Main cast: Jessica Sula (Jessica Loren), Candice Coke (Diane), Chaney Morrow (John Malum), Eric Olson (Captain Will Lorren), Britt George (Officer Grip Cohen), Natalie Victoria (Marigold), Clarke Wolfe (Dorothea), Morgan Lennon (Kitty), Danielle Coyne (Birdie), Monroe Cline (Betty), Valerie Loo (Anna Cole), Kertu Bell (Young Diane), Sam Brooks (Officer Price), Christopher Matthew Spencer (Officer Hudson), Angel Ray (Officer Coleman), Mary O’Neil (Officer O’Brien), Molly Peyton White (Monica Matthews), and Brooklyn Durs (Julie Sims)
Director: Anthony DiBlasi
Hmm, so Malum, which means “evil” in Latin, is a remake of Anthony DiBlasi’s Last Shift from 2014? Well, guess I can remove the latter film from my queue then!
I’ve heard that both movies are pretty similar, but don’t hold me to that, as I didn’t watch that earlier film and now I don’t see the need to, heh.
Jessica Loren is a rookie cop that requests for and gets the night shift at a decommissioned police station. It’s the same location where her father, after being hailed as a hero for saving three people from a cult led by John Malum, went on a shooting spree before shooting his own head off. Naturally, it’s the place any sane person would want to work the night shift all alone.
Unsurprisingly, weird things, increasingly deranged and dangerous things, start to happen. Talk about a night shift to remember…
Okay, maybe not. This one has some pretty good acting from the cast, and overall, the lighting and practical effects are fine.
It manages to drum up ample tension and suspense, although it also relies on some cheap jump scares that cause me to give the people behind this thing my side eye. Seriously, the tension, lighting, music are all good enough to generate the scares, so the annoying lousy cheap jump scares just cheapen the mood and feel of the movie.
However, for the life of me I have no idea what the whole cult thing is about. It’s not like, say, Hereditary that I can piece together the things after a re-watch, this one seems to be just scares after scares pulled out from Mr DiBlasi’s rear end. I understand that this movie actually added scenes and fleshed out some relationships, so I can only imagine how much of a mess the previous movie is.
Best of all, Mr DiBlasi says that he deliberately leaves the whole thing open for people’s interpretation. That’s not a cop-out, not at all!
The thing is, I’m far more impressed with the technical aspects of this movie. The story is just an excuse to bring on the jump scares.
Hence, don’t expect me to watch this thing over and over to come up with fan theories. I’m not that invested enough to care, I’m afraid.
