Review: M3gan

Once upon a time, evil dolls and killer kids were two separate segments of the horror market. But automation comes for us all in the end: now M3gan features all the creepiness of a demonically possessed doll combined with the mobility and outdoor murdering of a demented stabby child. It doesn't really matter that the horror side of things is a little by the numbers - it's the concept that's the real killer here.

When her parents die in a car crash, eight year-old Cady (Violet McGraw) is sent to live with her aunt Gemma (Allison Williams), a robotics expert who loves toys but has zero interest in children. Cady's emotional collapse has an upside when Gemma realises her pet project - a Model 3 Generative Android, AKA life sized robot child M3gan - would make for an ideal distraction for a grieving child.

It's not quite as cold-blooded as all that, but the way Gemma decides the sales pitch for her ludicrous yet somehow plausible toy is that it will take on all the boring parts of child-rearing for disinterested parents is one of the many sharp touches this slyly satirical film from New Zealand director Gerard Johnstone has to offer. 

(you know what you're in for when a skinless M3gan is introduced being trained to visually track a pen in a homage to an identical moment in Robocop. Ruthless corporations and robots always equal a decent body count, and this has the hilariously glossy fake commercials to prove it)

As with all quality evil AI stories, the humans are the real bad guys, and Williams gives a perfect performance as the kind of emotionally absent tech nerd that's been steering our society for years. It's not exactly subversive to say that connecting with others on an emotional level is what separates us from the killbots, but Williams' journey from "what am I supposed to do with this?" to actually treating Cady as a human with real needs remains solidly satisfying.

Otherwise, things escalate in the usual fashion - oh no, the neighbour has an annoying dog - as M3gan takes her prime directive to protect Cady to increasingly aggressive heights. While recent pint-sized murder film Orphan: First Kill came from a franchise built around surprises and shock twists, M3gan's big sales hook is that it gives audiences exactly what they expect and then milks its predictability for laughs (Ronnie Chieng as Gemma's boss is the MVP here).

Likewise, this isn't interested in exploring, let alone explaining, how a child-friendly AI turns into a murder machine that's eventually killing people for the fun of it. That side of things isn't the point: we all know how this story goes, and the instantly meme-able M3gan is programmed to give us exactly what we came for - sassy one-liners, smooth dance moves, and a murderous rampage most of the cast don't believe is happening until its too late.

As a slasher film, this is barely interested in ticking the boxes. Most of M3gan's victims are cliches that deserve it, and most of the kills are pretty much bloodless. It's Gemma's exploitation of Cady's grief, and M3gan's inhumanly perfect compassion and concern (at least before she flips her own switch to killer bitch), that are the real horrors here. 

It comes as a relief rather than a shock when she finally turns lethal; having her in every toy shop for Christmas would be the real nightmare.

- Anthony Morris