Lisa Johnson Mandell’s M3gan review says the campy, creepy, crazy film has just the right mix of fun and fright, a welcome and dominant addition to the horror comedy genre.

Just when you think the horror genre is saturated with creepy doll movies (Annabelle, Chucky, etc.), along comes an AI version that pokes fun at all those that came before it, savages the toy industry and breathes new life into the horror comedy oeuvre.

Instead of darkness and cobwebs, M3gan is full of corporate culture color— it’s bouncy and glittery from the very beginning.

Allison Williams (Get Out) plays Gemma, a high tech toy creator who comes up with a breakthrough robotic companion that can not only play with a child, but teach, understand, nudge and protect, emotionally as well as physically.

Unfortunately, the artificial intelligence that’s been programmed into prototype M3gan leans a little too far into the protection side of things, and those who cause the child she’s bonded with pain better beware.

Readers of Kazuo Ishiguro’s brilliant Klara and the Sun, one of the Best Books of 2021, will wonder if director Gerard Johnstone used it for inspiration, then added amusing social commentary and big laughs.

But there is a vast difference in this campy film that has more laughs than scares, which is fine by me. You have a pretty good idea of what’s going to happen to whom, but being an insider is half the fun. And that creepy M3gan dance is something you can’t unsee — you’ll be giggling over it for days.

Early January is usually an arid period for new films—it’s when studios unload their D-list releases that don’t have snowballs’ chance in hell of competing against Oscar hopefuls that are in strategically wide release.

But this campy, crazy, creepy film could be just what’s needed to jumpstart the 2023 box office.

Lisa Johnson Mandell’s M3gan review says the campy, creepy, crazy film has just the right mix of fun and fright, a welcome and dominant addition to the horror comedy genre.