MALUM Will Make Horror Fans Scream With Horrified Joy!

Posted on March 27, 2023 by chrishammond54 in Film Reviews // 0 Comments

By Chris Hammond

Title: MALUM

Director: Anthony DiBlasi

Screenwriters: Anthony DiBlasi, Scott Poiley

Producers: Scott Poiley, Dan Clifton

Executive Producers: Mary Poiley, Luke LaBeau, Eric Kleifield, Bonner Bellew, Justin Brown

Special Effects: RussellFX

Cast: Jessica Sula, Candice Coke, Chaney Morrow, Clarke Wolfe, Morgan Lennon, Valerie Loo, Monroe Cline, Eric Olson, Sam Brooks, Kevin Wayne, Danielle Coyne, Natalie Victoria, Christopher Matthew Spencer, and Britt George

Genre: Horror

Run Time: 92 Minutes

Rating: R

Distributor: Welcome Villain Films

Spoiler-Free Review

The entertainment industry is full of needless and watered-down remakes. Most of these mediocre offerings only faintly resemble the material that they are representing. Remakes or re-images should have a purpose, they also should build upon the source material. MALUM is an expanded reimagining of the 2014 horror cult classic, Last Shift.

Director Anthony DiBlasi knows the source material very well as he directed both, Last Shift and MALUM. DiBlasi also co-wrote the film with Scott Poiley (Last Shift, Missionary, Exhume). Sadly, Poliey passed away in 2022 and the film is dedicated to his memory.

MALUM follows rookie police officer Jessica Loren (Jessica Sula) who willingly takes the last shift at a police station that is close to being decommissioned. Loren wants this shift because it’s the location where not only her father lost his life, but also saw a savage cult meet its demise.

Once in the station alone, unexplainable events of the paranormal nature start to unfold. The night brings many secrets to the surface and officer Loren will piece together the mysteries of her family’s involvement with this infamous cult.

MALUM is chock-full of tension which is also elevated by the musical score of the composer Samuel Laflamme. Laflamme is well known for his work on the video game franchise Outlast and Outlast II.

The film also hinges on the performance of Jessica Sula, who is the primary character of the whole movie. Sula fills the screen with anxiety and terror, reacting believably to the situations she finds herself in. There are instances when unexplained things happen to her in a succession that will make viewers skin crawl.

DiBlasi is also to thank for phenomenal direction and visual distress. There are shots in the police station that make it feel neverending and also claustrophobically compact. DiBlasi knows when to tighten up the tension with a flurry of raw gore and then lull the audience back into a false sense of security. The violence for the most part has a purpose (beyond scarying the hell out of the audience).

There are many instances of gruesome content that look and feel completely tangible. The head-smashing exceptional practical effects are thanks to RussellFX (Would You Rather, Beyond The Gates, Sequence Break, Christmas, Bloody, Christmas).

There are enough differences from Last Shift that fans of that film will still be left in complete shock and awe of MALUM. The film is full of peaks and valleys of horror, from the suttle to the extreme. This is definitely a story that not only builds upon the original film material, but also elevates both to “must-see” status. Anthony DiBlasi and crew create a treat for horror/mystery fans who crave an intriguing story with an amazing score, precise acting, direction and blood for days.

Check out MALUM when it hits theaters on March 31, 2023