Malevolent: Another Netflix Horror Movie...Another Netflix Letdown

Someone recently asked me what I felt about scary movies on Netflix. I paused and thought about this. I told them that there are some hidden gems but for the most part they really suck. I thought Malevolent would be different. So I gave it a chance. 

Malevolent is about two siblings, Jackson and Angela, who run a fake ghost-busting business. Angela has “visions” and they use equipment to trick the client into thinking they are really ridding their homes of evil, only to take their money and run. The movie starts slowly, giving a little back story about how the siblings’ mother committed suicide (she sliced her eyes out because she was having visions). The movie is set in the 1980s (not really sure why- maybe they just wanted to drive a hooptie and wear Cosby sweaters). Although Angela is a “fake” medium, it appears she really is having visions, just like her mother did before she killed herself. The real thrill of the movie comes when Jackson agrees to take on a case at an old, haunted orphanage with a dark history. The owner of the house is super stressed out and lets the Ghostbusters know, “I just want a quiet house.” The house is so creepy and foreboding that this is where I thought to myself, “OK this is getting good!” But then… it didn’t.

Malevolent is a slow movie from start to finish with the characters making really weird choices (there is a scene where a character falls through the floor and breaks his ankle but no one rushes to get him out or call 911). This movie attempts to build up the creepy tension in this old house but completely lets the audience down. To be honest, I fell asleep on this movie and had to re-watch the last 20 minutes. I fell asleep somewhere around when everyone managed to escape and then nonsensically crashed into a ditch. (This is what I mean about Netflix movies. Where’s the logic?) The biggest surprise of the movie is (plot twist) the woman they were supposed to be scamming actually killed the children (now it makes sense that she just wanted a quiet house).

There was a lot of hope for the character development of Jackson and Angela but the writers let us down in that department too. They touch on Angela having visions like her mother but that storyline doesn’t really get us anywhere.

Malevolent started slow, ended slow, and proved my point in the conversation that I had the other day- Netflix can’t seem to make a decent horror movie.