WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Malevolent, streaming now on Netflix.
In Netflix's Malevolent, four con artists pretending to be paranormal experts end up experiencing the real thing when their "fake" psychic, Angela (Florence Pugh), begins to see the ghosts of three murdered girls at a former orphanage.
However, on their way to realizing the real killer is ex-headmistress Mrs. Green (Celia Imrie), they leave behind a few plot holes.
Why Would Mrs. Green Call Psychics?
Mrs. Green was haunted by the screams of the dead girls over the past year, so it's understandable she would call someone she believed could convince the ghosts to move on into the afterlife. However, such a move doesn't make much sense for the actual killer.
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If Mrs. Green thought Angela could succeed in calming the ghosts, shouldn't she have also been concerned they might reveal her secret in the process? Malevolent conveniently overlooks that little bump in the road in order to get the plot rolling. The old lady shines a light on her own misdeeds, and, as expected, the spirits points Angela in the right direction.
How Did Herman Show Up in the Finale?
Mrs. Green is exposed as the cruel architect of the killings, but we learn in the film's final act that her son Herman (Niall Greigg Fulton) actually carried them out. However, after the girls were murdered, decades earlier, Herman was put on trial, although the film remains vague about his fate.
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If he was exonerated of the charges, Angela and her crew certainly would have known, as they conducted thorough research into the case. Thus, had they shown up and found he wasn't with his mother, that would have been a red flag. But if he was imprisoned for the crimes, did he somehow escape, or did he fulfill his sentence? Either way, seeing as he was the accused, whatever his fate was, someone should have been keeping tabs on a child killer. Instead, he pops up to help his mother for the convenience of the plot.
Why Would Angela Take This Job?
The first ruse the team performs in Malevolent comes at a mannequin store where Angela begins to see ghosts. Thereafter, she experiences even more bad dreams, and she begins to suspect she possesses the same psychic abilities that drove her mother to suicide.
So why would she take this case with Mrs. Green's orphanage? She initially resisted, but her brother Jackson (Ben Lloyd-Hughes) convinced her to sign up. It's a stupid decision by each of them, because Mrs. Green made it clear there were not one, but three ghosts haunting her. That's three times the trouble Angela should have recognized.
Directed by Olaf de Fleur Johannesson, Malevolent stars Florence Pugh, Ben Lloyd-Hughes, Scott Chambers, Georgina Bevan, Niall Greigg Fulton and Celia Imrie. It’s available now on Netflix.