Hospital researcher Mary (Shive Negar) is going through so much. She has a stressful job that haunts her, a separation from her drunken husband James (Johnathan Sousa) and her daughter Daphne (Bianca Sas) to bring up. She’s not doing well on any of those fronts, as she lost a patient a year ago, she’s debating a restraining order and her kid has to repeat fourth grade.

When new neighbor Eve (Kimberly-Sue Murray) offers to help, it seems like the perfect solution. This being a Tubi exclusive movie, viewers will instantly realize that all Eve wants is to take Daphne and start her own life, probably killing at least one of Mary’s friends.

Before you can say “Lifetime movie,” Eve has convinced Mary that James is throwing rocks through her window, that only she can properly watch her daughter and that best friend Natalie (Amber Goldfarb) isn’t all that great of a pal.

Of course, Eve is manipulating everything, even destroying Mary’s work so that she misses her daughter’s school presentation. Mary reacts by slowing down her life and making time for her daughter, which is a happy ending for everyone except Eve, whose help is no longer needed. She reacts as you imagine, by taking out Natalie and stealing Daphne.

Also, if you didn’t guess that the patient Mary lost was Eve’s daughter and that this is all one long and involved revenge scheme, you have not watched enough basic cable cinema. Please start your homework with any number of Tubi originals or Lifetime movies, then bask in the joy of a much more rich life.

How far reaching is her scheme? She drugged James on the night of his DUI, which broke up the marriage. She just didn’t figure on James and Mary coming back together as they search for their daughter.

Sure, the plot can be figured out in minutes, but movies like this are sheer junk food and I mean that as a compliment. This was directed by Pasha Patriki, who has mainly worked as a producer on movies like Lifechanger. It was written by Mallory Gibson and Courtney McAllister.

Remember: there really isn’t much difference between a cable potboiler and a giallo.

You can watch this on Tubi.

I really liked Christopher Smith’s Triangle.

I really, really like occult and Catholic-based horror movies.

Consecration feels like it could be a slam dunk, right?

Adding Jena Malone as the lead seems like the icing on the cake.

Yet why did it all feel so unsatisfying?

Malone is Grace, a woman who has just arrived on the Isle of Skye hoping to learn how and why her priest brother has died. Then she learns that he may have been a killer himself and that, well, the church he was stationed at has a history of weirdness just like this.

And the movie starts with a nun putting a gun in her face before going to the credits. Come on! This is going to be awesome, right?

Oh well.

The Mount Saviour Convent where Grace’s brother lived was founded after the Crusades as penance by an order called the Knights of the Morning Star. You know. Like Lucifer. As a once good Catholic, I’m all for this and want to know more.

Sure, there’s an oddball Mother Superior (Janet Suzman) who washed the little crabs off the deceased priest when he was found on the beach and claimed that he was possessed by a demon. And Father Romero (Danny Huston), who is here to return the convent to a holy place through re-consecration.

But then it gets all exposition and flashback and isn’t sure what kind of movie it wants to be. Sure, it looks gorgeous, but it never seems to go as far as it should. It does get the idea of how imposing and strange religious buildings are, but maybe I’m unfairly comparing this film to gritty — and yes, sleazier — religious horror movies that go absolutely berserk like The Devils, The Demons, Alucarda and The Other Hell. Maybe I was expecting it to go deep with its revelations like Dark Waters.

I’m fully aware going in that I’m the worst person to try and watch this movie. Even the first two films, Scream and Scream 2, the ones most people point out as the reasons why they love this series, do beyond nothing for me. The fan service 2022 not a sequel Scream 5? Scream 4? Scream 3?

Yeah. Not a fan.

So why am I writing about this?

Well, I don’t write about movies to talk about how much I hate them. That’d be too easy and, frankly, boring to write about. So here are some nice things about these movies: I think the idea of the first film is admirable, to send up slashers. Sure, it’s a few years too late. My issue comes in that these movies complain about movies more than me. Yes, we get how predictable slashers are. But if you know that, if you make fun of it, then you’re even worse because you know the pitfalls and willfully lead right into them.

Man, I said I was being nice.

So here you go: I liked when Parker Posey playing Courtney Cox in the third film is pretty great. I always thought Dewey was the best character because he was an everyman you could follow through the movie. Neve Campbell makes a great final girl. And I liked that the series beecame meta with the Stab movies remaking the events we had already seen in the Scream series.

The idea that the survivors of the Woodsboro legacy murders movied to New York City and are now in film school is an interesting start to this movie, as is the idea that Samara Weaving — alright, spoilers on — is the first kill, a role that Drew Barrymore started — yes, I know her boyfriend was the first kill and not her, maybe the first on-screen kill is a better choice — and has been continued by Omar Epps and Jada Pinkett in the second film, Kelly Rutherford and Liev Schreiber in the third…you get what I’m saying. As she’s an expert that teachers classes in slasher movies, you’d think there’d be more to her scene, but this movie keeps setting up the idea that it’s going to be very meta and comment on those who make and consumer violent horror and it never goes more than a cursory step in that direction. Instead of actual references and nods, it just has characters say, “That guy was really into Argento,” and we’re to say, “Wow, this movie totally gets it!” when all it gets is throwing a name out that you recognize and going nowhere with it other than that mention.

Anyways…

Sam (Melissa Barrera) and her half-sister Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega) are two of the survivors who have moved away, along with twin sisters Chad (Mason Gooding) and Mindy Meeks-Martin (Jasmin Savoy Brown), plus Quinn Bailey (Liana Liberato), Anika (Devyn Nekoda) and Ethan (Jack Champion). The hijinks have already begun, as Jason Carvey (Tony Revolori) is the one who lured Samara Weaving’s professor character to her doom and is working with his roommate Greg to finish what Richie and Amber  tried to do in the last movie — they’re fans — before both are murdered by another Ghostface. There’s also a theory in social media that Sam was the real killer.

Quinn’s father Detective Wayne Bailey (Dermot Mulroney) is on the case of these murders and has found Sam’s ID near Jason’s corpse, along with the Ghostface mask used in the last film. There’s also another Ghostface — with a gun, which for some reason excited people in the trailer — who shoots up a bodega named Abe’s Snake — Abe Snake was Wes Craven’s porn making pseudonym — while under the mask from the 2011 Woodsboro killings in Scream 4.

Speaking of that movie, Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere) survived that movie and is now an FBI agent. That’s right about when Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) shows up and has some exposition to let us know that Sidney Prescott won’t be showing up and it’s totally not because the producers didn’t pay Neve Campbell what she’s worth.

Campbell released this quite classy statement: “As a woman I have had to work extremely hard in my career to establish my value, especially when it comes to Scream. I felt the offer that was presented to me did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise. It’s been a very difficult decision to move on. To all my Scream fans, I love you. You’ve always been so incredibly supportive to me. I’m forever grateful to you and to what this franchise has given me over the past 25 years.”

At the same time, Ghostface — wearing the Scream 5 mask — kills Sam’s therapist and steals her file and shortly after, kills Quinn and Anika while wearing the mask from Scream 2. Wayne is taken off the case but decides to go after Ghostface himself, just as Gale finds a theater that is a shrine to the Ghostfaces of the many Stab movies. She later takes a call where Ghostface kills her boyfriend and nearly murders her before Sam and Tara save the day.

Everyone converges at the theater — after a subway scene where Ghostface walks alongside The Shape and Pinhead costumes *– and that’s where I feel like you should see the end of this movie for yourself, as that level of spoilers would give you no reason to watch. I will say that I liked how Billy Loomis shows up.

Directed by Radio Silence (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett) and written by James Vanderbilt (Zodiac) and Guy Busick, this feels like a sequel that was made because the last movie was a success instead of because it was something people really wanted, like the last film.

The idea of the rules being discussed feel almost tossed in for no reason now, the references to other movies rememberberries at best, the idea that this many people could have all been Ghostface kind of ludicrous and this is from someone who accepts Jason being alive for so long at the bottom of the lake.

I think that if you’re a fan of these films, you’ve already seen it, posted about it, said that it’s not the best in the series and still went and saw it again. I can think of a ton better slashers and even many better meta slashers — don’t get me started on that AV Club list of twenty best — but as I’ve proved in my watches of these movies, they aren’t for me. But I’m trying to find the good in even the things I don’t always want to watch.

*Other costumes include The Babadook, Peachfuzz from Creep, Emerald from Nope, the Tethered from Us, Jason Voorhees, Samara, Kayako, Grace from Ready or Not, Chucky, Pennywise, The Grady Twins and Freddy Krueger.

When Butch Cassidy (Ross Jirgl), The Sundance Kid (Jilon VanOver) and the rest of the Wild Bunch rob a train of big money, the Pinkerton men — led by Detective Siringo (Jeffrey Combs) — assemble to being them in, dead or well, probably not alive.

This film strides a different path than the famous Redford and and Newman film. Butch is quieter and haunted by his past. His father figure, Mike Cassidy, is played by Bruce Dern, adding more star power to the cast of this movie. And Mike’s wife Alice is Dee Wallace, so Butch Cassidy & The Wild Bunch has a lot of my favorites in some strong roles.

There’s another film coming up — Butch vs. Sundance which will also be on Tubi — and this comes from The Asylum. It was directed by Anthony C. Ferrante (Sharknado, Time Pirates) and written by Geoff Meed (The Amityville Haunting; he is also Kid Curry in this movie). Other Wild Bunch members include Elza Lay (Alex Knight), Isom Dart (Josh Horton) and Bob Meeks (Kyle McKeever).

I don’t know who is asking for a new Butch and Sundance movie — well, obviously me — but I love that Tubi is expanding their originals with a western, much less one that will have a follow-up. Plus, Combs showing up in anything will always get me to watch.

You can watch this on Tubi.

As she hurries to create a new fragrance to impress g a famous fashion icon Amy Song (Jean Yoon, Kim’s Convenience), organic chemist Shay Robson (Katherine Barrell, Star Trek: Discovery, Wynonna Earp) ends up spilling it all over said fashionista’s hot nephew Austin (Patrick Kwok-Choon, who was also on Star Trek: Discovery and Wynonna Earp).

He instantly falls for Shay because of the accidental mixture that she’s made. Or maybe it’s true love. Either way, Shay’s business — run inside a storage unit next to a Dungeons and Dragons play group — and her heart are both in danger, which makes her overanalyzes everything to the point that she almost loses it all.

With the help of her friend Darian Wilson (Tom Hearn), Shay has to solve it all, because there’s no way — at least she thinks — that she could win over such a catch. Can she learn to love herself and see that her ideas have value?

Directed by Robin Dunne (who has mostly directed holiday movies and two robot dog movies about A.R.C.H.I.E.; he also acts and is in this as Jorgenson), who co-wrote it with Arcade Riley (he’s also Rick Shaw, the RPG gamesmaster in this), Making Scents of Love is pretty much exactly like a perfume you buy at Target. It does what it should, it’s maybe a bit more memorable than you thought it would be and it’s affordable. Or, because this is on Tubi, free.

You can watch this on Tubi.

Director Chris Stokes and co-writer Marques Houston have taken better advantage of Tubi than most filmmakers, having several movies on the streaming platform like The Stepmother, The Stepmother 2, Best Friend, The Assistant and Howard High. They also have No Way Out coming at the end of March.

Now, they’ve created a slasher-style movie in which Keith Mitchell (Michael Jai White, who has been in everything from Spawn and Universal Soldier to Dragged Across Concrete, Mortal Kombat Annihilation and Why Did I Get Married?) loses his wife Sam (Robinne Lee) to a black-robed and masked killer — the opening attack is quite horrific — and then has to watch as a similar murderer stalks his daughter Alexis (Precious Way).

The difference is that due to a flight delay, he’s trapped on an airplane 30,000 feet above the Earth while Alexis, who is on house arrest, is left all alone. When the WiFi signal keeps cutting out, getting messages and help from Keith to his daughter becomes nearly impossible. But even when you think the story is over, the danger isn’t.

This film has a moment that makes cell phones works in the age of the new slasher. Keith asks his daughter to send him a photo so he can see her while he’s in the air. As he studies it, he horrifically sees the killer in the window behind her. I loved how he loses his mind in the aisles of the plane while normal passengers wonder why this man is flipping out. This is moments after the stewardess tries to ask Keith out!

My other favorite part of this is that they somehow got a song on this soundtrack that sounds exactly like “Fantasy” but just one small note or two off. I was wondering how Footage Films swung that kind of budget! It does have Justin Sweat — and his dad Keith in a small role — in the cast though.

The more I watch movies like this, the closer I am to inventing a new genre for them. I’ve brought it up before, but I really am wondering if there can be urban giallo, a world that has hip hop instead of Morricone, Ciroc instead of J&B and club scenes instead of wild parties where women show up in paper dresses.

You can watch this on Tubi.

Directed, written and starring Owen Conway (Eminence Hill), Ghost Town has Conway has Solomon, a drifter with a dead horse, no gun and little prospects who ends up in a nowhere town with a go nowhere job. And then, well, people start dying and he takes the blame.

With a name like Ghost Town, you can imagine that there are some supernatural things going on. Try visions of death, ghosts rambling on in and so much more to test Solomon, even if he ends up saving the entire bar — and saloon girls — when he kills three criminals trying to knock over the saloon. This town’s rough, though, with a sheriff who deals with dead cowboys by pouring booze all over them and burning them right in the street.

Can Solomon handle working for Hagan (Robert Sprayberry), who seems abusive at best to the girls in his employ, Kate (Eva Hamilton) and Stella (Becky Jo Harris)? And what’s up with that spider that just crawls out of a girl’s hair and into her mouth and no one notices?

While it all falls apart by the end, I do enjoy when western movies and horror come together. There are a few fun ideas here, the action and effects look good, plus I think Conway has promise in making something good someday.

Ghost Town is available on digital and DVD March 7 from Uncork’d Entertainment.

Directed by Richard Greenwood, Jr. and written by Leon Langford and Collin Watts, This Land is about a Fourth of July celebration that brings two families — of very different beliefs — to the same cabin. It’s been double booked, which is stressful enough, but when an evil group of masked wearing cultists intrude on their holiday weekend, things get out of hand fast.

This movie doesn’t take any political side. Instead, it has the masked home invaders descending on them both. Whether they families can get past their ingrained differences and fight back together — or die separately — makes up the story of this film. The left side, made up of Ava, her husband and son are still dealing with trauma, as another home invasion cost her child and has made them all fearful. Well, this trip isn’t going to help anyone. The right, the Moss family, probably would like to think they could have stopped that home invasion with their Second Amendment-given rights to bear arms.

The masks are pretty cool, even if we don’t learn much about the cultists. But it’s an interesting idea to have them be the force that makes people — maybe! — realize that their differences can be forgotten, at least until they all survive. Again, maybe!

This Land is now available where you get streaming films from Terror Films.

In the aftermath of an apocalyptic event, Emily (Paige McGarvin, Shark Season) and Cara (Sofia Masson, Girls Getaway Gone Wrong 2) are seemingly the only two survivors of an ocean liner wreck. They wash up on a gorgeous island — the film was made in Belize — and start to build a new life for themselves and even fall in love. But this heaven on earth is changed when Finn (Samuel Braun) shows up, casting their future in doubt. Does he really know where other survivors are? Or does he have bad intentions for both of them?

Directed and written by Ilyssa Goodman, this film actually doesn’t come across as exploitative in its romantic elements and doesn’t even try to set up that Finn can break up Emily and Cara. It allows both women to come across as strong and capable in the face of danger and the unknown, while also allowing love to break through how neither of them has ever been able to make love last before.

Seeing as how Tubi has been making sequels to several of their films, I can definitely see more of their adventures in the future. I have to say that this is one of the more high quality originals that has been on the streaming service.

You can watch this on Tubi.

Directed by Sam Croyle and written by Cate Holahan, this film is all about Zakiya (Samantha Walkes, Orphan: First Kill), a hospitality manager for an exclusive hotel canned The Magnate that begins to suspect that there are shenanigans going on at the high end hotel where she works. Said hijinks include abused women and, eventually, murder. A murder that she gets blamed for.

Ron Brant (Stephen Sparks) and his much younger wife Valeria (Karen Cliche, yes, that’s her name) are at the hotel looking to buy it. Yet during their stay, Ron’s son Astor (Kelly Penner) ends up killing himself — perhaps — and the girl he was staying with, Phoenix (Robyn Gallop), is murdered too. No one catches that the girl is dead, while Zakiya is blamed for Astor’s death.

There’s a missing phone that just may reveal the truth, but even Zakiya’s best work friend Alexis (Chantria Tram) turns against her and, as you can imagine — spoilers after this — Valeria is behind everything. Yes, she was once a famous model, but became an escort boss, using her girls to keep Ron’s son quiet and then eventually murdering him after he chokes out and kills one too many of her ladies. She also has Daniel Denton (Russell Sams) in her employ, using him to off anyone who tries to help Zakiya, like her old friend Harry Belfort (Eugene Clark).

Deadly Estate has the feel of a Lifetime movie, which a lot of the Tubi originals seem to be inspired by. Samantha Walkes is pretty good in it, however, and while it’s not anything you haven’t seen before, it’s still a free movie that can make the last few hours of work at home pass a little easier.

You can watch this on Tubi.