Re: What Did You Watch? 2024-04-12 (Friday)

OK, yesterday, after work and errands (and a nap!), I got through a soap, and a couple of Tubi movies:
soaps: DOOL - Thur's ep. Wow, they are really going to drag out this Everett storyline, aren't they?! Stephanie confronts Everett about not signing the divorce papers, and Stephanie is disturbed by his response. Later, Everett goes to see Marlena, finally tells her that he "saw himself" under hypnosis, but then refuses any other hypnosis treatment, and storms out of her office... Steve is apologetic to Kayla, who is still mad about Steve's role in Clyde's jailbreak, and then Steve tells her about the mission, years ago, in which John allegedly killed Constantine's daughter. Constantine secretly vows revenge against John, despite publicly "forgiving" him... Dumb Holly and NuTate have a "picnic" (I didn't see any picnic!!) in the park, but are seen by Kayla and Stephanie, and try to get Kayla and Stephanie to pledge not to say anything... In the "at least they're not dragging this storyline out!" department, Ava finally comes clean, and tells Harris that Clyde called her with "one more job".
Tubi "original" movies:
Lowlifes (Tubi) - This was OK, until the ending which *really* put me off...
    In this, a family from L.A. (Canucks (all!?) Matthew MacCaull, Elyse Levesque, and teens Josh Zaharia and Amanda Fix) are out in the boonies "camping", when they are seemingly menaced by a couple of local rubes (one of whom is played by now-"veteran" Canuck character actor Richard Harmon!).
    Will the family escape the local rube menace?!
    But, wait! There's a TWIST!!
    I must admit - I didn't see the twist coming.
    Bottom line: After a somewhat slow start, this turns into a decent cat-and-mouse suspense flick, once the urban family gets to the rubes' family's farmhouse.
    But the ending really put me off - it was both a cliched and pro-forma "final twist", that was too clearly choreographed, and it was the kind of ending that just feels completely arbitrary.
    There is definitely a problem today with too many people delivering sh*tty endings to their horror flicks. Very few deliver an ending that's worthy of note...
    Sidenote: The movie was really adle-brained on the "boonies" part - they show an establishing shot of Mount Rainer! but all of the rubes speak with southern accents!! (Is this supposed to be West Virginia or something?! - They never say!)
Festival of the Living Dead (Tubi) - This, OTOH, wasn't nearly as good as even "Lowlifes".
    I only watched this because it co-stars Camren Bicondova from "Gotham", as I wasn't sure that Bicondova was even still "around" in the business - she sports shorter hair in this film (actually, I think she switched to that hairstyle even before the end of "Gotham"), which I don't really care for.
    Anyway, this is kind of a "direct sequel" to the original "Night of the Living Dead", and seems to have nothing to do with "The Return of the Living Dead" series - the conceit here seems to be there was a local zombie outbreak in 1968, but it was contained, and there are no zombies currently...
    Well, that is, until somebody decides to hold a "music festival" near the site of the original meteor impact. (This is incredibly dumb - the meteor is still there, 55 years later, completely in tact, with the government having done nothing to cordon the area off, or at least take away the meteor?!!)
    Anyway, Ashley Moore and Camren Bicondova play childhood besties who have drifted apart near the end of high school due to Moore's character's desire to be "popular". While Bicondovan babysits Moore's little brother, Moore and her current (lousy!) friends and boyfriend head off to the musical festival.
    A zombie riot ensues!!
    Meh.
    This flick costars Maia Jae Bastidas (from "Gen V") and Keana Lyn Bastidas (from The All New! NEW!! "Hardy Boys", and from a recent Lifetime flick), whom I didn't realize before now were, 1) different people! and, 2) apparently (identical) twins!
    Anyway, this was skippable - as zombie movies go there is almost nothing to recommend it.

What did you watch?