Fans Aren't Holding Back Their Thoughts On M3GAN

Hitting theaters on January 6, Jason Blum and James Wan's new horror flick "M3GAN" has become the "Citizen Kane" of killer doll movies, notching an unexpectedly high critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a massive cult following online. But what are moviegoers and everyday people actually saying about the film? 

Directed by Gerard Johnstone, "M3GAN" focuses on a toy company roboticist named Gemma (Allison Williams) who creates a life-like doll that runs on artificial intelligence. According to the Rotten Tomatoes synopsis, "M3GAN can listen and watch and learn as she becomes friend and teacher, playmate and protector, for the child she is bonded to." If that didn't sound creepy enough, Gemma actually decides to give her own 8-year-old niece the first M3GAN prototype, leading to some horrific consequences.

Rotten Tomatoes' critical consensus describes "M3GAN" as being "unapologetically silly and all the more entertaining for it," calling it a "rare horror-comedy that delivers chuckles as effortlessly as chills." But everyone knows critics and moviegoers can often have different opinions when it comes to mainstream films. Let's take a look at the audience reactions to "M3GAN."

Just like the critics, it seems that "M3GAN" is also a hit among general moviegoers as well, with the movie being praised far and wide on social media. One Twitter user said, "After much more careful thought and consideration ... M3GAN has my first 5 star of 2023. I can't stop thinking about this film. Going to rewatch Sunday." User @SBActor93 tweeted, "Y'all #M3GAN is the goods. Simple, elegant, gnarly ... there is a scene of such dramatic tonal shifts that works so well that I'm honestly in awe. Such good writing and filmmaking." 

User @ZoeRoseBryant hilariously declared, "M3GAN is a perfect movie," with which numerous others agreed. "It was truly so good!" replied @ANDYdrewME. "M3GAN has some of the craziest needle drops of the year!" added @BecSandergaard. 

Overall, it seems that most people who come out of "M3GAN" are actually loving the horror flick and not holding back their love for it. Most of the general consensus is that it's a movie that doesn't take itself too seriously, and in similar fashion, neither should audiences — which is exactly what's happening.

Going into "M3GAN," most people seem to understand that this isn't some dramatic character study with Meryl Streep that they're going to see. As Twitter user @Rashad_H_ puts it, "M3GAN is camp. PURE camp." And movie audiences love it for that.

"I still had a good time watching it," said @Rashad_H_. "The alcohol I had beforehand definitely helped."

Redditor u/LouVee616, in a "M3GAN" discussion, wrote, "I honestly loved it. I'm surprised at how deftly it combined horror and comedy. The movie definitely doesn't play it straight but that works here in a way that doesn't in a lot of horror movies. It winks quite a bit." User Abrinx wrote, "This was the most fun I've had with a new horror movie in ages. M3GAN's slow descent into madness was fantastic. The blending of comedy and horror was done about as well as it could be. Genuinely very surprised with this one."

When making "M3GAN," director Gerard Johnstone made sure to create a movie that was both self-aware and campy, but also enjoyable and actually good at the same time. He told Collider in a January 3 interview, "Well, the world already has Ex Machina ... and I didn't want to make anything like Chucky, or Child's Play." So Johnstone tried to find a happy medium, reasoning, "[M3GAN] is just somewhere in the middle of those things. It's really fun, it's self-aware, and it's offbeat, and those are the flavors that I like the most."