5 Horror Movies To Watch If You Like M3gan: M3gan is a hugely impressive horror film with its unique concept and blending of yesteryear genre glory. It seems that director Gerard Johnstone borrowed inspiration from a slew of horror classics to arrive at the final product. Both visually and thematically, watching M3gan will remind you of the following five movies.
M3gan follows an artificial intelligence-powered doll who becomes the subject of unspeakable terror. Gemma (Allison Williams), who creates it, unintentionally gives an 8-year-old her worst nightmare and must do everything she can to stop it. M3gan’s most prominent idea is technology gone wrong.
The swift evolution of AI into a world-shaping concept has gotten everyone scratching their heads. Tools like ChatGPT are only bound to get more ubiquitous as time goes on. We have prepared a list of five movies like M3gan that are great follow-ups for you. These resemble M3gan in all possible ways. Hope you enjoy the list!
5. The Boy (2016)
How about babysitting a small, sentient doll? Few would have the heart to fathom that responsibility. It is the stuff of nightmares. Quite naturally, it seemed harmless to Greta (Lauren Cohan) as well in the beginning. The nanny did not have the slightest idea that the doll was alive. But even as she discovers this shocking truth, she refuses to follow the rules. And that is the underlying doomsday call for her end. M3gan is like an offshoot of The Boy visually. Both films share a similar concept. Even though there are genre similarities, M3gan is a tad too complex and refined in comparison.
The Boy lacks a very compelling narration and exposition of the overall ideas. The job seems light in detail. William Bell, the director, takes the easy path out. He does not seem very patient in letting his story marinate and looks for constant surprises. Still, purist horror fans will find plenty of appreciation for The Boy, and its tacky jump scares.
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4. Ex Machina (2014)
This is the first film that comes to a modern viewer’s mind when one mentions artificial intelligence. Even though ex-Machina was quite late to the party, it is synonymous with the younger viewers with those keywords. The film also brought Alex Garland’s directorial talent to the big screen.
Ex Machina’ is an exciting take on human-AI interaction in the age of the technological revolution. Caleb (Domnhall Gleeson) is an expert computer programmer invited to assist his millionaire CEO, Nathan (Oscar Isaac), in administering a Turing Test on a female robot in his secluded residence. However, Ava reveals Nathan’s dirty secrets and malicious practices to Caleb during their interactions, asking him to help her escape.
Rather than focusing on the visual execution of the film, Alex Garland is more committed to the ideas. Years of scholarly and literary research are mirrored in his speculative futuristic look at how technology is increasingly becoming master over the very hand that created it. Despite the disparity between dystopian doom and modern gore, Garland’s directorial debut is essential viewing.
3. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
When I saw M3gan, that terrifying scene where HAL understands the entire conversation between Dave and Frank through lip reading came to mind. Kubrick’s magnum opus is such an influential film because of the level of detail and intelligent characterization of machines. In fact, HAL was the most accurate, well-rounded, and practical display of a supercomputer in movies when 2001: A Space Odyssey was released. Perhaps there was no one like Kubrick to take the mantle of its depiction head-on. M3gan, the doll, is brought to life in the same hallucinatory fashion in the film as Kubrick makes HAL.
It is quite possible that the sensibilities at that time did not allow Kubrick to follow through on his idea fully. The filmmaker lets the humans win that one not to upset his already anxious viewers. But it was easily possible that HAL could have never let any of them jeopardize the mission. He killed the crewmen on life support to give us a taste of what it was capable of.
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2. Child’s Play (1988)
The OG can never become timeless. No matter how people see Child’s Play which was released close to four decades ago, it has remained an inspiration and precursor for future references. Chucky ended up becoming the defining horror antagonist of the ’80s. Child’s Play is a slasher film to its core. But this unique twist of having a doll possessed by a serial killer was truly terrifying. Dolls possessed a sacred space in the cabinet of millions of little children, and this was perhaps the first intervention in the US to make them sinister.
Tom Holland, the director, follows a story format where figuring out how to stop the killer becomes extremely difficult. It reminds one of Jaws and how Spielberg played around with the idea that this misery can never be put to an end.
Even though M3gan is more of a slow burn, both the films spring into action without notice and do so with reveling flavor. In fact, there’s no deception about what the pair of films are. Instead, there is a steadfast awareness of their elements, and we receive unapologetic enjoyment from them.
1. I Am Mother (2019)
If there is one film other than M3gan that stands out for its portrayal of artificial intelligence, it is I am Mother. Virtues like trust and decision-making come in handy to enhance the overall depiction. The badass Australian feature is available for streaming on Netflix. Rose Byrne and Hilary Swank headline the project, but Clara Rugaard steals the show.
Its setting is in the distant future, where, following an extinction event, a shady bunker installed deep beneath the earth is used to begin the mission to repopulate the planet. But there is a catch. The Mother is a robot and must carefully raise the child from an embryo.
The rest of the film is about how the two build up trust between them and the central conceit that is introduced quite soon after the relationship has been established. Like M3gan, the AI module in the form of the Mother is shown to be an emotionally developed lifeform. It even exercises human-like functions and is caught up in the ploy where she feels threatened.
I Am Mother, like M3gan, extracts the volatility and tension that arises from the interaction of humans and sentient technology such as AI, which can be as revolutionary as it is destructive.
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