Malum is a reimagining of the 2014 cult classic Last Shift. Both films follow a rookie police officer stationed at an abandoned police station while a cult haunts them throughout the night. Malum takes that premise and explores a new reality in which the events of that night occur. Starring Jessica Sula as our protagonist Officer Jessica Loren, she spends her night discovering the truth about why she is being haunted.
As a remake of a somewhat recent movie, Malum has to justify its existence somehow. It does this by taking the ideas from the Last Shift and simply saying “Well what if this happened instead”. It honestly works for me. The Last Shift is not a masterpiece by any means but it was legitimately thrilling. Some of the jumpscares still haunt my memory and the imagery is creepy as all hell. Malum for the most part lives up to it, while dialing up the satanic imagery and gore.
The plots are quite similar up until around the halfway point. Both focus on a cult that was raided by police that Officer Loren works for with their father playing a pivotal role in that raid. Malum increases the relationship the Loren family has in the cult, which drives the divide between the two stories. It’s funny it really feels like the same movie but it is just in a different dimension.
To focus on just Malum, I was quite spooked while watching it. They had very effective scares and used tension to keep me on edge. The environment is an abandoned, rotting police station which is more than enough to create a creepy atmosphere. It does get quite dark which makes some things hard to see but aside from that, the visuals worked for me.
The performances were solid for the role. No one really stands out but no one is bad enough to take away from the experience. Sula is definitely easy to get invested in as a protagonist and I appreciated how she portrayed the character.
The movie is structurally sound but the third act kind of falls apart. Both movies toy with the idea of the hauntings being just in Officer Loren’s head. Malum takes the opposite approach but it made it quite hard to follow what was actually happening. There were some flashes back to reality but they didn’t add any clarity. Maybe that was the point and I just experienced what was expected, but I was confused. This is where we get most of the gore but outside of one scene, it’s mostly just gunshots which is rarely interesting to me. The visuals began to lack here as well (outside of that one scene) which was disappointing after the good start it had.
Final Thoughts
Both Malum and Last Shift are worthy of your watch. Neither takes away from the other and both viewing experiences will get you creeped out. Malum had some good effective scares while keeping me uneasy at all times. It’s not perfect but it is entertaining and I can see myself rewatching it a couple of times.
