Directing: B
Acting: B
Writing: B-
Cinematography: B
Editing: B
Special Effects: B

MEGAN answers the question you never thought to ask: What would Chucky be like if he had the brain of HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey? Or more specifically, if HAL 9000 were reincarnated as a 4’ tall, fashion-forward sorority girl?

Do people younger than forty even understand these references? 2001 was released 55 years ago and Child’s Play was released 35 years ago. Granted they both spawned sequels over the years, but if MEGAN proves anything, it’s that given enough time everything can be recycled.

Or is it M3GAN? Lead character Gemma (Allison Williams) informs us early on that it stands for Model 3 Generative Android. M3GAN is a lifelike doll with intuitive AI much more sophisticated than, but clearly modeled on, the Furby—which this film makes explicitly clear with an opening commercial for an incredibly similar toy developed by Gemma’s company. The TV spot is darkly funny, instantly setting the tone for the horror-comedy genre.

None of this is especially original, mind you. It’s all tried-and-true story tropes and concepts, given a slightly different twist. That said, I can’t deny the twist makes the movie fun, if wildly lacking in logic. (Where does M3GAN get all her fantastic outfits, anyway?) Not that any horror movie is particularly concerned with logic, nor is any horror movie audience.

I guess I’m just prone to nitpicking. MEGAN is set in Seattle, made clear by maybe three or four establishing wide shots of the city skyline; for locals, it would seem Gemma’s company offices are in the Columbia Center. We don’t see any recognizable part of Seattle otherwise, though; filming took place in Los Angeles and Auckland, New Zealand. How original!

Normally I give a lot more respect to films that give their story room to breathe, but the rules are different for horror, and MEGAN sure takes its time to get to the good stuff. I kept wondering what it would be like for someone sitting to watch this movie knowing nothing about it. They would spend at least twenty minutes thinking, What the hell is this about a kid (Violet McGraw, well cast) with a vaguely creepy doll-playmate? We spend an incredible amount of time with Gemma and her colleagues, trying to perfect this beta model robot doll while enduring their obnoxiously impatient boss (Ronny Chieng), before anything sinister is really even hinted at.

Once M3GAN becomes evidently self-aware, however, she becomes quite the fierce little bitch, instantly turning this film into something with the potential to become a cult favorite in a way no movie has in a long while. (She gets some choice lines, as when she finally turns on the child she’s been imprinted on: “You ungrateful little bitch!” Obviously she’s projecting.) I had been fairly neutral on this film when I first saw the trailer, although the bit showing M3GAN doing a little dance in a hallway before attacking someone—which became viral before the film was even released—did crack me up. I couldn’t tell if it was because the movie was unintentional camp.

What makes MEGAN work, as it happens, is how it deftly straddles the line of camp, offering plenty of satirical humor while also taking itself seriously as a horror film when appropriate. The script, by Akela Cooper (Malignant) from a story by James Wan (Annabelle Comes Home), could have stood a bit more sophistication, but in their defense—and thanks to first-time feature director Gerard Johnstone—this movie never falls short of what it promises to be. Which is to say: ridiculous in every respect, and also in all the right ways.

The doll herself, M3GAN, is actually played by two actors: 12-year-old Amie Donald provides the body and movements (under a just-short-of lifelike robot mask); 18-year-old Jenna Davis provides the voice. The voice is mostly digitally enhanced, but I wonder how much young Amie Donald got paid, given that usually there is less payment when an actor has no lines? M3GAN’s movements strike a perfect balance, though, between innocently youthful and creepily robotic.

Indeed, the production design of the title character is arguably the greatest contributor to this movie’s success—and it certainly works on its own terms. Overall MEGAN feels like a slightly undercooked effort, but in a way that could easily enhance its cult legacy in the long run. Once M3GAN goes on a murderous rampage, it’s really fun.

Overall: B