Malum + La endemoniada

Malum (2023). USA. 93 min

• Direction: Anthony DiBlasi.
• Production: Scott Poiley, Dan Clifton / Welcome Villain, Skyra Entertainment.
• Executive production: Eric Kleifield, Luke LaBeau, Justin Brown, Bonner Bellew, Mary Poiley.
• Screenplay: Anthony DiBlasi, Scott Poiley.
• Photography: Sean McDaniel.
• Music: Samuel LaFlamme.
• Edition: Anthony DiBlasi.
• Cast: Jessica Sula, Candice Coke, Chaney Morrow, Eric Olson, Britt George, Natalie Victoria.

His films have won over Southern California and Sun Valley in Idaho, but this time Anthony DiBlasi, who hails from Boston and has worked with Clive Barker, is going all out with Malum, the story of a rookie cop who on his night shift at the police station sees something that he maybe shouldn't have seen, and which he most definitely can't explain (even to himself). Together with Scott Poiley, another of his regulars, Anthony builds a story of more or less satanic rites, absences and heroic parents who are six feet under because of their heroism. Malum means Evil in Latin, and is played by Jessica Sula, one of the "fright queens" from TV's Scream. Malum has been likened online to Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) and The Shining (1980), along with mentions of Charles Manson. We shall see.

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La endemoniada (1975). Spain. 90 min

• Direction: Amando de Ossorio.
• Production: Isaac Hernández / Richard Films P. C.
• Screenplay: Amando de Ossorio.
• Photography: Vicente Minaya.
• Music: Víctor y Diego.
• Edition: Pedro del Rey.
• Cast: Julián Mateos, Marian Salgado, Fernando Sancho, Lone Fleming, Ángel del Pozo, Kali Hansa, María Kosty.

An old gypsy woman is arrested by the police for her alleged connection with the kidnap of a newborn baby and the disappearance of a series of artefacts from a church. While being questioned, the woman commits suicide by throwing herself out of the window, having first entrusted herself to the devil. In revenge, her spirit possesses the body of the local commissioner's daughter. A movie in the tradition of The Exorcist (1973) (coincidentally, Marian Salgado dubbed Linda Blair's part in that film), directed by horror legend Amando de Ossorio, and premiered in Spain a matter of months before Friedkin's film.