Malum

*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.

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.

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.

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.