Malum

Wow, I don't even know where to begin... it's not the worst thing ever made, but it's definitely not anywhere near as good as last shift. I'm a way, it feels like it's all around a worse film. I'm not really sure what the aim was in all of this?

There was moments that weren't terrible, but I can't think of anything that I enjoyed better than I did Last Shift?! It was just silly and dull til the end where it almost became haunted house level bad looking and tried way too hard to be "weird".

I'd highly recommend that you see Last Shift instead and don't really invest too much time or care into this one. I was rather excited for it, but in the end, I'm just underwhelmed.

As a casual viewer of horror movies, it's quite concerning to see directors resorting to rehashing their own movies, especially when they were mediocre to begin with. Malum, a remake of Last Shift, is just another example of egotistical directors trying to salvage their past failures with bigger budgets. Last Shift had some potential. It's disappointing to see a director not learn from their mistakes and try to make up for it by throwing more money at the problem. The only thing that seems to have improved in Malum is the soundtrack and production value, but that doesn't make up for the lackluster storyline and characters. To be honest, Malum is just another generic horror movie with no real substance or creativity. The constant terror and violence get old quickly, and it's hard to invest in characters that are one-dimensional and uninteresting. It's a shame that there are no fresh ideas or surprises in this movie, and it's certainly not worth the time or money to watch.

When LAST SHIFT (2014) came out, it was the first film I'd seen in a few years that unnerved me. It was creepy & gritty. It felt like they did a lot with a small amount of money. When I found out that MALUM was a "re-imagining" of LAST SHIFT with the daughter being race-swapped, I had concerns.

Right from the jump, the acting in this movie is awful. It had some positive things going for it because its the same filmmaker. Its shot pretty decently and there's some good special effects. It just doesn't have that grittiness like LAST SHIFT. It's by no means high polish, but its more polished than its predecessor. It felt like a tv movie that was done to push a more diverse main character. Very unnecessary film.

...then the director must have had an awful lot of really competent help creating Last Shift, because that is a well done, well acted and well written horror film, while Malum is a schlocky gore fest with inane acting and dopey dialog.

Just watch the first 15 minutes of Malum and then switch over to Last Shift and watch the first 15 minutes of that. It is a travesty how badly Malum compares to Last Shift in the same scenes - the acting is abysmal, in particular the alleged actress in Malum compared to the believable actress in First Shift, and the dialog has been severely dumbed down in Malum - and the dialog in First Shift was simplistic enough.

Really, nothing about Malum is horrific, unless you count what it's done to the reputation of the director.

*NON SPOILER*

First of all, although both films shadowed eachother (as Malum is a remake), especially on the randomness front, back in 2014 when we were introduced to the Last Shift it was totally original and a lot more atmospheric.

Both films masterfully play on intense minimal locations and a small cast to create an unsettling experience. In Last Shift, the protagonist, Officer Jessica Loren, is portrayed with nuance, and her descent into terror feels palpable and real. The film's pacing is tight, with each scare and revelation meticulously timed to keep viewers on edge. In contrast, Malum, which also has the same director Anthony DiBlasi, somehow loses the magic of the original. Despite having a bigger budget and better production values, Malum lacks the tight narrative and atmospheric dread that made Last Shift so effective.

In summary, while Malum has the technical polish that Last Shift lacked, it ultimately fails to deliver the same level of psychological horror and engaging storytelling. Last Shift remains a superior film, with its clever use of suspense and atmosphere making it a standout in the horror genre (and it was very original at the time), whereas Malum feels like a hollow imitation, focusing on superficial scares rather than true horror.