‘Malignant’ 2021 – Is the movie based on a true story?

Madison, played by Annabelle Wallis, is a pregnant lady married to an abusive husband named Derrick (Jake Abel). When the two get into a heated argument, Derrick shoves Maddie into a wall, knocking her out. She wakes up later that night to discover Derrick is dead, and she is pursued by a demon-like creature, leading her to miscarry the child. Why the third miscarriage? why this family?. Could there be some sort of a connection between Madison and the horrific demon-like creature, whom we discover is known as “Gabriel”?. Yes, there is, and that’s because the killer turns out to be a part of her — “an extreme form of a teratoma: A tumour comprised of hair, teeth, muscles, and bones,” as a doctor in the film puts it.

In this particular situation, Gabriel is Madison’s parasitic twin. When two embryos do not split properly in the womb, one twin is dominant and the other is undeveloped. Because the undeveloped twin is dependent on the body of the other, it is not considered conjoined. Therefore,  Gabriel feeds on Madison like a parasite. Madison’s memories of this had long since been suppressed, following the procedure to get rid of Gabriel and her adoption by a compassionate couple who had no idea of Gabriel’s existence. Whenever she mentions him, people think she’s referring to an imaginary friend. As a matter of fact, she kinda does.

Malignant has been described by director James Wan as his take on Giallo movies, which were popular in Italy in the 1960s and 1970s. But is it based on a true story? Or just a genuine horror genre fantasy?. Teratomas are “a type of germ cell tumour that may contain several different types of tissue, such as hair, muscle, and bone,” according to the National Cancer Institute. Teratomas are most commonly found in women’s ovaries, men’s testicles, and children’s tailbones. They can also happen in the central nervous system (brain or spinal cord), the chest, or the belly. Teratomas can be either benign (non-cancerous) or malignant (cancerous).”

An article published by The National Institutes of Health noted “one example of [a] 20-month-old child who had a complaint of urinary retention”. The article further detailed the “rare case” of a teratoma in an 8-year-old girl which normally doesn’t appear until reproductive age. A 2008 study in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics (through the National Library of Medicine) looked at “the cases of 14 children with intracranial [within the skull] teratomas.” “The average age at diagnosis was 10.5 years (range: 2 days to 18 years).” And sure they are more prevalent in the tailbone.

According to a Hindawi article, “common presenting symptoms of intracranial teratomas may include indications of increased intracranial pressure, visual disturbance, polydipsia “severe thirst”, and polyuria “excessive production of urine.” Teratomas of the brain do exist, and they can occur in children. Emily’s visions may be described as “visual disturbances,” but she isn’t seen to be unusually thirsty or often rushing for the toilet to pee-pee. Her symptoms, on the other hand, include a strange, skinless visage that bursts out of the back of her skull and takes control of her body to commit heinous revenge crimes. Moreover, when Madison/Emily has Gabriel moments she tends to possess the strength of at least two persons, unknown electrical powers that cause lights to flicker, and allows him to converse via radio waves which are not on the official list of signs and symptoms of intracranial teratomas.

The plot also combines aspects of teratomas and parasitic twins. This implies a situation where a twin stops developing in the womb but physically relies on the other sibling, as Gabriel does with Emily. According to Healthline, “in some cases, the dominant twin seems to be a normally formed infant with additional limbs or unidentifiable protrusions.” Okay, when Gabriel pops all the way out, that explains some otherwise unidentifiable protrusions.

Now, is the movie really based on a true story?. Well, Wan may have included a real scientific/medical basis of intracranial teratomas in the movie. However, the movie as we know it is nothing but pure fiction added to some other James Wan movies.

Sources: Los Angeles Times, the Hollywood reporter