Horrortoberfest is back and to start I figured I would look at some of the more recent horror films that I just never got around to watching or, in several cases, I specifically didn’t watch because I was saving it for Horrortoberfest. Starting out the season with one of the bigger releases from the last couple years that I will never not think of as Mthreegan. I had some decently high hopes for this one and had seen several making-of shorts about it that impressed me.

The story of M3GAN revolves around a little girl, Cady, that loses her parents and is forced to live with her Aunt, Gemma. Gemma works for a toy company creating Furbys that are somehow even more off putting than normal even though she is apparently the worlds greatest robotics engineer. Her latest project is M3GAN or Model 3 Generative ANdroid, a robot that can learn and imprints on its user to be the best companion ever. Obviously, there is nothing wrong with creating a super strong titanium android with full artificial intelligence that has the parameters of “protect your user” and so the movie is mostly about the heartwarming joy that a toy can bring into a child’s life. Oh and murder. Several murders.

Warning for anyone that wants to watch this, it does include both the death of a dog and a child. The dog you don’t really see what happens but the kid one is pretty rough if that’s a trigger for you. The kills in this aren’t particularly gory or explicit for the most part. The camera will either cut away or not show exactly what’s happening most of the time so if you’re someone that isn’t a big fan of things being super bloody, that won’t be a problem. The movie handles the tension and increasing malevolence of M3gan really well, though, so the lack of bloody dismemberment doesn’t feel like it’s all that noticeable since you’re generally focused on how unhinged the doll is.

The theming of children and the growing way in which technology takes up more and more of their life and the anxiety around that is played well. At does at times feel like it’s going to take a sharp turn into “Boomer” territory with the moral being “Kids should put down the screens and go outside” but it honestly handles it much better than I expected. The idea of attachment to things rather than people and overreliance on technology is an actual concern that is valid and the movie presents them without becoming preachy. If it can be said there is a moral at all it’s mostly that parents need to try to relate to their kids more and be present for them.

I quite enjoyed the movie, overall. The behind the scenes work on having animatronic and real actor blend seamlessly is so well done and M3gan is a fine addition to the horror villain pantheon.

Score: 4 out of 5