M3GAN trailer: Annabelle meets The Terminator in James Wan doll horror

Horror veteran James Wan clearly has it in for creepy kids' toys. Having transformed Conjuring side-character Annabelle into a blockbuster star, Wan now takes his predilection for eerie dolls to the nth degree in the forthcoming M3GAN (stylised on the poster as MΞGAN).

Get Out's Allison Williams stars as a toy developer who unexpectedly has to look after her widowed niece. Williams' character then pulls some strings and gets access to the groundbreaking M3GAN (short for Model 3 Generative Android) prototype: a humanoid doll that is designed to act as a life companion. She hopes this will paper over the cracks in the traumatised kid's life.

However, what begins as a beautiful friendship soon turns much darker as M3GAN rebels against her programming and goes on the rampage. Wan's influence as producer is very much evident, as is that of Jason Blum whose Blumhouse label has backed a host of hit chillers over the past decade (the recent Halloween trilogy; The Black Phone; Happy Death Day et al).

Gerald Johnstone directs and screenwriter Akela Cooper, who scribed James Wan's utterly insane Malignant, is on scripting duties. The much-memed M3GAN dance sequence, as glimpsed in the trailer, is set to be just one of the unsettling set-pieces on display. Check out the preview below and prepare for a blast of new year horror when M3GAN is released on January 13, 2023.