A story told with all the fat cut out makes for a swift, engaging 90 minute feature in Malum (rhymes with gallon). Maybe more jump scares than ki*ls, but when they happen, they punch you in the gut (that’s a good thing.)
The film starts with some indiscernible flashes of Satanic-ish images and the gory deaths of three young women – apparently unlucky members of a cult.
The hero cop who saved one of the women on site gets pats on the back from his brothers in blue – but soon after, he point blank blows the heads off two other officers before shooting himself right there in the jail.
That’s like the first five minutes
Flash forward to a brand new cop’s first night on the job. The amazingly hot Jessica Sula is the actress-she, by definition, must carry the whole film, and she does with great skill. The secret of why she is in that particular job and in that building is revealed relatively quickly, but it won’t be by me.
It should be a quiet overnight shift, because her duty is basically to sit in the old, unoccupied jail (a new upgraded one has just been built) and make sure nobody except a harmless homeless guy gets past the door.
The direction is precise, the sea foam green-tiled walls are a terrific backdrop in what is essentially a one set story, and director/co-writer Anthony DiBlasi uses his practical FX relatively sparingly, but holy crap, when sh*t goes down, it goes down graphically and frightfully.
Alas, there are too many hugely important spoilers that I will not reveal, but let’s just say that Jessica has a long night ahead of her, full of twists and a jaw-dropping finale.
Malum opens in theatres March 31st