‘M3GAN’ falls short of expectations with rusty scares

RATING: 3 out of 5

By Ruby Bui

“M3GAN,” a Blumhouse-produced horror film based on a life-like doll operated by AI, was released on Jan. 6. Blumhouse Productions is illustrious for their notable horror movies, which automatically intrigued audiences by the release of a new film produced by this huge company. However, “M3GAN” is more of a suspenseful sci-fi film as there are hardly any scare factors that a typical horror movie should have.

The film follows Cady (Violet McGraw), a young girl, who has just lost her parents to a tragic car accident and goes into her aunt’s custody. Roboticist Aunt Gemma (Allison Williams) is clueless when it comes to nurturing a child and thus resorts to what she knows best. Gemma finalizes her latest AI project, M3GAN (Amie Donald and Jenna Davis), to pair with Cady and accompany her in her time of loss and grief. Director Gerald Johnstone does a beautiful job of exploring children’s trauma responses after experiencing a traumatic event. After Cady grows unhealthily dependent on M3GAN, she treats the doll like a human and reacts violently when away from her. M3GAN is programmed to learn and adapt to surroundings, meaning those who pose a threat to Cady are seen as targets to eliminate. This movie has a classic killer-robot plot, playing on society’s fears that as AI progresses, robots may one day turn against humanity.

Unfortunately, “M3GAN” did not live up to expectations.

The music for the vast majority of the movie is unsuitable for its scenes and makes scenes less horror-inducing than they could have been. The scene depicting M3GAN singing “Titanium” by David Guetta as a lullaby was a missed opportunity for Johnstone to create an eerie atmosphere. Her singing sounds professional, which gives the opposite effect of a killer doll. This part of the film feels rather out of place, considering how M3GAN had just committed murder.

However, this movie certainly did not disappoint in terms of visuals. The human-like and unsettling design of M3GAN evokes the uncanny valley effect, which explains the eerie and uncomfortable feeling that may arise when audiences watch “M3GAN.” Johnstone incorporates this phenomenon into the design of the robot to make it truly emanate fear. Various scenes where she lurks in the corner or sinisterly stares into another human’s eyes creep even the audience out. The cinematography and CGI are outstandingly realistic and smooth, making the movie visually appealing.

Moreover, McGraw executes her character excellently for a child actor and demonstrates realistic emotional responses to trauma and distress. It is easy to feel sympathy as an audience during scenes where Cady acts out and opens up about her emotional pain. Despite the impressive visuals used in ‘M3GAN,’ the film overall was more intense and suspenseful than scary. Ideally, elements such as a suspenseful soundtrack or a greater feeling of paranoia in the audience would be more heavily incorporated into a horror movie.

‘Carvings’ explores life after loss in intimate album

RATING: 4.5 out of 5

By Satvika Iyer

Juni Habel’s sophomore album afloat with sentimental and vivid musings through the lens of nature and kinship.

“Carvings” is a raw and reminiscent journey through grief in a decidedly folk exploration of ephemeral life in the permanence of nature. The album is also Habel’s tribute to her teenage sister, whom she recently lost in a car accident. Creating the album was a family effort, with her husband on guitar and brothers accompanying with glockenspiel.

On the album cover, Habel’s grandmother looks down from the upper window in their shared home where the album was recorded. Habel embraces the charms of a threadbare home studio setup, giving her songs the timeless quality of Joni Mitchell and Vashti Bunyan.

The tracks “I Went Out And Sought For Your Name,” “I Carry You, My Love,” and “Valiant” address Habel’s grief directly through imagined conversations with her sister. Eerie, melancholic humming and fragile fingerpicking complement soft Spanish guitar riffs and catchy string quartet hooks in the comprehensive backing tracks. These intricate backing tracks complement the profound lyrics. The lyrics in

Music Review

The album opens with “Rhythm

Of The Tides,” a poignant metaphor for her sister’s unexpected death. Habel sings of dark water enveloping her, a pitch-black omen that gives the track a sense of urgency. She continues to question the melancholy in her life through her lyrics and frantic backing music. The standard drum kit and hypnotic strumming are joined by unexpected reedy wind chimes that devolve into an abrupt choral harmony at the end of the track. The motif of nature in lyrics like “endless games of love and hatred/are the rhythms of the tides” set the theme of the album: a dark exploration of death kept

“I Went Out And Sought For Your Name” evoke the imagery of children’s fairy tales, poetically describing her sister’s passing away as a “journey, you pulled the anchor while we gazed up at the stars.” The double-backed vocals in “I Carry You, My Love” form a makeshift duet, possibly Habel and her late sister, singing, “When the heart longs to be together in the ground … when my words won’t find you, I will find you in my tears” over the sorrowful humming and violin.

The album is also dotted with nostalgic, frolicking tracks like “Little Twirl,” “Chicory,” and “Drifting Pounds on the Rain”. The spirited combination of strings, a confident drum beat, bagpipes, and Habel’s bright voice provide a brief respite from the other delicate, emotionally heavy tracks. Alone though, these lighthearted tracks can lack substance, as the lyrics are generic and overdone when taken outside of the context of the explorative album. My favorite, “When We Awake,” is a crossroads between the lighthearted and wistful sides of the album. Opening with sad velvety strings, the track gives way to optimistic, clear guitar strumming and a flighty piano for a jazzy touch. The lyrics are confident and the strongest of Habel’s lullabies, she heartily sings that “when we awake, the music dies.” Ironically, Habel’s album comes alive in this track, finding a rewarding harmony within the mismatched samples.

While the album is in the style of tried-and-true, simple yet evocative folk, the effortless connection of the instrumentals to the emotionally laden lyrics makes the album a must-listen, but not always an easy one. The songs harp on the same story, using the same motifs of nature and death in lyrics and the instrumentals, making for a thorough and immersive experience, but also a bit repetitive. When Habel does try to introduce variety, switching abruptly from brooding to upbeat numbers throughout the album, she excels and is able to showcase her evocative voice to the fullest. I was left wanting more variety in the album, but Habel’s monotony is also a testament to her adherence to her album’s core themes. In the unrelenting darkness of grief, Habel bottles the tinges of warmth and yearning found in sorrow and creates something truly beautiful in her committed exploration of death.