Malum

...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.

There was something very, very familiar about the storyline in "Malum", as if I had actually seen it before somewhere. Perhaps I am mistaken, but I sat with an overwhelming sense of 'I have seen this already' throughout the course of the 92 minutes that this 2023 movie played for. And then I found out that director Anthony DiBlasi's 2023 movie was just a remake of his own movie "Last Shift" from 2014. How lame was that?

So if you have seen the 2014 movie "Last Shift", do yourself a favor and skip on this 2023 movie. Talk about a lazy approach to directing.

The acting performances in the 2023 were fair enough, however I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie. But they performed well enough.

Now, if you haven't watched the 2014 movie "Last Shift" already, then I guess you will find some entertainment in this 2023 remake. But if you have watched the 2014 movie, there is very little to be thrilled about in the 2023 unnecessary remake.

I wasn't overly thrilled with the 2014 movie, and even less so with the 2023, especially given the lazy approach of just re-shooting the movie almost scene by scene. That really is milking the cow and beating a dead horse. Yet, I managed to sit through the entire 92 minutes here.

I am going to rate the 2023 movie "Malum" a mere three out of ten stars, solely because this had all been done and seen before, and from the very same director nonetheless.

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 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!

Last Shift (2014) actually happened to be my favorite horror movie of that year. It was a huge surprise watch for me going in completely blind, not having even seen a preview... Malum is a remake/reimagining of that movie by the same writer/director, Anthony DiBlasi. I questioned the existence of this remake after I saw the trailer since it's only 9 years after the original, and I still question its existence after watching it.

Don't get me wrong, it's a decent watch & a solid horror movie with improved production, graphic gore and an expansion of the cult premise. With all of the added aspects it's strange that it's only 4 minutes longer than the original. But I feel like this is an example of "less is more" where the ambiguity of Last Shift worked more in its favor, while the expansion of the lore regarding the cult makes Malum feel more derivative. There is a particular creepy "jingle" that is used in both movies, but I feel it is over-used in this movie. Also, there are certain aspects of Malum where it can't seem to decide what it wants to be. There's just too much here that reminds me of Hereditary (and other movies), which is somewhat ironic since the same evil entity is mentioned in Last Shift, but not in Malum (if I remember correctly).

However, I can recommend this movie whether or not you've seen Last Shift, but you may enjoy it more if you haven't seen it. It manages to be effectively creepy like the original while being more polished. For streaming, maybe wait for the rental price to go down.

I gave Last Shift (2014) a 8/10. I give Malum (2023) a 6/10. A solid effort with improved production, but it overall falls short of the effectiveness of the original. It's definitely not a bad remake, just not a necessary one.