TUBI ORIGINAL: Kissing Is the Easy Part (2026)

 

 

Sean Foster (Asher Angel) is all about academic success and dreams of attending MIT. His journey to the Ivy League is complicated when he crosses paths with Flora Morgan (Paris Berelc), a rebellious, wealthy girl who has no interest in college or traditional academic achievement. The twist comes when Flora’s parents, desperate to see their daughter succeed, offer Sean the ultimate bribe: if he can woo Flora and influence her to start caring about her studies, they will write him the prestigious recommendation letter he needs to secure him a dorm room next to Tim the Beaver.

Directed by Fawzia Mirza, who wrote and starred in Signature Move, and written by Christine Duann (who wrote the novel it’s based on) and Rebecca Webb, this is a basic romcom, but I have found that I really enjoy them the older I get. Berelc is way better than this movie deserves, even if she’s 28 playing 18, but when has that ever stopped teen comedies?

As they spend time together, Sean realizes Flora is hiding a deeper side to her personality, noting that she knows a lot more than she lets on. Flora discovers that Sean isn’t just a math nerd but is actually quite sentimental. The problem is that Sean realizes his feelings have become real. His friends warn him that it’s getting out of hand and that he needs to tell her the truth, but he worries that revealing the deal with her parents will destroy the genuine trust they’ve built.

I did like that Flora forms a friendship with Sean’s sister, and that the right thing happens for every character. Yes, predictable is the word used for this movie, but then again, sometimes that’s nice to have, even if I hate the third-act moment when the lovers have to break up. It gets me every time. Instead of dating in high school, I watched movies like this.

You can watch this on Tubi.

TUBI ORIGINAL: On Trial: The Idaho College Killer (2025)

If you’ve watched as much true crime as the B&S About Movies house, you know that this is about Bryan Kohberger, who murdered four University of Idaho students by the names of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle.  Lots of shows, from Dateline and 20/20 to 48 Hours, have told this story. How will this Tubi Original hold up?

It’s hard to say. Instead of leaning into one narrative approach — Is this a dramatic retelling? Is it interviews? Is it visiting with the media who told the original story? — it does all of them and therefore, none of them well. Or am I the problem, having heard this so many times that I wonder if I know the tale better than the people telling it? If I feel like that, is it because  I’ve followed the exact same extensive media coverage that this documentary critiques?

The big difference is that for the first time ever, viewers are shown images from inside the house at 1122 King Road. This includes bodycam footage from the first responding officers, who described the scene as a nightmare scenario. You also hear from a survivor, Dylan, and the actual 911 call from another roommate who made it out, Bethany, where she frantically reports that something just happened. 

You can watch this on Tubi.

ARROW VIDEO 4K UHD RELEASE: Salem’s Lot (1979)

If you’re a writer in a Stephen King story, never ever go home. Nothing good is waiting for you there. Nothing at all. If your home is in New England, just forget about it. In fact, even if you aren’t a writer, don’t go back home. Don’t reunite with your friends. Just be happy with whatever you’ve got.

Originally airing on November 17 and 24, 1979, Salem’s Lot is considered one of the best Stephen King adaptations and among Tobe Hooper’s finest directorial works.

We open in Guatemala, where Ben Mears (David Soul, TV’s Starsky and Hutch) and Mark Petrie (Lance Kerwin, Enemy Mine) are filling bottle after bottle with holy water until one glows. Whatever they’re chasing — or running from — has found them.

After that, we go back in time two years, to when Ben moves back to Salem’s Lot, Maine. He’s come back to his hometown to write about the Marsten House, an old haunted house. He pushes his luck even further, learning nothing from fellow writer Roger Cobb in House, and tries to rent it. However, Richard Straker (the superb James Mason), a stranger in town, has already bought it for his business partner Kurt Barlow.

Instead, Ben moves into Eva Miller’s boarding house. Soon, he’s friends with Dr. Bill Norton (Ed Flanders, the TV movie The Legend of Lizzie Borden and TV’s St. Elsewhere), romantically involved with Bill’s daughter Susan (Bonnie Bedelia, Die HardNeedful Things) and reconnecting with his old teacher, Jason Burke (Lew Ayers, Battle for the Planet of the Apes).

Soon, Ben recalls a traumatic childhood encounter at the Marsten House and develops the theory that the house casts a shadow over all of Salem’s Lot. It gets worse when a crate shows up at the house, and people begin to die. Both Ben and Straker are suspects, but it’s really Barlow (Reggie Nalder, Mark of the Devil, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage). He’s a vampire that wants to take over the whole town, starting with local boy Ralphie Glick and realtor Larry Crockett (Fred Willard in a rare non-comedic role and I haven’t even gotten to the scene where he has to put a shotgun in his own mouth!).

That’s when this movie really gets frightening. The scene where Ralphie floats outside his brother Danny’s (Brad Savage, Red Dawn) window is harrowing. And when Danny dies, he comes back to kill gravedigger Mike Ryerson (Geoffrey Lewis, Night of the Comet) and goes after Mark Petrie, who we saw in the opening. Luckily, Mark is a horror movie fan, and he uses a cross to chase away the young bloodsucker. The way the vampires fly in this movie is really strange-looking and was achieved by floating them off boom cranes instead of wires, then playing that footage backward for an otherworldly effect.

The town is quickly taken over by vampires, with Ben, Burke, and Dr. Norton all trying to stop it. Even Ralph and Danny’s dead mother, Marjorie (Clarrisa Kaye, who, at the time, was the wife of James Mason), rises from the dead to try to kill everyone, but is stopped with a cross. Mark’s parents are killed by Barlow, but a priest helps him escape. And Burke has a heart attack after Mike Ryerson comes back to drink his blood.

Seeking revenge, Mark breaks into the Marsten House. Susan comes to help him, but they are both taken hostage. Mears and Dr. Norton attempt to save them, but Straker kills the doctor by impaling him on antlers. Ben shoots the vampire’s thrall, and then he and Mark stake Barlow. They set the house on fire, driving all of the vampires from their hiding places and purifying the town. However, Susan is nowhere to be found.

That’s when we get back to the opening, as the rest of Salem’s Lot’s vampires are still chasing them. Ben finds Susan in his bed, ready to kill him. Instead of kissing her, he impales her with a stake, and our heroes go back on the run — a journey that would take them to a planned NBC series that was to be produced by Richard Korbitz and written by Robert Bloch.

There was a loose sequel made in 1987, A Return to Salem’s Lot, that was written and directed by Larry Cohen (not Lawerence). There was also a remake in 2004 that aired on the TNT channel with Rob Lowe as Ben, Donald Sutherland as Straker and Rutger Hauer as Barlow (I wonder how he feels about Anne Rice typecasting him as a vampire). Don’t even get me started on the recent remake. 

While this movie is three hours and seven minutes long, it attempts to capture 400 pages of King’s prose (and this is one of his shorter novels). Paul Monash, who produced Carrie and wrote for TV’s Peyton Place, was picked to work the novel into a filmable screenplay. One of the most noticeable tweaks is that Barlow is a cultured, well-spoken man in the novel and a Nosferatu-like bestial killer in the movie.

Originally, George Romero was to direct this when it was to be a theatrical movie. He didn’t feel that he could work within the constraints of television censorship. However, Tobe Hooper really succeeded with this effort, despite much of the book’s violence being trimmed. That said, there is a European theatrical version that contains a longer cut of Cully threatening Larry with the shotgun. It was released in Spain as Phantasma II,  a supposed sequel to Phantasm!

This is not just one of my favorite King adaptations, but one of my favorite movies. Its long-running time flies by, and there are so many iconic moments of fright that it holds up, nearly four decades after it was filmed.

The Arrow Video 4K UHD release of Salem’s Lot is a must-buy. It starts with brand-new 4K restorations of both the original two-part miniseries and the shorter theatrical cut distributed internationally. Then, you get the packaging, a gorgeous reversible sleeve featuring two original artwork options; a collectors’ perfect-bound booklet containing new writing on the film by critics Sean Abley, Sorcha Ni Fhlainn and Richard Kadrey, plus select archival material including interviews with director Tobe Hooper and stars Lance Kerwin and Julie Cobb; a Salem’s Lot sign sticker; a double-sided foldout poster featuring two original artwork options; brand new audio commentary on the TV cut by film critics Bill Ackerman and Amanda Reyes and archival audio commentary by director Tobe Hooper; commercial bumpers and the original broadcast version of the antlers death; an original shooting script gallery; an audio commentary for the theatrical version by film critic Chris Alexander; new interviews with Stephen King biographer Douglas Winter and Mick Garris; Second Coming, a new appreciation by author and critic Grady Hendrix; Fear Lives Here, a new featurette looking at the locations of Salem’s Lot today; We Can All Be Heroes, a new featurette with film critic Heather Wixson, co-author of In Search of Darkness; A Gold Standard for Small Screen Screams, a new featurette with film critics Joe Lipsett and Trace Thurman, co-hosts of the podcast Horror Queers; a trailer and an image gallery. You can order it from MVD.

ARROW VIDEO 4K UHD RELEASE: Red Sonja (1985)

I am sorry, Red Sonja. For years, I have doubted you. Surely you cannot be as good as Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer. You have to be a weaker sister, I always thought, so I avoided you.

I was wrong. So wrong.

Today, dear reader, I am here to tell you that while this film is not as good as the first two Conan romps, it’s still an astounding sword and sorcery adventure filled with plenty of great effects, well-shot battles and a cast of some of my favorite actors.

Oddly enough, Red Sonja may be owned by the Robert E. Howard estate, but the character itself was really created by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith. In the original Howard story, The Shadow of the Vulture, Red Sonya of Rogatino was actually a 16th-century gun-toting warrior fighting the Ottoman Empire. Thomas and Windsor-Smith took that fierce spirit, swapped the pistols for a broadsword and dropped her into the Hyborian Age, and thus, the She-Devil with a Sword was born.

Man, those 70’s Conan comics were so popular! People fell in love with the idea that Sonja could be as tough as Conan and had promised the goddess Scáthach that, in exchange for heightened strength, stamina, agility and fighting skills, she would never lie with a man until he could defeat her in fair combat.

Let’s not debate how the survivor of sexual assault must pretty much get beaten up to enjoy lovemaking, because that’s the kind of complex argument that won’t be solved inside a movie that’s really about stabbing people. I’m not saying it’s an important discussion to have, but I’m an expert in exploitation movies, not humanity.

Directed by Richard Fleischer, whose career goes from the heights of Soylent Green and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to the depths of The Jazz Singer and Amityville 3-D — not to mention Mandingo — this moves quick, looks good and is just plain fun.

After surviving the death of her family and being attacked by the soldiers of Queen Gedren (Sandahl Bergman*, who seems to relish the opportunity to play a villain instead of the female sidekick), Sonja trains to become a legendary warrior.

Meanwhile, her sister Varna (Janet Agren, Hands of SteelCity of the Living Dead) has become a priestess in an order of women who plan on banishing the Talisman, which created the world but could now destroy it. If any man touches it, he disappears, so of course, Gedren wants to use it for her own ends. Led by Ikol (Ronald Lacey, Toht from Raiders of the Lost Ark), her army kills the priestesses and takes the Talisman for their queen.

Lord Kalidor** (Arnold Schwarzenegger) finds Varna and brings Sonja to her, where she learns of the Talisman and how she can kill two birds with one stone by destroying it and Gedren. Her adventures take her to meet Prince Tarn (Ernie Reyes, Jr.), a young king of a land destroyed by Gedren, and his bodyguard Falkon (Paul L. Smith, who was the handyman in Pieces and Bluto in Popeye). She also defeats the ominous Lord Brytag (Pat Roach, the former pro wrestler who shows up as a major bad guy in so many movies, from the mechanic that Indiana Jones knocks into a Flying Wing in Raiders of the Lost Ark to Hephaestus in Clash of the Titans, Toth-Amon in Conan the Destroyer and General Kael in Willow) before an awesome duel with Kalidor for the right to aardvark*** and then another battle against Gedren as her castle explodes with lava flowing everywhere.

Speaking of that great cast, this also features a third Indiana Jones alum, Terry Richards, who played the Arabian swordsman that Indy so memorably shot after a long flourish of sword-swinging. Plus, Tutte Lemkow, best known as the Fiddler on the Roof, is a wizard, and the Swordmaster who trains Sonja is Tad Horino, who was also Confucius in Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey. Erik Holmey, who played the soldier who asked, “What is best in life?” and replied, “The open steppe, fleet horse, falcons at your wrist, and the wind in your hair!” is in this. And of course, Arnold’s buddy Sven-Ole Thorsen shows up.

Plus, how can you be let down by an Ennio Morricone score?

Again, I’m sorry, Red Sonja. You’re actually pretty darn good.

*Bergman was offered the role of Red Sonja, but turned it down, choosing instead to play Queen Gedren. Producer Dino De Laurentiis met with actress Laurene Landon and was set to offer her the role until he learned that she had already played the same part in Hundra. He spent a year looking for an actress who looked like an Amazon, almost picking Eileen Davidson (The House On Sorority Row) before discovering Brigitte Nielsen on the cover of a magazine.

**There’s a fan theory that Kalidor is really Conan, as some heroes would use “adventuring names” while they were in other counties, like how Gandalf was also known as Mithrandir. De Laurentiis didn’t have the rights to use Conan again, which explains the financial situation. Speaking of money, Arnold signed up for a cameo as a favor to the producer, but one week turned into four, and when he saw a rough cut of the movie, he realized that he was really a co-star. This is why he terminated his 10-year deal with De Laurentiis.

***They totally did, for real, according to Arnold in his book Total Recall – My Unbelievably True Life Story. Nielsen confirmed this in her book You Only Get One Life, saying that they had “no restrictions” in their lovemaking. You know, while some of us debated whether Stallone or Schwarzenegger was the best action hero, Neisen has Biblical knowledge.

The Arrow Video 4K UHD release of this film has a 4K restoration from the original negative with new HDR grading by Arrow Films. Extras include two coimmentaries, one by critics Eugenio Ercolani and Troy Howarth and the oyther by comic book expert Dave Baxter; new interviews with Ernie Reyes Jr.; action unit supervisor Vic Armstrong; Arnold’s stunt double Pietro Torrisi, stuntman Ottaviano Dell’Acqua, assistant production manager Stefano Spadoni, FX artist Domingo Lizcano discussing the work of Emilio Ruiz del Río and make-up FX assistant Adriano Carboni; archival interviews with poster artist Renato Casaro and assistant director Michel Ferry; The Man Who Raised Hollywood, an archive featurette on Schwarzenegger’s career featuring filmmakers Peter Hyams and Arthur Allan Seidelman, producer Edward Pressman and others; a trailer; an image gallery; a reversible sleeve featuring two original artwork options by Renato Casaro; a collectors’ perfect-bound booklet featuring new writing on the film by John Walsh, Nanni Cobretti and Barry Forshaw; a double-sided foldout poster featuring two original artwork options by Renato Casaro and six postcard-sized reproduction artcards. You can get it from MVD.

TUBI ORIGINAL: Naomi Osaka: The Second Set (2025)

 

The rapid-fire world of professional tennis meets the raw reality of new motherhood in The Second Set, a documentary that proves even a four-time Grand Slam champion isn’t immune to the what now? The moment that follows childbirth. While many sports docs focus on the glory of the comeback, director Kathleen Jayme captures the quieter, more harrowing struggle of Naomi Osaka navigating postpartum depression while the world of tennis demands she return to elite form.

Produced by a powerhouse lineup including Nike, LeBron James’ SpringHill and Osaka’s own Hana Kuma, this isn’t just a highlight reel of aces and trophies. It’s an intimate, often heavy look at a woman rebuilding her identity from the ground up. We see Osaka just six months after giving birth, grappling with the fear that her first set of fame might have been the peak, and wondering if she can still find that killer instinct while her heart is focused on her daughter, Shai.

I don’t know much about tennis, but this was still an amazing film. It’s one thing to go through the sport, but realizing all the real-life pressures gave me an insight I would never have otherwise. You don’t need to know the difference between a cross-court forehand and a double fault to feel the weight of Osaka’s anxiety. It’s a universal story about the terrifying transition into parenthood.

You can watch this on Tubi.

Tales from the Darkside S2 E11: Effect and Cause (1985)

Kate Collins (Susan Strasberg) is afraid to paint over her old canvases. Yet after receiving a batch of bizarre paintings from her friend David (Ben Marley), she decides to whitewash one of the canvases and reuse it. Kate’s decision to whitewash David’s canvas isn’t just an artistic choice; it’s a symbolic erasure of the past. By painting over what already exists, she inadvertently hits the reset button on the linear flow of time.

Shortly after, she experiences a series of bizarre events, including falling down the stairs just as paramedics arrive at her door. She has somehow reversed cause and effect, allowing her to change reality. 

The episode delves into the concept of karma and the unpredictable nature of reality. Kate’s newfound ability comes with unforeseen consequences, as her chaotic lifestyle and whimsical decisions lead to increasingly dangerous situations. Kate tries to use her ability for minor conveniences, but because the “Effect” happens first, she is forced to commit the “Cause” to satisfy the loop. She becomes a slave to her own future. As she loses control of her abilities, the episode builds to a chaotic, explosive climax.

Directed by Mark Jean (who went from TV series directing to Hallmark movies) and written by Michael Kube-McDowell, this has Kate as a hippy who did acid in college, suddenly learning that there does need to be some order to the world, or things just fall to pieces. Yet this is another episode of Tales from the Darkside where things just happen. There’s no moral lesson; no one escapes. It just happens, and people die. We move on. I wonder if that’s what keeps this show from being considered in the upper echelon of TV horror anthologies? 

In The Twilight Zone, a character like Kate would be punished for her hubris. In Tales from the Darkside, she’s just… there.

B & S About Movies podcast Episode 128: Scarecrow Video

I’ve done the Scarecrow Pyschotronic Challenge for the last few years and here’s a bunch of the movies I’ve watched: Psycho CopPsycho Cop ReturnsMom, Can I Keep Her?, The Legend of Gator Face, A Gnome Named GnormGirl Slaves of Morgana La FeyDisco Dancer and The Unbreakable Bunch.

You can listen to the show on Spotify.

The show is also available on Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Amazon Podcasts, Podchaser and Google Podcasts

Important links:

Theme song: Strip Search by Neal Gardner.

Donate to our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ko-fi page⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

TUBI ORIGINAL: Evil Among Us: Surviving a Serial Killer (2025)

If you’re watching this, you already know who Gary Ridgeway, Wesley Brownlee, Juan David Ortiz and Khalil Wheeler-Weaver are. But how do you think you would do against them if it came down to it? Yes, this Tubi special will ask you to confront yourself with that every question.

Directed by Victoria Duley and written by Ben Greguoli, this is the kind of show that plays in my house all day and night. My wife will eventually murder me, make no mistake, and all of these shows have given her the know-how to do it. I mean, when she went to Seattle this year, she toured the Green River Killer’s dumping grounds and brought back water from the river, which sits on our bookshelf. She’s going to put antifreeze in my beer, eyedrops in my Turner’s iced tea, and trap the steps to the movie basement. Look for all my really prized Blu-rays on eBay soon or at the many local used stores. A lifetime of collecting Tinto Brass movies will pay off for you and not me, because I’ll be dead.

This movie highlights that no one expects to become a target until it happens, forcing viewers to consider their own survival instincts. It features firsthand accounts from individuals who escaped attackers like Brownlee, who was out hunting and ambushing people late at night in Stockton. Survivors describe the intense physical and mental battle for their lives, with one recounting being choked so hard they were spitting teeth.

I soon will know what that is like as I am suffocated or shot in the back of the head, my life cut short and everything I own liquidated into TJ Maxx and Hobby Lobby gift cards.

Remember me.

You can watch this on Tubi.

TUBI ORIGINAL: TMZ No BS: Bad Bunny (2023)

It’s a fascinating cycle, isn’t it? The same platform that hosts 70s Giallo and obscure SOV horror is also the home for TMZ’s No BS deep dives. There’s something strangely poetic about watching a documentary regarding the world’s biggest pop star on the same service where you might find a movie about a killer refrigerator.

Before the Grammys, Bad Bunny was Benito, the kid from Vega Baja posting tracks to Soundcloud while working shifts at the Econo supermarket. He didn’t wait for a label; he built a massive digital footprint before the industry even knew his name.

Years later, he’s played the Super Bowl halftime show, dated beautiful women, championed the Latino and LGBTQ communities and even wrestled at WrestleMania. But who is he, you may ask?

Why not have the folks from TMZ tell you his story? What is Spotify’s most-streamed artist all about? They’re not all that sure — Harvey Levin claims he grew up on Ricky Martin, despite being 75 years old and not wanting to tell us that he was 25 in 1975, so he probably grew up on other bands. Why must I have this OCD that makes me watch every Tubi Original, even all these TMZ ones? Yes, of course I will. 

Anyway, I like Bad Bunny. I don’t like his music, but I like what he stands for and how hard he works. He takes chances, and not many people do these days. One of his biggest chances was refusing to record an English-language crossover album. Most Latin stars of the past (Ricky Martin, Enrique Iglesias, Shakira) were pressured to Americanize. Bad Bunny forced the world to learn Spanish or at least learn to vibe to it.

In the music video for “Yo Perreo Sola”, he performed in full drag to highlight harassment against women and support the LGBTQ community. In the hyper-masculine world of trap and reggaeton, that wasn’t just a fashion choice. It was a statement that cost him some conservative fans but solidified his status as a boundary-breaker. Even better, he doesn’t just tweet; he shows up. He was a central figure in the 2019 Puerto Rican protests that led to the resignation of Governor Ricardo Rosselló, using his platform to demand accountability for his island.

Coming back to the WWE. Most celebs do a one-and-done wrestling appearance. Benito trained for months to actually work a match, earning the respect of a notoriously cynical fanbase. It’s that same work ethic he’s always had. If he’s going to do it, he’s going to do it at 100%. Same as when he was on Saturday Night Live

You can watch this on Tubi.

TUBI ORIGINAL: Play Dirty (2025)

Frank Grady (Leo Rossi) isn’t just a dirty cop. He’s a man whose expiration date just got moved up to tomorrow morning. The Internal Affairs interrogation serves as the ticking clock. In true noir fashion, Grady isn’t seeking redemption—he’s seeking an exit strategy.

When he confronts Murray (Ron Perlman), the dynamic shifts from business partners to predator and prey. Perlman excels at playing capos who view loyalty as a transactional commodity. Instead of a suitcase full of cash, Murray hands Grady a suicide mission: clean the streets of every rival in a single night. It’s a classic one last job, but fueled by the adrenaline of a man who has absolutely nothing left to lose.

Does a girl get involved in this noir? You know it. Sydney (Terese Celeste) is just another reason for him to take the money and run. Adding to the danger? She’s Murray’s girl.

Directed and co-written (with Rossi and Chad Law) by Tom DeNucci, this has the look of the 80s — well, at least the movie version — as well as a synth score to go with. At times, like the close, it feels almost dream-like. Think rain-slicked pavement reflecting pink and blue neon. It captures that specific 1980s cinematic grit where the night never seems to end. 

Without spoiling it, the finale drifts away from gritty realism into something more ethereal, a common trait in Loser Noir where the protagonist’s reality begins to fracture under the pressure.

If you’re a Sons of Anarchy fan, you’ve probably already seen this, as Rossi, Perlman and Kim Coates played Juice, Clay and Tig on the TV series. If not, they’re all great actors and really give it their all here.

Also: This is not the André de Toth or Shane Black movies of the same name that came out in 2025.

You can watch this on Tubi.