James Wan shares an image from the set of Malignant

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

A couple months ago, we learned that James Wan was returning to the horror genre with a film titled MALIGNANT – and he has clarified that this is not based on his Boom! Studios comic book Malignant Man, which he wrote with Michael Alan Nelson. We reported back in 2017 that Malignant Man was getting a cinematic adaptation that would simply be titled MALIGNANT, but that project hasn't made it into production and this isn't it.

Word is that this MALIGNANT is giallo-inspired, and Wan has said he's going back to his roots 

with this hard-R thriller. An original horror idea (not a reboot/remake or anything based on existing IP) with old school, practical effects and no giant, blue screen sets. That’s all I’ll say for now."

This may not be Malignant Man, where the title character discovers that his malignant tumor is actually an alien parasite that gives him incredible powers, but a set photo Wan has shared to his Instagram account has stirred up speculation that this MALIGNANT still might have something to do with a tumor. In this image we see a woman sitting in a hospital room, with brainscan results behind her.

That also brings to mind Jigsaw from the SAW franchise Wan helped create. Jigsaw had a brain tumor… It seems Wan really likes to give characters tumors.

Wan crafted the story for MALIGNANT with his wife, THE NUN co-star Ingrid Bisu. He is producing the film through his company Atomic Monster, alongside Michael Clear. It's being independently financed through Starlight Media and Midas Innovation.

MALIGNANT stars Annabelle Wallis, George Young, Jake Abel, and Maddie Hasson.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Home stretch of photography on MALIGNANT. (Photo by Matt Kennedy)

A post shared by James Wan (@creepypuppet) on

Source: Instagram

About the Author

Cody is a news editor and film critic, focused on the horror arm of JoBlo.com, and writes scripts for videos that are released through the JoBlo Originals and JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channels. In his spare time, he's a globe-trotting digital nomad, runs a personal blog called Life Between Frames, and writes novels and screenplays.