Don’t open the door, because you never know who or what you’re letting in with this satisfying trio of flicks I checked out on Tubi.
WHY? (2021)
This is a slasher/stalker film focused on suspense, the cat and mouse tension between the killer and the main girl, and unnerving body reveals.
It delivers on all counts, but based on IMDb reviews whining that there’s no plot, no killer motive, and no explanation as to who the killer is, I can safely say today’s audience would never have been able to make it through many of the best horror thrillers of the 70s and 80s. Hell, I don’t even know how they consider the infamous “because you were home” line in The Strangers acceptable if they’re so hung up on having everything explained to them in a horror movie.
Personally, this film that explains nothing (gee, you think maybe that’s the reason the title is Why?) was a total thrill ride for me from the opening kill scene to the final frame.
Here’s the story. A writer heads to a cabin in the woods to re-energize while suffering from writer’s block.
At the same time, a freaky killer that is leaving a trail of bodies behind (in some eerie aftermath setups) is heading her way.
Before long, this turns into a home invasion situation in the middle of the woods, and it is tight, with intense chase and fight scenes between the killer and main girl, and a brief appearance by Lance Henriksen.
TOOTH FAIRY: QUEEN OF PAIN (2022)
I just did a post featuring what I thought was the latest installment of Louisa Warren’s Tooth Fairy series, but here we are again!
It’s good to be back. And by that I mean this almost feels more like a reboot of the series than another sequel. The sequels were definitely growing stale, but this film gives the tooth fairy a freaky redesign and puts the focus back on her bashing her victims’ faces in with a hammer to collect their teeth. Awesome.
Louisa Warren demonstrates her usual keen ability to deliver great tension and atmosphere in classic slasher style. A group of people is staying at a house, and one of them seems to be the target of terror.
The tooth fairy keeps coming to the door at night to talk to her (eek!).
The door visits are so damn creepy, but the problem is the tooth fairy is so hard to understand when she speaks. It really takes away from the effectiveness of the situation.
About halfway through the film, the tooth fairy at last starts hunting down victims, and she sure is evil. She even uses the claw of her hammer to pry teeth out of victims’ mouths. And even worse, she runs during chases! Yikes!
On top of that, the unnerving visits at the door inevitably lead to the tooth fairy getting inside the house and turning this into somewhat of a home invasion scenario. I’d say this is definitely my favorite installment since the first one.
CRIMSON (2020)
Some YouTube personality named FaZe Rug (social media really is going to be the end of humanity) has made a found footage film in which he vlogs about his experience living next to terrifying clowns for his viewers.
I’m not going to deny I’m a fan of very few found footage style films and I’m a fan of no social media influencers, so I had absolutely no expectations going into this. And the first half of the film was living up to that bar.
FaZe moves out of his parents’ home into a mansion way too big for one person. He keeps seeing red balloons floating around his house, so there’s absolutely no effort to not look like this isn’t trying to cash in on the remake of Stephen King’s It. Ugh.
On top of that, he and his buddies spend forty minutes doing the same stupid shit you could watch obnoxious influencers doing by watching their channels online. There are pranks, setting fires, setting off rockets, spying with a drone, farting in each other’s faces. Double ugh.
But dammit if this doesn’t turn into a pretty good traditional found footage film loaded with freaky clown moments. It follows the basic template of found footage, but the clown elements definitely add something if freaky clowns mess you up. For instance, it was all over for me when a clown on stilts walks by the mansion’s big glass doors while chuckling. Fuck that noise.
The final act totally ramps things up and saves the FaZe character for me. The dude goes into the fricking clown house to save his dog! It is a clown horror house for sure. And in an absolutely brilliant move, this little indie flips a finger to the typical found footage ending…like…totally. So refreshing and unexpected.
