to the intense situation and death of her sister right in front of her as she looked on at her stepdad dying in the snow but it isn’t made clear. She looks up at Elaine in shock and terror just as another kid appears in the distance, strikingly not dressed for snow but seemingly not cold.

This reveals that the circumstances aren’t isolated to them and possibly help explain the lack of emergency services being available. More kids reveal themselves in the forest, some further away and some much closer who pose an immediate threat. Elaine and Casey are freaked out by this realization and Casey runs to the car but it’s locked and Elaine looks ahead for a moment contemplating not letting Casey in. She finally decides to unlock the door and let her in and they are able to pull past the wreck and continue down the road at an increasing speed. Just as they pull out Leah appears, having followed them through the woods somehow knowing exactly where they are.

Directed by James Wan, the horror legend responsible for directing Saw, Insidious, and The Conjuring among various other titles under various roles including writer and producer. Although Malignant isn't my favorite it would be insane to even float that Wan isn't a leader of horror and one of the extremely talented voices that has helped revitalize the genre in recent years and kept it going when the chips were down. The screenplay is by Akela Cooper, the writer for Hell Fest2018 and M3GAN 2022, and the story is by both Wan and Cooper in addition to Ingrid Bisu.

With the involvement of big horror names it's no surprise that Malignant has a ton of great camera work. From wide shots to bird's eye views, navigating houses like they are doll houses through walls and levels, and the camera movements in the action sequences the creativity and innovation in those is engaging to watch. The movie begins with promise, scares, mystery and downright gruesome portrayals of violence. That was consistent throughout much of the earlier parts of the film, leading one to anticipate that style of storytelling and tone for the remainder of the movie. Seemingly out of left field this developed and curated atmosphere is shattered when the violent action sequences waver into hokey 80's spoof territory than anything serious.

The more that is shown of the scary monster the less scary that monster becomes, much of the film we aren't privy to who this mysterious killer is which are the most effective parts. The scene where we do learn the truth about this slayer is the turning point for the film, with every choice adding to the tone shift that completely disrupts the building terror. If you have seen the film, the turning point I'm referencing is when main character Madison, portrayed by Annabelle Wallis, is locked in a jail cell and the subsequent back and forth in the police station. I couldn't take it seriously and felt like I was watching a comedy more than anything else. I kept thinking of the word ‘silly’ post reveal; how it walked: silly, it crafting its weapon: silly, it climbed up the wall to threaten its abducted mother in Madison’s attic: silly. My initial fear had dissolved by that point of the movie and instead I found myself cracking jokes about the bad CGI effects in the battle scene and the weird voice given to the monster.

This reveal is also why I left more confused than entertained or afraid. I found myself unable to suspend belief enough and felt that the plot hadn't done a good enough job of getting to the point when the monster would've been believable. In unexplained ways the monster-person has insane strength coupled with wild abilities that aren't explained with training or powers. The ending is also unsatisfying due to the reveal and it feels like no one really faces justice or retribution for the awful actions of the monster-person. The scenario the plot sets up then doesn't make sense and also doesn't end in a way that feels complete and real. In addition to this the characters rely on the strength of one person to stop the events from happening again.