“Malum”
Movie
Review
The film 'Malum,' written and directed by Jeremy Michael
Pereira and starring Richard, Amanda Lopez, and John Urbaniec, is about a man's
past, a girlfriend's nightmare, and a villain's revenge. Malum depicts the
story of a supervillain who comes to life. A terrifying encounter with the man
who had wronged him in the past. A fast-paced thriller adventure. A comic book
and a visual novel come to life. This one is for all of you villain aficionados
out there.
Officer Will Loren, played by Eric Olson, saves three
girls from a homicidal cult in the film's plot. He then went on a spree,
shooting up the station before killing himself. Jessica, played by Jessica
Sula, is set to start her first shift as a cop. And she'll be alone, working the
final shift in the now-decommissioned station where her father's life came to
an end.
Her
day is already going south before she even gets to the station. A visit to her
father's grave leads to an argument with her estranged mother, played by
Candice Coke. When she encounters cult members on her way to the station and
receives a rude response from the officer she relieves, things begin to get
bizarre. Jessica chose this job to learn more about her father, but she's about
to learn a lot more than she bargained for.
Malum's
first hour is fast-paced, with several good jumps interspersed among more odd
sights and noises. Things start off with a street person hunting for his kid
and an insane hooker named Marigold, performed by Natalie Victoria, reprising
her role from the original. But it's the data on a jump drive discovered in her
father's locker that drives Jessica down the rabbit hole.
Thank
you to cinematographer Sean McDaniel, production designer Nicole Balzarini, and
art director Kyle Michael Wilson for transforming an actually abandoned jail
into an excellent background for DiBlasi and the film's actions.
Dark
and ominous, it's the ideal setting for any kind of threat you can think of,
and the film takes full use of this by having Jessica regularly dash from one
end of the building to the other. Malum has built up a lot of suspense at the
hour mark, thanks to the increasingly frightening footage of the cult's leader
John and some of the other members on the trip.
Malum's
final act is actually the best part of the picture, in the opposite direction
of Last Shift's evolution. Even if you haven't seen Last Shift, you'll be able
to figure out the film's huge reveal. The unrelenting speed of the picture, as
well as Trevor Thompson's frightening gore and disturbing-looking creatures,
including Malum himself, more than compensate for it.
DiBlasi
and Poiley have achieved their purpose, whether you call it a remake or a
reinvention. Malum is a better, more consistent film than the first, and it
should appeal to both new and returning fans.
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