June 25: Junesploitation’s topic of the day — as suggested by F This Movie— is Vigilantes! We’re excited to tackle a different genre every day, so check back and see what’s next.

I’m consumed by the idea that African American movies on Tubi flow from the same filone as American giallo or sex thrillers without their filmmakers ever having seen a traditional giallo. Heaven’s Revenge feels like the direct to video softcore murder movies of the 90s but infused with the viewpoint of a filmmaker who may have read about them but again, didn’t experience them.

This started as a 22-minute short before being expanded to a full length movie. It was directed, written and produced by LaNease Adams, who was the first African American women e to be a contestant on The Bachelor. She also stars as Heaven, who falls in love with professional wrestler Jackson Davis (Marcus Nel-Jamal Hamm).

She told Heart and Soul, “My new feature film Heaven’s Revenge was inspired by classic films such as Misery, Fatal Attraction, Unfaithful and A Thin Line Between Love and Hate. We wanted to make a film that was a thriller, but with strong passion, strong dialogue, and a film that leaves the audience with an opinion on what they’ve just seen. A lot of the feedback has been different from men, than women. Men tend to believe that Heaven Bailey, our leading character, was crazy. But women overwhelmingly see the issue with how Jackson Davis treated Heaven in the relationship, which made her act crazy.”

Both actors wrote the script with Miranda Bowden and it feels like a lot of this movie is ad libbed. It’s really strange because so much is them arguing and every time it feels like they’ve reached some kind of accord, a screaming match ensues. I mean, yes, Heaven did break into Jackson’s house and shoot him, then convince his family — if not the police — that she saved him and is nursing him back to health when she’s really throwing him in the shower and slapping him around while he makes crying noises like that burned up guy played by Jordan Peele in the crowd that cries as Keegan-Michael Key makes fun of him. She also lures his new girlfriend Sarah (Jeni Jones) to his house, gets her drunk and then flips out and murders her.

The democracy of Tubi movies is so pure to me. It seems like nearly anyone can tell the story that they want to tell and it can air there where just about anyone can find it. It’s the closest thing to the video store that today’s streaming world has.

You can watch this on Tubi.