M3GAN Review: A Killer BFF

M3GAN reinvents the definition of BFF in this horror-comedy kicking off the start of 2023 in cinema.

We start off with Cady (Violet McGraw) who ends up in a tragic car accident on the way to an Oregon ski resort with her parents, and unfortunately is the lone survivor. She is then released to her new legal guardian, Aunt Gemma (Allison Williams), her mother’s sister. Gemma is a brilliant and work-driven robotics engineer at a high-end toy company, Funki, attempting to present her latest project. When abruptly needing to take time off work to help Cady feel more at home and tend to her needs, she feels she cannot maternally or emotionally connect with her. Light bulb! To keep her boss, David (Ronnie Chieng), from breathing down her neck and help ease Cady’s loneliness, Gemma decides to create her latest invention just for her niece. The Model 3 Generative ANdroid (M3GAN for short), a life-size robotic doll with an All-American Girl style and a killer human realistic look, to be a companion to Cady.

M3GAN is a next level upgrade from Barbie, portrayed by Amie Donald and voiced by Jenna Davis with additional use of animatronics, puppetry, and VFX. M3GAN is the perfect companion who listens, emotionally connects with Cady, teaches her, and is the perfect confidant she needs that she never had before. The deep connections continue to grow as Gemma realizes maybe her latest creation as the perfect child companion and parental assistant was a huge mistake. Once M3GAN continues to evolve, her killer instincts are intact when she takes protecting Cady into her own hands lethally, and Gemma must put a stop to it before she cuts her out of Cady’s life permanently.

Blumhouse delivers in this movie and doesn’t disappoint at the start of the year. M3GAN is very campy, fun and a major thrill ride. I definitely wasn’t expecting too much gore for a PG-13 rating, but I applaud some mild jump scares, the creepy doll appearance, comic moments, musical numbers, and the viral TikTok dance scene. I also give praise to Violet McGraw who was a joy to watch on screen. I loved to see her character tackle the variations of emotions as she grieved her parents and developed a bond with M3GAN, ranging from sadness to happiness to confusion to anger. And great acting runs in the family! Her older sister, Madeleine McGraw, starred in Blumhouse’s The Black Phone.

Screenwriter Akela Cooper, who also wrote Malignant, delivers an exceptional delivery incorporating satire, campy moments, and metaphorical connections on grief and tech obsession. We see throughout the film how Cady becomes extremely attached to M3GAN, repressing her feelings over losing her parents and shutting down those emotions that are too painful to confront and express. Her attachment transitions to extreme dependency and literally sees M3GAN as a human being, ignoring the reality that she is not a real person. Another comparison is how we as adults are so attached to our electronics, that it consumes us so much it’s hard to detach sometimes, just like Cady with M3GAN and Gemma and her job.

Director Gerard Johnstone (Housebound) gives us another horror-comedy people will be raving about. He captures the silliness without the movie coming off as corny or bland. When it comes to horror, many are no stranger to the work of James Wan, who also produced Annabelle, another sinister doll we were introduced to back in 2014. M3GAN is the perfect mix of Child’s Play meets The Terminator meets Annabelle. Looks like the new doll is here to stay and wreak havoc for a while. Move over Chucky and Annabelle, there’s a new dancing, singing, killing machine in the room!

M3GAN is now playing in theaters. Rated PG-13 for violent content and terror, some strong language and a suggestive reference with a runtime of 102 minutes.