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Tubi’s #1 Horror Movie is This Tolerable Creature Feature

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According to their own site, Tubi’s most popular movie this week is a creature feature called Cryptid. After that on the list is the reality show The Bad Girls Club, so you know their algorithm is accurate (who doesn’t love to watch women brawl?).

Taken from the cinematic schema of Jaws, Cryptid uses a similar approach to Spielberg’s early mantra: “The terror is in what you don’t see.” For this movie, that’s a good thing because a lot of what makes it good is the build-up thanks to some suitable acting and above-par cinematography.

The film follows a freelance journalist named Max Frome (Nicholas Baroudi) who while working his beat in small-town Maine, stumbles upon a string of gruesome deaths that might be connected. It looks like a bear attack, but we know it isn’t. He’s not getting any help from the local authorities either and guess what? “Now the mayor’s involved.” Derivative much?

He low-key cons his journalist friend Harriet (Ellen Adair) to help him investigate the story, one because he got an advance on it and two, it sets up the “will they or won’t they kiss” subplot.

The rural location allows the cryptid of the title just enough food to sustain itself while not alarming the locals. Instead, they ask Max in passing, “Have you seen my dog?” or “It’s awful what happened to Helen” at the local general store.

A plot development over halfway through the film is a surprise, but still derivative. And when the creature does appear it’s impressive but, practical FX-wise, sedentary.

Cryptid is best when it’s building its plot. Thanks to some alright acting and the anticipation of a creature reveal it is enough to get you through the halfway point. But once there and the monster has screen time, all suspension of disbelief is lost. The creature effects team did a terrific job. The monster looks great, but the director and editors didn’t do it justice by not hiding its technical limitations.

Overall Cryptid is an enjoyable TV-MA movie, but instead of bite, it just nibbles. If you want action, drama, and real bloodshed go to the next most popular thing on Tubi: The Bad Girls Club.

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Paramount+ Peak Screaming Collection: Full List of Movies, Series, Special Events

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Paramount+ is joining the Halloween streaming wars happening this month. With actors and writers on strike, the studios are having to promote their own content. Plus they seem to have tapped into something we already know, Halloween and horror movies go hand-in-hand.

To compete with popular apps such as Shudder and Screambox, which have their own produced content, the major studios are curating their own lists for subscribers. We have a list from Max. We have a list from Hulu/Disney. We have a list of theatrical releases. Heck, we even have lists of our own.

Of course, all of this is based on your wallet and budget for subscriptions. Still, if you shop around there are deals such as free trails or cable packages that could help you decide.

Today, Paramount+ released their Halloween schedule which they title the “Peak Screaming Collection” and is jam-packed with their successful brands as well as a few new things like the television premiere of Pet Sematary: Bloodlines on October 6.

They also have the new series Bargain and Monster High 2, both dropping on October 5.

These three titles will join a massive library of more than 400 movies, series, and Halloween-themed episodes of beloved shows.

Here is a list of what else you can discover on Paramount+ (and Showtime) through the month of October:

  • Big Screen’s Big Screams: Blockbuster hits, such as Scream VI, Smile, Paranormal Activity, Mother! and Orphan: First Kill
  • Slash Hits: Spine-chilling slashers, such as Pearl*, Halloween VI: The Curse of Michael Myers*, X* and Scream (1995)
  • Horror Heroines: Iconic films and series, featuring scream queens, such as A Quiet Place, A Quiet Place Part II, YELLOWJACKETS* and 10 Cloverfield Lane
  • Supernatural Scares: Otherworldly oddities with The Ring (2002), The Grudge (2004), The Blair Witch Project and Pet Sematary (2019)
  • Family Fright Night: Family favorites and kids titles, such as The Addams Family (1991 and 2019), Monster High: The Movie, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events and A Really Haunted Loud House, which debuts on the service within collection on Thursday, September 28
  • Coming of Rage: High-school horrors like TEEN WOLF: THE MOVIE, WOLF PACK, SCHOOL SPIRITS, Teeth*, Firestarter and My Dead Ex
  • Critically Acclaimed: Praised scares, such as Arrival, District 9, Rosemary’s Baby*, Annihilation and Suspiria (1977)*
  • Creature Features: Monsters take center stage in iconic films, such as King Kong (1976), Cloverfield*, Crawl and Congo*
  • A24 Horror: Peak A24 thrillers, such as Midsommar*, Bodies Bodies Bodies*, The Killing of a Sacred Deer* and Men*
  • Costume Goals: Cosplay contenders, such as Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Top Gun: Maverick, Sonic 2, STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS, TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM and Babylon 
  • Halloween Nickstalgia: Nostalgic episodes from Nickelodeon favorites, including SpongeBob SquarePants, Hey Arnold!, Rugrats (1991), iCarly (2007) and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters
  • Suspenseful Series: Darkly captivating seasons of EVIL, Criminal Minds, The Twilight Zone, DEXTER* and TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN*
  • International Horror: Terrors from around the globe with Train to Busan*, The Host*, Death’s Roulette and Curandero

Paramount+ also will be the streaming home to CBS’ seasonal content, including the first-ever Big Brother primetime Halloween episode on October 31**; a wrestling-themed Halloween episode on The Price Is Right on October 31**; and a spooky celebration on Let’s Make a Deal on October 31**. 

Other Paramount+ Peak Screaming Season events:

This season, the Peak Screaming offering will come to life with the first-ever Paramount+ Peak Screaming-themed celebration at the Javits Center Saturday, October 14, from 8 p.m. – 11 p.m., exclusively to New York Comic Con badge holders.

In addition, Paramount+ will present The Haunted Lodge, an immersive, pop-up Halloween experience, riddled with some of the scariest films and series from Paramount+. Visitors can step inside their favorite shows and movies, from SpongeBob SquarePants to YELLOWJACKETS to PET SEMATARY: BLOODLINES at The Haunted Lodge inside the Westfield Century City Mall in Los Angeles from October 27-29.

The Peak Screaming collection is available to stream now. To view the Peak Screaming trailer, click here.

* Title is available to Paramount+ with SHOWTIME plan subscribers.


**All Paramount+ with SHOWTIME subscribers can live stream CBS titles via the live feed on Paramount+. Those titles will be available on demand to all subscribers the day after they air live.

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A24 & AMC Theaters Collab For “October Thrills and Chills” Line-Up

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Off-beat movie studio A24 is taking over Wednesdays at AMC theaters next month. “A24 Presents: October Thrills & Chills Film Series,” will be an event that showcases some of the studio’s best horror movies re-presented on the big screen.

Ticket buyers will also receive a one-month free trial of A24 All Access (AAA24), an app that allows subscribers a free zine, exclusive content, merch, discounts, and more.

There are four movies to choose from each week. First up is The Witch on October 4, then X on October 11, followed by Under the Skin on October 18, and finally the Director’s Cut of Midsommar on October 25.

Since it was founded in 2012, A24 has become a beacon of off-the-grid independent movies. In fact, they often outshine their mainstream counterparts with non-derivative content made by directors who create visions that are unique and untempered by large Hollywood studios.

This approach has garnered many devoted fans to the studio which recently took home an Academy Award for Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Coming up shortly is the finale to the Ti West tryptic X. Mia Goth returns as West’s muse in MaXXXine, a slasher murder mystery set in the 1980s.

The studio also put its label on the teen possession film Talk to Me after its premiere at Sundance this year. The movie was a hit with both critics and audience-goers prompting the directors Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou to pitch a sequel which they say has already been made.

The “A24 Presents: October Thrills & Chills Film Series,” might be a great time for movie lovers not familiar with A24 to see what all the fuss is about. We would suggest any of the films in the line-up especially the nearly three-hour director’s cut of Ari Aster’s Midsommar.

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‘V/H/S/85’ Trailer Is Totally Loaded With Some Brutal New Stories

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Get ready for another entry into the popular V/H/S anthology series with V/H/S/85 which will premiere on the Shudder streaming service on October 6.

Just over a decade ago, the original, created by Brad Miska, became a seminal cult favorite and has spawned several sequels, a reboot, and some spin-offs. This year, the producers traveled back to 1985 to find their video cassette of terror with found footage shorts created by now-famous directors including:

David Bruckner (Hellraiser, The Night House),

Scott Derrickson ( The Black Phone, Sinister),

Gigi Saul Guerrero (Bingo Hell, Culture Shock),

Natasha Kermani (Lucky)

Mike Nelson (Wrong Turn)

So adjust your tracking and watch the all-new trailer for this new collection of found footage nightmares.

We’ll let Shudder explain the concept: “An ominous mixtape blends never-before-seen snuff footage with nightmarish newscasts and disturbing home videos to create a surreal, analog mashup of the forgotten 80s.” 

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