ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Joseph Perry writes for the film websites Gruesome Magazine, The Scariest Things, Horror Fuel, The Good, the Bad and the Verdict and Diabolique Magazine; for the film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope and Drive-In Asylum; and for the pop culture websites When It Was Cool and Uphill Both Ways. He is also one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast and can occasionally be heard as a cohost on Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast.

Official synopsis: A metafictional comedy about the intersection of the climate crisis and generative AI.

Director Sarah Lasley collaborated with 30 of her film students at Cal Poly Humboldt to create the short film Climate Control. The result is an absurdist take on both the climate crisis and the pitfalls of generative AI. It should be noted that no generative AI is used in the short, and generative AI is satirized quite humorously. 

Youth activism, filmmaking challenges, karaoke, and AI trying to turn a documentary into a saccharine-sweet rom com are part of the proceedings. There are messages behind the mayhem, and heart behind the humor. Climate Control is a labor of love, a genre film that uses absurdity to point out absurdities, and it entertains as it makes its points.   

Lasley and her students have also made the website www.promptresponsibly.com , which tackles AI literacy through a sustainability lens.

Climate Control screened at Slamdance, which ran February 24–March 6, 2026 in Los Angeles. 

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.

I’m too old for TikTok, so I had no idea who Kelon Campbell or his viral character Terri Joe were. According to Complex, Terri Joe is “a sendup of a particular sort of passive-aggressive, conservative, Christian, Southern white woman.” So imagine my shock when I got to this movie, which does the SNL thing of putting a sketch comedy character into an insane world. I have no idea if this lives up to the original stuff. But I loved it.

According to Yahoo Entertainment, “The film comes as part of Campbell’s deal with Tubi under their Stubios project. The Stubios initiative, which featured Issa Rae as a mentor, sought out online creators to develop projects that resonated with Tubi’s audience. Campbell was one of the 14 finalists to earn the title Stubiorunner, essentially executive producing his own film.”

Directed by Dale S. Lewis, this starts with Terri Joe working in a grocery store. When criminals knock it over, she has to identify them, but they find out that she’s the one who led the cops to them. As she runs to Miami, as I always say, hijinks ensue.

Also featuring Campbell’s Jeorgia Peach and Amethyst Jade characters, this is an absolute blast. This irrelevant and often offensive movie keeps putting Terri Joe into the weirdest situations and having her react like an absolutely horrible person, yet she somehow is endearing throughout. 

Unlike nearly every influencer movie, this actually makes me want to see more of the character. Consider me a fan.

You can watch this on Tubi.

Directed and written by Chris Stokes, this feels like his most giallo film yet, one in which a maid named Cassandra (Zulay Henao) tries to escape her past but falls for Erik (Flex Alexander), a co-worker who is already dating their boss, Helen (Shalèt Monique). However, Cassandra is an unreliable narrator, and things aren’t as they seem.

In her mind, she and Erik share a deep, clandestine passion. Cassandra believes they are forbidden fruit and is actively planning a future together to escape Helen’s control. Only the wedding and their romance are real, even if they aren’t. This is erotomania, a delusion in which someone believes that a person, usually of higher status, is in love with them.

At one point, a voice tells Cassandra, “Your mom is going to be so happy to see you,”  as she returns to a new phase of her life. However, Cassandra is shown in deep isolation, often talking to herself or reacting to things others don’t see. In many giallo-style thrillers, a sickly mother figure often represents the protagonist’s fractured psyche or a past trauma they cannot let go of.

This has a pretty good story, but the acting and camerawork aren’t good. But the more Stokes leans into giallo, the more he can get away with plotholes, which are actually part of this genre.

You can watch this on Tubi.

Fresh out of prison for murder, a ruthless woman named Justinee schemes to replace her twin sister Jordyn and claim her flawless life by any means necessary. Both roles are played by Drew Sidora from The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Even better, this is another film by the always dependable Chris Stokes and Marques Houston.

While Jordyn has built a “flawless” life complete with a handsome husband and a beautiful home, Justinee has spent the last decade (or twenty years, depending on which part of the movie’s internal logic you follow!) behind bars for the murder of her husband.

Ten years ago, Justinee killed her husband and ended up in jail. Then, she shows up — surprise! — at her sister’s house, just in time to either try to kill herself or kill her sister and take over her life. This gets a bit confusing at times — the on-screen super claims Justinee was in jail for 20 years, the film says 10; is Jordyn an attorney or a delivery room doctor? — and if you were married to someone or someone was your mother, wouldn’t you be able to tell if they were a twin, even if they were identical? 

Anyways, after the attempted unlifing, as the kids say, a doctor explains that the injured twin has lost the last 40 years of her memory. Taking advantage of the medical emergency, the “healthy” twin integrates herself into Jordyn’s family. The husband, Adam (Jensen Atwood), even notes that something feels off, yet the charade continues as Justinee works to reclaim what she believes she is owed. That said, maybe Adam is happy getting some strange, even though he doesn’t know it. Life’s weird like that.

Then again, so many of Stokes’ movies are nearly giallo and most of the ones I’ve watched make no sense, and I still love them, so allow me to give this film a little breathing room. As we didn’t see which twin survives, I know we’ll get a sequel.

You can watch this on Tubi.

A bachelorette getaway at a mansion gets wild when the maid of honor is found dead, and everyone is a suspect.

Directed by Jhayla Mosley, who co-wrote the script with Regine Coney, the weekend begins with Joi (Elizabeth Foxx) celebrating her upcoming wedding with her bridesmaids: Morgan (Amerrah Garrison), Katrina (Deborah Lane Spencer), and Zoe (Kayla Von). The Maid of Honor, Angel (Sydni Janeé), is a social media influencer and none of the other bridesmaids like or trust her.

So yeah. She’s toast. Whodunnit?

Angel is shown demanding $30,000 from one of the guests, revealing that she has already been receiving hush money. The bridesmaids realize they are all being blackmailed by her, leading to a collective sense of dread and a total lack of privacy, as they even fear she is monitoring their phones.

While the official story suggests that she overdosed on drugs, the tension among the survivors suggests something much more calculated. And we even hear directly from Angel, the narrator, who tells us everyone here has a secret, including herself.

This has way better acting than you would expect from a Tubi Original, along with a major twist you may or may not see coming. For that, it’s definitely worth a watch.

You can watch this on Tubi.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Joseph Perry writes for the film websites Gruesome Magazine, The Scariest Things, Horror Fuel, The Good, the Bad and the Verdict and Diabolique Magazine; for the film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope and Drive-In Asylum; and for the pop culture websites When It Was Cool and Uphill Both Ways. He is also one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast and can occasionally be heard as a cohost on Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast.

Official synopsis: Once upon a time, Yuri was one of Japan’s deadliest assassins, but she’s retired now and spends her days running an underground brothel. A news report about a former colleague who has died under mysterious circumstances doesn’t quite sit right. The dead man’s son is now the target of a military manhunt, and Yuri will do whatever it takes to keep him safe.

 You’ll come for the plentiful action and intrigue but you’ll stay for the great acting, splendid cinematography, and gorgeous period costumes and set design with director Isao Yukisada’s Japanese film Revolver Lily, set in 1924 Tokyo. The army and navy are at odds with each other over a large sum of money for which a third party has different plans (I won’t spoil the details here).

For an anti-war film, Revolver Lily is heavy on the gunplay and martial arts combat. The action is choreographed well, and star Haruka Ayase is terrific in the lead role of Yuri Ozone, a former spy and assassin who has tried to leave her past behind her. Action film devotees know that this never works in the genre. Ozone is often stoic until it comes time to kick butt, and Ayase nails both the dramatic and physical requirements of the role. She was nominated for Best Actress at the 2024 Japanese Academy Awards for her work in the title role, and rightfully so.

The supporting players are also solid, including Jinsei Hamura as Shinta, a young orphan boy with all kinds of dangerous people on his tail; Hiroki Hasegawa as Ozone’s confidant Iwami; and Kotone Furukawa and Kavka Shishido as two employees at the brothel that Ozone runs. Loads of other renowned actors are also featured — too many to name here as the cast is quite sizable. 

Yukisada helms Revolver Lily masterfully. It’s a slow burner that runs 2 hours and 19 minutes, but the film is so well crafted and acted that you won’t be checking your watch at any point. Strongly recommended for cinephiles of all stripes.    

Revolver Lily, from Well Go USA, receives a digital release on January 27, 2026 and lands on Blu-ray and DVD exclusively through Amazon on February 10.

After witnessing a fatal shootout, three waitresses — Nia (Ciera Angelia), Stacey (Bella Chadwick) and Tonya (Robyn Rose) — hide the cash that remains. As you can imagine, this may not end well for any of them.

Nia has an abusive boyfriend. Tonya is trying to get her career moving. Stacey wanted to be a doctor, but caring for her dying father has led her to work at the bar, the same place Nia and Tonya are toiling away. As they just try to do their jobs, they get caught in a battle between drug dealer Victor Brown (Marcus Woods) and second-generation cop Ethan Craig (Don Snipes). Ethan is sure that Victor killed his cop hero father and wants to get revenge. 

Directed by David Y. Chung (The Divorce Lawyer, Dark Deceptions) and written by Jhayla Mosley (Surprise 2, The Deceitful Wife), this has a much better story than you’d expect from a Tubi Original. This one is worth watching.

You can watch this on Tubi.

Sophie Park (Amy Keum), a young Korean American woman, wants to learn more about her heritage. Every other girl at her college knows where they come from. However, Sophie’s family doesn’t even speak Korean. There’s a reason: her grandmother (Vana Kim) once fought a curse, and now, it has reawakened for our heroine.

Directed by Réi and written by Regina Kim, this finds Sophie asking her parents, Gabriel (Joseph Lim Kim) and Kelly (Eliza Shin), to tell her more about her family and Korea. Grandmother won’t allow this to happen. That said, she gets a new boyfriend, Jun (Kevin Woo), and, aside from dealing with her roommate Ari (Alice Bang), everything seems fine.

Then she brings Jun home, and her grandma goes nuts.

This brings in a lot of things I haven’t seen in horror: Japan and Korea’s complicated history, the power of Korean names and family history, and how ghosts tie into all of that. The evil man in the hat looks incredible, too. This movie should definitely be on your watch list, as it’s a lot better than your average streaming horror movie. Plus, it’s just 81 minutes.

You can watch this on Tubi.