Did M3GAN deserve all the attention it received? As a standalone slasher movie with very little new material to offer, it was weird to see it blow up. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the killer robot film when it came out, but I have to give it some attention today. Slashers seemed dead for so many years, but this dancing doll became one of its new champions. Unlike Chucky, Gerard Johnstone’s first slasher is the start of something different, and its continued Amazon Prime Video success demonstrates staying power.
M3GAN Dances Her Way Back Up Amazon Prime Video’s Top Ten
For the uninitiated, M3GAN follows the exploits of Cady, a little girl who just lost her parents. Her new caretaker, her aunt Gemma, is woefully unprepared to manage a child, let alone one with fresh trauma. Luckily, Gemma is a roboticist at the top of her field. Her latest creation is the titular Model 3 Generative Android, or M3GAN, which should function as a programmable best friend. Gemma pairs her pet project with her grieving niece, initially creating an unbreakable bond. This bizarre friendship quickly turns sinister, as M3GAN interprets her mandate to protect Cady as a license to kill. People turn up dead, and Gemma wants to pull the plug, but Cady refuses to lose her only companion. Aside from a few well-publicized comedic moments, M3GAN is often the least interesting part of her own movie.
I can certainly see why Blumhouse’s 2022 slasher hit would stay in the public consciousness. It initially garnered attention through a campy trailer, a killer Taylor Swift song choice, and capitalizing on TikTok trends. In the intervening two years, the discussions of AI raising our nation’s youth have become much louder. I think we will deal with the consequences of unprepared guardians delegating the hard work of parenting to machines. We’ll see it in subtle ways first, but it will become increasingly pervasive. One of the sharpest elements of M3GAN occurs before the titular android enters the film. There’s a running gag about the horrific state of toy marketing that eventually leads Gemma to create her magnum opus. That examination of kids seeking intimacy in things that don’t love them deserves a lot more attention than it gets here. Maybe the sequel can fix that.
M3GAN made a stunning $181 million on a $12 million budget. The fact that it’s still getting a lot of play on streaming speaks to its continued success. We’re not all still making memes about it, but tons of people are checking in for a rewatch. Blumhouse and James Wan’s Atomic Monster have the sequel planned for next June. Thanks in large part to Terrifier, the slasher genre seems to be crawling back. For all its faults, I can’t deny M3GAN her place in that long-awaited return. Let’s see what she can do in a more secure summer slot.
