Malum

I really liked Last Shift. It did a lot with it's low budget and managed to be a genuinely unnerving and interesting horror movie that felt new and original.

I was really quite excited to see Malum. Some more critical folks out there said it was unnecessary, but I really liked the idea of seeing what Di Blasi would do with the original story given feedback from the original, a bigger budget, and time to think.

Well, for the most part, Malum follows Last Shift quite closely. The overall plot is almost entirely the same and a lot of plot points from Last Shift are recreated.

But Malum does add a fair amount of background and extra exposition, either by adding to existing moments from the original film, qnd by adding entirely new scenes.

The problem is, these additions actually take away far more than they add to the film. It was the vaguearies of the original that helped it shine; the viewer being trusted to make connections and fill in the blanks. Malum, by comparison, spells everything out.

There are other issues too. The deranged cultists are so stereotypical that it's hard to take the performances seriously. The special effects, though apparently more sophisticated and expensive, are actually a lot less convincing (I'm trying to avoid spoilers but The Reveal is probably a prime example). And the ending is not only predictable, irrespective of whether you've seen the original film or not, but also deeply unsatisfying and frustrating.

I want to be clear: I didn't hate Malum. I actually enjoued it, despite some serious flaws; it kept me interested and entertained.

But, having seen Last Shift, the "original draft" of the film, I'm left wondering why it was made, because it has literally already been done much more effectively. By the same director, no less!

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.

Did there really need to be a reboot from an earlier horror that in itself was a decent effective horror with a good Carpentersque soundtrack, creepy setting and solid camerawork. Like Haneke's own Funny Games it's a reluctant remake.

It goes on and on with too much emphasis on ghosts disappearing then reappearing and visa versa, predictable levels of characters turning up then disappearing and a friendly pig wandering around the desolate police station.

It has a Silent Hill level of make up that works kinda well but ultimately I've seen this type of horror way too many times before.

No more.

I'm still trying to wrap my brain around why "Last Shift" needed a "re-imagining"? As one of the truly great horror films of the last 10 years, I was actually looking forward to the writer/directors next film, and when I heard it was going to be a "re-imagining" of the movie, it raised several alarms. After watching the film, I can confidently say that the only reason this was done was to race swap the main character, and to me, this is one of the most offensive things anyone can do to an already established franchise.

Aside from some great acting by the Male cast members, and some great SFX and gore, this movie is less frightening, less dynamic and definitely less memorable than Last Shift. In fact, I watched this with my partner and in the end he said, "The person who made this should never be allowed to make another movie in their lives". Was this the reaction the creative team was going for, because I'm guaranteed he wouldn't have had the same reaction to Last Shift.

As it stands, I'm getting tired of these creative teams forcing diversity and race-swapping characters just to meet a quota. But I guess that precious ESG score to guarantee funding for projects is more important than creative integrity these days, isn't it?

Summary; Don't watch this movie and just watch Last Shift again. This re-imagining is worse in almost every possible way, and wont be remembered nearly as fondly as the film it claims it is.

...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.