A rookie cop with a dark family secret? A murder spree by a group of followers of the devil? Sounds like a Nicolas Cage premiere, but if’Longlegs’is similar to’Seven ‘, the nightmarish’Malum’has more to do with Carpenter’s cinema, since everything happens in the same place throughout a claustrophobic night, increasingly unreal and dark. Now, after a discreet run in American cinemas, it is finally released in Spain via VOD, establishing itself as one of the great satanic horror films of recent years.
With nothing to envy of this year’s Satan-related titles, such as ‘The Last Late Night , although not as exquisite as ‘The First Prophecy exquisite as’The First Prophecy ‘, which would be more religious horror than properly Satanic, the production starts as an unusual remake of’Last Shift'(2014), a small cult film that has been gaining followers over the years, and works both as ‘ The First Prophecy ‘, which would be more religious horror than properly Satanic, the production starts as an unusual remake of ‘ Last Shift ‘ (2014), a revision and expansion of that , su, summarizing the experience of isolation of a rookie policewoman in an abandoned police station in its first 20 minutes and then exploring further the mythology of the Satanic sect established in the previous one.
It is not the first time that the creators themselves make a remake of their first independent effort with more means and scale, as was the case of’Night of the Living Dead ‘(1990), a ruse by George A. Romero’s team to get the lost profitability that updated the classic just enough but added color and more action, or’Evil ”Dead'(1987), titled in North America ‘Evil Dead 2’, but which did not really continue the story of ‘Evil Dead’ but told it again, but amplified.
Assault on the Hell District Police Station
So there’s no real debate over which way to tell the same story. ‘Last Shift’ is more atmospheric, minimalist, and focused on suspense, whereas ‘Malum’ is more elastic, unpredictable, and full of gore, with impressive practical FX, shocking deaths, and an occult element that is palpable within the walls of its spooky location. The difference is that this one places the temporal aspect of the past and present as something more decisive, and its satanic conspiracy reaches a different perspective, partly related to recent genre releases but with a bloody determination without paying the typical tolls of the big screen.
The story of a rookie cop in an abandoned police station is nothing new. In fact, ‘Last Shift’ was nothing more than a remake of the episode ‘Eater’ (2008) from the series ‘Fear Itself’, and we have also seen other variations in ‘Let Us Prey’ (2015) or ‘The ”Void'(2016), with which this new version makes a great rhyme. The intergenerational mystery also combines the worlds of Clive Barker, both of his cenobites and summoned demons, and the way of dealing with the occult cult of’The Lord of Illusions'(1995).
There are details of the starting point and the location that even recall the entire approach of the strange film ‘Visions, 13 Years Later’ (1988), thanks to the spatiotemporal rupture that the protagonist experiences in a spiral towards madness that breaks all narrative rules. Dibiasi does not worry about imparting logic to his perception; anything can happen, and the experience is like a real nightmare in which the fabric of perception breaks and returns without a separation of narrative codes, passing from one to another without a clear break.
A way of dealing with terror is not as common as it seems.
‘Malum’ recovers the roughness of the most surreal Rob Zombie and the uncomfortable attitude most common in small films outside of Hollywood, such as ‘Baskin’ and other Turkish religious horror works. The proposal never deviates from its crude logic and even faces a final stretch that could be the best adaptation of the survival horror game experience ever captured on screen.
Although it has some problems and interpretation details in its unbridled final stretch that could be improved, it is merciless, dark, and urgent; it barely lasts 90 minutes; and it is always moving in a countdown that never gives hope that it will end well. In its second half, it goes wild with all kinds of apparitions, bloody moments, and mind-blowing entity designs. Today, there is no way that this would make the cut for mass multiplexes.
At a time when ‘Imaginary’ is a box office success and horror films like ‘M3gan’ seem like a sure-fire family attraction, ‘Malum’ brings back the fascination for macabre surprise, narrative economy with razor-sharp editing, and a vindication of 80s and 90s horror literature in cinema. His descent into hell is not concerned with fitting into comfortable templates for producers; rather, he bravely offers everything we have come to see and does so relentlessly.
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