Malum review.
A re-imagining of Last Shift from director Anthony DiBlasi, Malum deepens the story with a more personal connection for its lead. Was it enough to go back for?
Classic movie reviews will contain spoilers.
Malum
Directed by Anthony DiBlasi
Written by Anthony DiBlasi and Scott Poiley
Starring Jessica Sula, Candice Coke, Chaney Morrow, Natalie Victoria and Eric Olson
Malum Review
While filmmakers remaking their own work isn’t exactly commonplace…it does happen on occasion. It’s happened a few times in the horror genre. Takashi Shimizu followed up Ju-On: The Grudge with a remake for American audiences (The Grudge). Michael Haneke made Funny Games twice, a decade apart, again with the second take aimed at English speaking audiences. Anthony DiBlasi’s 2014 Last Shift was already in English. Which makes 2023’s Malum a bit unique. Alfred Hitchcock made two versions of The Man Who Knew Too Much…on in England and again in Hollywood. Although there were far more plot differences between the two versions than in DiBlasi’s movies…they probably serve as the closest comparable.
Hitchcock’s original 1934 version of The Man Who Knew Too Much is rawer and more unpolished than his slick 1956 version. Last Shift and Malum follow the same pattern. There’s no denying that the latter attempts of both films have a more professional feel and likely represent the director’s visions better than the first try. There is, however, a charm to the grittier versions audiences first saw in each case. You’re left with an obvious question. Was remaking these movies necessary?
It also means that Malum must be discussed through two different lenses. For people who have never seen Last Shift…it doesn’t matter in there watching a remake. For those who have…it matters a great deal. We’ll start by examining the latter. First…the easy part. If you have seen Last Shift and didn’t enjoy it…you can go ahead and skip Malum. There’s nothing here that’s likely to change your mind. If you did enjoy Last Shift…Malum becomes a more interesting discussion
Not much has changed between the original film and this remake. As mentioned, it is a slicker presentation. It feels more confident and visually richer. Personally, I enjoyed the more stripped down and empty aesthetic of Last Shift given the story of a character in complete isolation in a haunted police station. Narratively it follows the same beats…sometimes with the same dialog and framing. It does add more gore and horror imagery along the way. There are a few good jump scares, and the atmosphere sustains itself well.
The biggest change Malum brings to the proceedings is the main character’s relationship to the events that are transpiring. Like the original, Jessica Loren (Jessica Sula) is working her first shift as an officer. It happens to be the last shift at the old precinct. The very one that saw her father kill himself a year prior. It’s all tied to a cult that had been arrested and took their own lives while in captivity. Where Malum changes it up is in making the story even more personal for Jessica. Throughout the night of strange occurrences…she will learn more about cult leader John Malum and her secret connection to his cult.
Is the change enough to recommend the remake to fans of the original? I don’t know. It works…and it has more of what you liked. I’d say that if you were going to watch Last Shift again you should go ahead and pop in Malum instead. Compare them yourself. If you weren’t planning on revisiting the former…I don’t know that you have to watch the remake either. That’s just for people already familiar with the story. If you’ve never seen the original…we end up with the most difficult recommendation to figure out.
If you’ve never seen Last Shift…I recommend watching Malum. The story is strong…and the beats will be fresh for you. It starts slow but picks up in the second half. The lore is interesting. It’s more interesting in the remake. That seems to be the only purpose of remaking it…so that’s good. The question is whether I recommend watching Malum over Last Shift if you’ve seen neither. It’s hard to separate them when you’ve seen both. So much is repeated in the remake…and it goes back and forth on which is more effective. If you want a glossier movie with more blood…watch Malum. If you prefer a do it yourself, raw feel in your haunted house horror…watch Last Shift.
The answer to all the questions seems to boil down to “watch one of them”. If you’ve already seen either version…that’s probably enough. If you’ve seen one there aren’t enough differences to recommend double dipping. Unless you loved the one you saw. Then you were probably excited to find out there was an original or a remake to watch and have already done so. Both movies are worth watching…just not necessarily twice.
Scare Value
The problem with Malum is that Last Shift already exists. A remake from the same creative team nine years after the original isn’t unheard of…but it is odd. I don’t know it this movie will play better to people who have seen the original or people who have never heard of it. It’s pretty good. It’s effective enough at what it does. You could certainly do worse. But you may also be able to do better (or exactly as well) with a movie that already existed…called Last Shift.
2.5/5
Malum Links
Rent/Buy on VOD from Vudu
