I want to preface this review with the fact that I had a good time with this movie. It was fun, scary and successful as a stand alone. Being a fan of its predecessor, Last Shift, inevitable parallels and comparisons will be made. While both had their own pros and cons, I think at the end of the day I personally liked Last Shift better. Two of my main criticisms with Last Shift was the backstory/elaboration on plot and the budget.
Right out the gate Malum does a great job at giving a little bit more background on the characters and their story, making it feel like a more well-rounded throughline with a cohesive and concise point. However, as quickly as it took up for the slack in the story, it added another element specifically regarding the main girl and her involvement that almost negated its prior clarity and was left open ended and me scratching my head. Now, with all that said, at its foundation this is still an entertaining, intriguing story regardless and they did a good job at really sticking to its original core.
As far as the budget goes, the picture quality was great in this and vastly improved from Last Shift. I think that ended up being a positive and a negative aspect because while Malum was "aesthetically superior", something about the grittiness of last shift with the picture quality and special effects almost made it a little bit more real, down to earth and therefore creepier. Something about Malum just wasn't quite as spooky as I wanted it to be and it definitely relied on jump scares. There were for sure some cool moments involving the breaking of appendages and gnarly movie make up, but even then, star-faced Hellraiser guy looked pretty silly... so it's a tossup.
As far as everything else goes, I thought it was generally successful. The scenery, props, lighting, makeup and effects were all very cool. The acting was decent across the board, if not a little mediocre. The main girl did a fine job, but was particularly successful in scenes of high intensity emotion. There was one stand out performance from a woman playing a prostitute that is to be of note.
I was really excited about this reimagining, and while it didn't hit exactly what I wanted it to be, it was still successful in its own right. I hope it gets the attention it deserves along with the director and Last Shift. Would recommend.
