By Joel Harley
Taking a second swing at his own story of a lone cop taking on the demonic hordes of a doomsday cult, Malum is director Anthony DiBlasi’s remake of Last Shift, the low-budget horror film (and minor cult favourite) from 2014. Updated with a bigger budget, better effects, and much more of the gooey stuff, DiBlasi’s remake keeps the bones of his previous effort but ups the ante in every conceivable way.
Holding down the fort at the condemned police station where her father killed himself, rookie cop Jessica Loren (Jessica Sula) suspects that something might be amiss when things begin to go bump in the night. Prank phone calls, crazed hobos, and pentagram-bearing pigs (of the oink-oink variety) precede a demonic invasion which Loren finds herself the centre of. It’s The Evil Dead meets Assault on Precinct 13.
DiBlasi uses the opportunity to refine the tracks of his rollercoaster – more gore, more monsters, more twists, and more of the same. Sula weathers the torrents of abuse well, even if the near-relentless jump scares give her little to do beyond screaming and shooting at things. As before, the main attraction is the visuals – arcane, intricately horrible, and disturbing. The film’s monsters have been given a makeover, too, featuring some truly horrific creature designs.
Sure, remaking a less-than-ten-year-old film that was already perfectly serviceable never feels anything less than unnecessary, but when the results are this impressive, who are we to begrudge a guy?
Malum is out in the US on digital May 16th.
