‘M3GAN’ Dances, Sings, and Murders In a Horror Film Unlike Any Other

Before M3GAN even releases in theaters, the Blumhouse horror film will have already spawned bajillions of memes on social media. Soon, it will be named the best movie of 2023—and it’s only January. The campy romp will then land on the next Sight and Sound Greatest Films of All Time list. Rumor has it that the Library of Congress has already reached out to producer Jason Blum to add M3GAN to the National Film Registry. M3GAN herself has allegedly been invited to present the Oscar for Best Picture later this year.

Jokes aside, the cult following of M3GAN—which began all the way back when the first poster was unveiled last April—will be relieved to hear that the movie shines. Not only does M3GAN serve up absolute chaos with dance scenes, absurd needle drops, and uproarious kills, but it also presents a riveting storyline. The hype isn’t all memes and video clips from Twitter; the movie itself is actually a bunch of fun too.

From the very first scene (which I won’t spoil; it’s far funnier to go in blind), M3GAN knows exactly the kind of movie it wants to be: playful, but still thrilling. After that scene, the story begins: while on a winter vacation with her parents, pipsqueak Cady (Violet McGraw) kibitzes with a talking furry doll (similar to a Gremlin) in the backseat of the family car. Cady’s animatronic irritates her father far too much, causing him to drive the car into a major snowplow, killing both parents and injuring Cady in the wreck. This, along with that killer opening scene, all happen within the first 200 seconds of the film.

Meanwhile, halfway across the country, Cady’s aunt Gemma (Allison Williams) flirts with disaster. She’s creating a lifelike robot girl for her job at a major toy company. The “Model 3 Generative Android,” or M3GAN for short, looks like the Cats version of a human girl. She’s a toy that will play with kids, teach them how to be better humans, and defend them from life’s biggest struggles. Basically, M3GAN will do everything a parent should, but doesn’t.

Which is why she’s the perfect fit for Cady, who’s now living under legal guardianship of Gemma. Gemma can’t parent Cady. She’s a single thirty-something living with collectible toys (“Don’t touch that,” she snaps at the grieving girl when Cady fondles a Transformers box), who works 24/7 on inventing gadgets. Then, it dawns on her—while Gemma’s boss has been rejecting her M3GAN model, Cady is the perfect fit to test out the doll.

It takes a bit of time for M3GAN (played by Amie McDonald and voiced by Jenna Davis of “penny nickel dime” virality) to enter the story, but when she’s finally introduced to Cady, lightning strikes. She wreaks havoc from the very start, teaching Cady new dance moves and sporting big sunglasses while she enters Gemma’s home. Any time M3GAN opens her mouth, with a signature robotic twang, she says the most absurd thing you’ll hear all week, topped only by the next thing she’ll say.

For example: Cady has nightmares and struggles to fall asleep, naturally, as a child who has just lost her parents in a fiery wreck. That’s alright. M3GAN sings her to sleep with lullabies like “Titanium” by David Guetta ft. Sia. A boy bullies Cady at school, so M3GAN chases him down on all fours like a dog and rips his ear off. Vincent Van Gogh would be proud. There are limitless moments of bedlam in M3GAN, as this uncanny valley-abiding doll leads a hilariously unsettling, frenzied plot as entertaining as the robot herself.

M3GAN’s inner turmoil leads to the catastrophic destruction of the world around her, a conflict that makes the thriller incredibly gripping. She has been programmed to support Cady through any life crisis she may face, but that includes ones created by Gemma. When Gemma wants Cady to eat her vegetables, Cady refuses, and the monstrous M3GAN defends her best friend with murderous intent. The neighbor’s dog bites Cady, so the beast and its owner must die. M3GAN is nearly impossible to kill too; she’s a robot with the ability to hack, puncture skin, crush bones, and manipulate voices. She’s the perfect horror baddie.

It may be easy to write off M3GAN as a movie engineered to perform well in the internet zeitgeist with no real artistic merit. But legendary horror producer James Wan and writer Akela Cooper have cracked the code to cult status, between this and their 2021 film Malignant—which, instead of a robot doll, saw a woman transform into a ninja beast via a man living inside of her body. M3GAN has leaned into the pop culture moment twice as hard (humans dressed as M3GAN have danced at the premiere and stormed football fields to promote the movie; M3GAN bots have participated in online Q&As), but both movies proved that their social media efforts aren’t just hollowed-out marketing schemes—the stories are really entertaining.

With a horror beast as wonderfully campy and perfectly terrifying as this robot, the M3GAN moment won’t be over anytime soon. The team at Blumhouse has already entered talks for a sequel; without spoiling anything, the ending sets the universe up perfectly for more android atrocities in the future. It might be too early to declare M3GAN the queen of 2023—but this movie can be deemed a cult classic immediately.