James Wan explains how he is inspired by Italian Giallo horror
There are many masters of the horror genre, from the ‘master of suspense’ Alfred Hitchcock to the godfather of the zombie genre George Romero, but it wasn’t only in the 20th century that such pioneers thrived. In contemporary cinema, no one has done more to legitimise the horror genre than the American filmmaker James Wan, the director behind such 21st-century staples as Saw, Insidious and The Conjuring.
Creating films that thrill with frivolous carnivalesque joy, Wan grew to fame in the early 2000s with the release of the gruesome torture movie Saw, a film which would spark a billion-dollar franchise throughout the following decades. Whilst he legitimised his aptitude in the craft with the release of box-office Insidious in 2010 and The Conjuring in 2013, the director later moved on to blockbuster filmmaking, helming Fast & Furious 7 in 2015 and Aquaman in 2018.
Still, he would return to the genre that made him a household name in 2021, releasing Malignant, a misunderstood horror comedy that tells the story of a woman who is haunted by shocking visions of gruesome murders. Featuring comedic aspects and an abundance of over-the-top violence, many considered Malignant to be too silly, but once you consider the filmmaker’s love for Italian Giallo horror, things start to become a little clearer.
Directly translating into ‘yellow’, Giallo refers to a specific type of Italian cinema that hosts a mysterious thriller, often containing elements of slasher horror, science fiction and psychological drama. The filmmaker Dario Argento is known as one of the greatest Giallo filmmakers, thanks to his 1975 film Deep Red and 1987s Suspiria, other iconic names of the genre include Mario Bava and Lucio Fulci.
“I remember watching, early on in my youth, a classic Argento movie and going, ‘Wow, I’m watching a really scary, creepy moment, but he’s blasting this rock score from the right of screen’”, the director recalls in a conversation with Bloody Disgusting, adding: “it makes this… almost sort of alienating effect… it made it really cool”. Directly paying homage to the genre in 2021s Malignant, Wan explains his reasoning for this choice, stating: “Visually and sonically, I felt we could have fun with it, And go nuts”.
Eager to get back to horror after dipping his toes into blockbuster filmmaking, Wan saw Malignant as his chance to once again embrace his deep-rooted love for the genre. “After Aquaman, I knew that I didn’t want to jump back into another big-budget movie,” he tells the publication, adding: “I wanted to go back and play in the horror genre…I didn’t really want to remake an existing IP or go do a sequel to any of the movies I’ve created in the past. I knew I wanted to do something original”.
Speaking specifically about Malignant, Wan expresses that he was eager to push himself as a filmmaker and incorporate his love of Hollywood history. He wanted: “Something that was different. Something that allows me to hark back to all the movies I grew up loving. My love of ’80s horror films… whether they’re from America or from Italy or from Asia… and I also knew that I wanted to play with prosthetic effects”.
Take a look at the trailer for the Giallo-inspired horror flick Malignant below.
