James Wan’s Tech Thriller M3GAN Continues A Horror Tradition Of Knee-High Friends To The End
Miramax Films By Anya Stanley/Jan. 19, 2022 9:59 pm EST
From the director of “Housebound” and the screenwriter of “Malignant” comes a new horror feature on the perils of artificial intelligence. Starring Allison Williams of “Get Out” and “The Perfection” and Ronny Chieng of “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” “M3GAN” is helmed by Gerard Johnstone from a script by Akela Cooper (who previously penned “Hell Fest” and the “Luke Cage” series) based on a story developed with James Wan. “M3GAN” will arrive in theaters in time for Martin Luther King Day weekend next year, with a release date of January 13, 2023.
The synopsis admittedly conjures images of Good Guy doll Chucky, though creator Don Mancini is nowhere to be found in the credits:
Allison Williams plays Gemma, a brilliant roboticist at a toy company. She uses artificial intelligence to develop M3GAN, a life-like doll programmed to be a kid’s greatest companion and a parent’s greatest ally. After unexpectedly gaining custody of her orphaned niece, Gemma enlists the help of the M3GAN prototype — a decision that has unimaginable consequences.
James Wan’s Tech Thriller M3GAN Continues A Horror Tradition Of Knee-High Friends To The End
Miramax Films
By Anya Stanley/Jan. 19, 2022 9:59 pm EST
From the director of “Housebound” and the screenwriter of “Malignant” comes a new horror feature on the perils of artificial intelligence. Starring Allison Williams of “Get Out” and “The Perfection” and Ronny Chieng of “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” “M3GAN” is helmed by Gerard Johnstone from a script by Akela Cooper (who previously penned “Hell Fest” and the “Luke Cage” series) based on a story developed with James Wan. “M3GAN” will arrive in theaters in time for Martin Luther King Day weekend next year, with a release date of January 13, 2023.
The synopsis admittedly conjures images of Good Guy doll Chucky, though creator Don Mancini is nowhere to be found in the credits:
Allison Williams plays Gemma, a brilliant roboticist at a toy company. She uses artificial intelligence to develop M3GAN, a life-like doll programmed to be a kid’s greatest companion and a parent’s greatest ally. After unexpectedly gaining custody of her orphaned niece, Gemma enlists the help of the M3GAN prototype — a decision that has unimaginable consequences.
The synopsis admittedly conjures images of Good Guy doll Chucky, though creator Don Mancini is nowhere to be found in the credits:
Allison Williams plays Gemma, a brilliant roboticist at a toy company. She uses artificial intelligence to develop M3GAN, a life-like doll programmed to be a kid’s greatest companion and a parent’s greatest ally. After unexpectedly gaining custody of her orphaned niece, Gemma enlists the help of the M3GAN prototype — a decision that has unimaginable consequences.
An Illustrious Genre History of Friends to the End
Amicus Productions
It’s a time-honored tradition in the genre; the first battery-operated brutal buddy that comes to mind for most is Chucky, the mass-produced Good Guy doll spiritually hijacked by voodoo-dabbling killer Charles Lee Ray. But murder dolls go further back and beyond that. Old horror heads will recall the Talky Tina doll of the old-school “Twilight Zone” series (the episode is “Living Doll,” for those looking for a revisit), where the baby-faced toy looked Telly Savalas dead in the eye and threatened his life if he didn’t treat her with respect.
A particularly obsessed genre fan might cite the 1972 Amicus anthology “Asylum,” directed by Roy Ward Baker and featuring a Murderer’s Row of British actors to include Patrick Magee and Charlotte Rampling. In it, a tiny, stabby, mechanized Herbert Lom wreaks havoc in a segment titled “Mannequins of Horror,” soul transference and all.
Finally, no murder doll list would be complete without the tiny terrorist that turned Karen Black feral, the Zuni fetish doll of Dan Curtis’ 1975 anthology “Trilogy of Terror.” And that’s not to mention the non-horror explorations in the same sandbox, like Joe Dante’s “Small Soldiers” (which is a better movie than you remember). Don’t be fooled by the addition of microchips and A.I.; little monsters are staples of the horror tradition, and we love watching them wreak havoc.
“M3GAN” is scheduled to arrive in theaters on January 13, 2023.
