MALUM (2023)

Studio:     Welcome Villain Films
Director:    Anthony DiBlasi
Writer:     Anthony DiBlasi, Scott Poiley
Producer:  Scott Poiley, Dan Clifton
Stars:     Jessica Sula, Candice Coke, Chaney Morrow, Eric Olson, Britt George, Natalie Victoria, Clarke Wolfe, Morgan Lennon, Danielle Coyne

Review Score:

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Summary:

A rookie cop with a tragic past confronts haunting visions of a demonic cult while alone in an abandoned police station.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Lanford Police Department officers congratulate fellow cop Will Loren for rescuing teenage hostages Anna Cole, Monica Matthews, and Julie Sims from John Michael Malum, leader of a demon-worshipping cult called “The Flock” that ritualistically kills women whose bodies are then fed to pigs. Inexplicably, Will soon goes on a sudden murder spree throughout the police station before finally killing himself.

For her first assignment as a rookie cop one year later, Will’s daughter Jessica Loren requests a solo shift where she will provide overnight security for the old police station while all regular activity is rerouted to a new facility. Prior to her shift, Jessica visits her father’s gravesite where she has an awkward encounter with her estranged, alcoholic mother Diane.

Members of Malum’s Flock accost Jessica on her drive to the old station. Jessica also observes cult members creating disturbances at the new police station too.

Upon arriving at the old station, Jessica has an uncomfortable encounter with abrasive officer Grip Cohen. After dressing her down due to her family history, Cohen leaves Jessica alone in the building.

Jessica finds a secret compartment inside her father’s old locker that contains additional files and newspaper clippings regarding Malum’s crimes. Jessica pockets a thumb drive. Pictures of an occult symbol that the cult leaves in pig’s blood around town are later identified as symbolizing a demonic entity known as “The Temple Baron.”

Jessica finds the symbol painted on the back of a live pig mysteriously left outside the station. Jessica eventually brings the pig inside, but is later forced to shoot it.

A vagrant muttering cryptically breaks into the station. Jessica subdues the man, but she becomes locked in a holding cell with him. Before ultimately escaping the room, Jessica hears her father’s voice in the darkness and sees a shocking vision of three people hanging from the ceiling.

Remembering that she heard him shouting at no one when she first arrived, Jessica calls Officer Cohen to question him about the apparent paranormal activity possibly haunting the station. Cohen merely insults Jessica before hanging up.

Jessica sees a hooker named Marigold being thrown out of a car outside. While Jessica treats her wounds, Marigold recounts how she was at that station one year ago when Malum and two of his female followers, Dorothea and Kitty, hanged themselves in the holding area. Jessica becomes confused by a contradictory official story, which contends that Malum died in an officer-involved shooting. Jessica kicks out Marigold after the woman becomes suddenly entranced and starts ranting.

A series of taunting phone calls culminates in someone claiming they have Monica Matthews, one of the three survivors Will Loren rescued, held hostage. The voice also tells Jessica that her father started something the cult plans to finish that night. Jessica calls the other police station to make another report regarding the strange events and learns Monica Matthews did in fact go missing that evening along with Ana Cole and Julie Sims.

On the thumb drive, Jessica finds video footage of the Malum Flock brutalizing their victims. Another file shows Jessica an entranced doppelganger seemingly in the room with her. Additional visions including one of a disfigured entity that chases her out of the shooting range continue plaguing Jessica.

Jessica calls the other station for assistance upon discovering she has been chained inside the building. The responding voice verifies the rumor that John Malum died in that station.

Video footage of Malum and his accomplices’ interrogations seemingly show Jessica’s father behaving oddly after seeing a strange figure. Officer Price, who subsequently arrives with his partner Hudson to transfer the vagrant, confirms to Jessica that her father was acting strange before he killed his fellow officers, and Will warned everyone to avoid the holding area because Malum was somehow still there even though he died.

A combination of visions and video footage reveals that Jessica’s mother Diane was once a member of Malum’s Flock and Jessica was baptized by Malum as a baby. Jessica confronts her mother about the truth when Diane comes to the station. Diane explains that Malum promised Jessica would be a crucial part of a bigger plan, but after Diane started suffering from disturbing visions, she went on the run. Malum finally found their family one year ago, which spurred Will to take down the cult. Diane wanders away from Jessica after becoming entranced by a figure.

Jessica starts questioning reality as she continues experiencing visions of cultists killing hostages, cultists overrunning the building, and dead cops haunting the hallways. Jessica shoots the vagrant during one of these visions. Malum is also revealed as the phone voice Jessica had been talking to at the other police station.

Visions lead Jessica to a dark room where she finds Malum, resurrected as a ghoulish figure, sitting on a makeshift throne. Cultists and dead cops seemingly surround Jessica before parting to make way for a creature that has come to feed on her spirit.

Jessica suddenly jolts back to an empty hallway in reality, but inadvertently shoots her mother dead. With visions of cultists and dead cops continuing to taunt her, Jessica ultimately shoots herself in despair. Two figures drag away Jessica’s dead body and place her on a throne next to Malum’s. Jessica’s head suddenly twitches.

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Review:

Sometimes it’ll be a chuckle.  Other times it may be an eye roll.  Whatever the reaction, I’m alternately amused or annoyed whenever PR promotes an indie horror film no one has ever heard of as “highly anticipated” or “critically acclaimed.”  It’s amusing when picturing an imaginary conversation with a soon-to-be-sweating publicist where I demand to know exactly who supposedly provided that anticipation or acclaim.  It’s annoying when I remember such boilerplate hyperbole has been misused so much, those empty phrases now carry nearly no weight whatsoever.

In the exception of co-writer/director Anthony DiBlasi’s 2014 thriller “Last Shift” (review here), however, “critically acclaimed” is mostly true.  Now, I wasn’t among those critics.  Looking back at my review, my lukewarm response doesn’t really even align with a score of 60, which seems on the high side for what was in my opinion a mid movie.  But “Last Shift” hooked plenty of other horror hounds to become a buzzed-about little hit that landed on several “Best of the Year” lists, and apparently found enough of a following to warrant a remake/reimagining: 2023’s “Malum.”

Crystal clear memories of the original film are hard to come by given the almost ten-year gap between “Last Shift” and “Malum.”  Luckily, the synopsis I wrote in 2015 comes in handy for filling in blanks regarding what has changed and what has stayed the same.

What has stayed the same from “Last Shift” to “Malum” is that the central character is still rookie cop Jessica Loren.  And the central plot still surrounds Jessica’s graveyard shift as a solo security guard in a disused police station, where paranormal activity related to a demon-worshiping killer cult drives the lonely police officer to witness haunting visions.

What’s changed is Jessica’s updated story has slightly more depth in its details.  I say “slightly” because much of “Malum’s” creepiness remains rooted in cryptic-ness.  Jessica’s family ties now intertwine more intricately with the cult’s master plan, although “Malum” continues to keep its mouth shut regarding precisely how that plan works, and chooses to have characters spit out incoherent mutterings while quick cuts to Hellraiser-esque imagery supply the visual vagueness for Jessica’s eerie experiences.  There’s a bump in substance to add more impact behind the movie’s motivations, albeit a small one, which is why “slightly” beats out “significantly” as the better adjective for describing the difference.

Other alterations appear mostly minor.  Unless I transposed the wrong letter when I summarized “Last Shift,” “Malum” changed the name of the town where it takes place from Sanford to Lanford.  In light of “Hereditary” (review here), I get why the cult leader’s last name was changed from Paymon to Malum, but the reasoning behind swapping a single letter in the location is a lot less obvious to figure out.

Another thing my review of “Last Shift” reminded me is that the first film leaned heavily on “a lot of camera creeps down long hallways as Jess investigates noises, opens doors, peers around corners, and generally struts slowly around the station from jump scare to jump scare.”  Well, “Malum” does quite a bit of this too.  My screening notes echoed similar observations as I scribbled bits like “excessive establishing shots,” “lots of wandering hallways,” and “staring into dark shadows.”  For “Malum” to wriggle under one’s skin, a viewer may be required to be susceptible to the slow burn of gradual atmospheric build, although some stretches do get punctuated by sudden shocks that aim for a physical response rather than a psychological one.

I’m sure I’d notice more areas of improvement if I watched the two movies one right after another.  But based on my memory of “Last Shift,” “Malum” seems largely like a mirror image that’s just reflecting in more polished glass.  Were I to rate it on individual merits, I’d probably score “Malum” in the 50th percentile since that number indicates its mid-range status in terms of horror entertainment.  But seeing as I scored “Last Shift” with a 60, I’ll give “Malum” a 65 since it’s a tick above on technical levels like sharper lighting and tighter editing.  I just wish DiBlasi would have given the content a beefier upgrade as well.

Review Score: 65

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