It’s time to dig beneath the mainstream for these obscure horror movies on Tubi…
Plumbing the depths of streaming for your horror season viewing can uncover unseen nuggets of gold, forgotten gems or films that deserve a second stab at the limelight.
The likes of Tubi and Amazon are now stuffed with old straight-to-video nasties, or modern films which slip under the mainstream radar. Stars or directors of yesteryear popping up in films that barely register, unless you scroll past the first few bars of the new release menus of your chosen streamer. Dig a little deeper and you’ll find plenty to enjoy. Here are ten obscure horror movies on Tubi (US) that you can stream right now…
The Video Dead
I discovered this beauty on Prime (UK), and it’s also streaming on Tubi in the US. The Video Dead is a micro-budget, made-for-video horror from the glory days of the VHS boom. Shot for peanuts, with the kind of affable amateur acting seen in cult so bad it’s good horror films like Troll 2 or Silent Night Deadly Night, The Video Dead gets by with a good concept, creative filmmaking and a liberal dose of cheese.
It’s your classic B-movie zombie flick, and if you’ve ticked off the big hitters like Romero and want something relatively unknown, this one is a fun time passer featuring killer zombies of a cursed film who step out of the screen into the real world, to devour anyone who watches.
The Breed
This dark, gothic and brooding vampire film goes hard on the Matrix-inspired wirework and gunplay. It was one of a slew of genre films arriving in the wake of Neo’s man vs machine battle, that lifted the aesthetics but never had the same skill or finances to come close to the Wachowskis’ masterpiece.
Still, Adrian Paul and Bai Ling are enigmatic vampires, there’s plenty of wirework and gun-fu, and this feels like a strange middle ground between Blade, The Matrix and Equilibrium. It takes itself way too seriously, Bokeem Woodbine seems horribly miscast, but that aside, it’s entertaining and has some suitably gothic and stylish visuals.
Maniac Cop III
Of course, the first film is brilliant and the second film is also filled with enjoyable spectacle as well, but the third entry in the Maniac Cop trilogy always feels like the forgotten gimp tied up in the basement.
It was often derided back in the day as the atypical third film turkey, but in time, there’s a lot to appreciate in this one. Director William Lustig delivers the action, horror and thrills with precision, and there are some genuinely spectacular sequences (you need only watch a trailer to see some hints).
Resurrection
Occasionally unfairly dismissed as a Seven knockoff, this dark and lurid horror/thriller from Highlander duo Russell Mulcahy (director) and Christopher Lambert (star),is excellent in its own right.
The dank and grimy visuals, much as in Fincher’s film, are really effective in pulling you into the horrific nature of the world. It dips further into horror tropes than Seven, too, and Lambert offers reliable star power during an era when he was making some more-than-solid straight-to-video genre films. It also really benefits from Mulcahy’s trademark flair.
Dark Breed
PM Entertainment were a gleeful purveyor of high-powered spectacle on a shoestring budget. Overseen by Joseph Merhi and the late, great Richard Pepin, you could rely on PM to entertain and deliver films that bore the hallmarks of many iconic genre films to hit the big screen. Dark Breed is part Alien, Andromeda Strain and Invasion of the Body Snatchers rip-off, with all the classic PM trademarks.
There are car chases, crazy stunts and all manner of wild pyrotechnics, whilst the alien creature FX are also solid enough. Jack Scalia was a reliable lead, and Jonathan Banks also pops up to add some extra gravitas to the cast.
Piper
The Pied Piper is a classic old morality tale and has been brought to the screen a few times. Recently, two films appeared in the same year, and both are on Tubi. However, we’re going with the Anthony Waller (Mute Witness) and Liz Hurley effort.
Hurley plays a teacher who moves with her daughter to Hamelin, where the Pied Piper starts to wreak havoc. There’s plenty of psychological horror, and the Latvian locations (doubling for Germany, alongside German second unit footage) provide an atmospheric backdrop. It’s great seeing Liz back and in an old school gothic horror, and Waller slips back into the genre with consummate ease. It’s no Mute Witness by any stretch, but it’s good fun.
Freelance
We’ve covered this at Flickering Myth before, but it’s worth mentioning again. Freelance is a low-budget indie psychological horror that proves highly effective despite its financial shortcomings. A strong concept, with a freelance worker finding herself tempted into increasingly macabre tasks (editing snuff films), soon finds herself up against darker forces.
The film works predominantly because John Balazs directs with conviction, and the lead star, Nicole Pastor, delivers a compelling, committed and intense performance.
D-Tox
One of the forgotten afterthoughts of Sylvester Stallone’s long and illustrious career. This was never as iconically bad as Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot, and certainly not as good as his mid-tier action movies, but D-Tox (also known as Eye See You) was probably the highlight of that dark post-Copland, pre-Rocky Balboa period when Sly was in the doldrums.
It’s interesting to see Sly dive into a Seven-esque serial killer thriller, blended with survival horror as a group of law enforcement agents are sent for therapy in a remote facility, virtually hidden in the snow. Once there, a figure from Sly’s past starts picking off the patients one by one. It is ruthlessly generic, sure, but the cast is great, it’s solidly made, and it’s also way better than most straight-to-video or made-for-streaming specials these days.
The Dead Pit
Director Brett Leonard had a very solid run through the 90s, delivering enjoyable sci-fi schlock like Virtuosity and The Lawnmower Man. His breakout film from 1989, The Dead Pit, is great fun. When a deranged Doctor is unleashed from the pit he’s been entombed in, he unleashes his hellish experiments.
It’s all set within an asylum, and this trashtastic horror is crammed full of gleeful horror excess and wet T-shirts. Practical FX are a mixed bag, but imperfection is perfection in a trashy 80s horror.
Edge of Sanity
Anthony Perkins is forever synonymous with his iconic performances as Norman Bates in the Psycho franchise. He had plenty of great roles otherwise and showed himself to be an exceptional and varied performer.
Perkins also had the ability to go big and ham things up to brilliant effect, too. In Edge of Sanity, he evades any potential repetition with Bates (who inherently has shades of Jekyll and Hyde) and changes his approach to adapt the classic literary gothic horror. Perkins’ dual performance as Jekyll and Hyde is gonzo, and the film teeters on the line between terrible and brilliant. The film is spectacular and unforgettable, whether you enjoy it or not. I’m only surprised it wasn’t made by Ken Russell, but kudos to Gerard Kikoine for channelling the same deranged creative brilliance.
What’s your favourite obscure horror? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
Tom Jolliffe
