Want to escape from the nonsense of the best Black Friday deals? Want to delightfully spook yourself by watching a sci-fi thriller with moderate nightmarish undertones – a kind of homage to 90s horror-comedy? Well, you're in luck!
The current Netflix no.1 in the UK is this stylish sci-fi thriller, with an altogether less stylish title: M3GAN (which, from here on out, I'll be writing as 'Megan', as it's pronounced). The premise is that a life-like robotic doll companion, Megan, develops a mind of its own – but with deadly consequences (quite literally).
The movie was well-received, bowling over critics and landing a 93% Rotten Tomatoes score. As Linda Marric of The Jewish Chronicle notes: "While Megan is more like Chucky [the 1988 movie about a killer doll] than it is Ex Machina [the 2014 movie about a cyborg prisoner], there is still a lot to love about this hugely enjoyable comedy horror."
That's a big take-away point for this movie: Megan isn't hyper-violent, as some of the 80s and 90s 18-certified movies of old are, it's a more restrained take that's in on its own joke – but there are enough thrills and scares in this growing-up movie that's aimed at grown-ups (definitely put the kids to bed, this one's a 15-certificate in the UK).
Megan stars Allison Williams as Gemma, the toy-company robotic expert who created Megan to care for her orphaned niece, Cady. But Megan's artificial intelligence takes that task to (virtual) heart – and well beyond.
In its aim to be the best streaming service, Netflix has recently had a spate of Christmas movie number ones, so it's refreshing to see a slice of sci-fi take the top spot this week. Especially one that's actually, for the most part, a decent rollercoaster ride – better than a lot of previous chart-toppers, that's for sure.
