Wow this was actually surprisingly competent to come out of Tubi but I'm not going to be the one complaining about it. I've never actually watched a Tubi original before having seen this film but I have used to streaming service quite a good bit due to its wide range of different films, but since it is a free streaming service that relies on ads I didn't expect it's original content to be all that great and I have a feeling the plethora of other originals they've released aren't really all that amazing - but I am fairly confident in saying that their newest horror film "Lowlifes" was actually quite a bit better than I had expected. It has a lot of things to like about it and despite it very clearly not being perfect and having some pretty noticeable flaws, the late majority of this is at the very least entertaining and more than violent enough to make for a good cannibal centric horror comedy experience.
I completely forgot that this movie wasn't your standard "redneck torture family" thing like you would expect from "The Hills Have Eyes" or "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" until around like thirty or so minutes into the movie the twist occurs and honestly I was somehow blindsided by it. In hindsight it is a very obvious twist but I wasn't paying attention nearly enough to the way it was progressing to get that, but I do believe that it is a really great flip on the usual way these things go and makes for a much more compelling narrative that somewhat falls off towards the end but never entirely nosedives. Although; if there is one thing I can very confidently say about this movie is that I did not enjoy its ending in the slightest, it really reminds me of like "Cabin Fever" so if you've seen that film you know exactly what it means... I don't personally like it but I don't think it's not well done as it does work but just aggravated me, so I can only take half a star off for that fact as this would probably be a four.
If there's one definitive plus I can give to this movie is that I found it to be insanely funny pretty much the entire way through, and that's not something I usually expect going in to horror comedies but almost every single joke in this film worked perfectly for me and that was partially due to just how not serious it takes itself but also the way all the jokes are delivered by their respective actors. It all flows together super neatly and this might be one of the funniest horror comedies I have seen in recent times, definitely up there for this decade and I am a believer that the comedic aspect of this film is clearly the best part of it as a whole. However; that's not to say it's the only good part as the rest is also pretty great, the acting for one is superb from start to finish.. Amanda Fix as Amy is a very clear standout example for the level of talent on display here and she plays conflicting emotions surprisingly well until that kind of fades away towards the end, Matthew MacCaull is probably one of the funniest people I have ever seen on screen and the way he goes about doing everything he does here is hilarious, plus a tiny role given to Richard Harmon who I personally know best from "Grace Encounters 2" but is probably most well known for his amazing role in the show "The 100".
Another really fantastic part about this movie was it's kills and the overall way they're shown - this is a pretty gory film and I can't say I was expecting that in the slightest. From the very first kill shown to us in full detail it is very clear that it handles its effects with care and is brutally disturbing whenever it does so. I mean it is a film revolving around a cannibalistic family so you would expect to see people getting eaten, killed and dismembered but the way it's shown is real gruesome and surprisingly detailed. There's one character who's whole deal for a while is that the favorite part of the human body for them to eat it the eyeballs, and that is both awesome and horrible, plus there's a really amazing scene of someone getting shot through the neck with a bow and arrow and it's exactly as cool and horrifying as it sounds. Definitely much better effects work here than I thought was gonna be present and left me fairly impressed the entire way through, and they never take a significant dip in quality or anything - leaving them visually impressive and compelling to watch, which is always a major plus watching a horror film like this.
Lowlifes is a Tubi original movie that's actually good for some reason? I never thought there would come the day where I would be able to somewhat confidently say that but I do actually think this is an above average horror/comedy that is worth checking out since it's free and super easily accessible. It's not something that's going to go blowing your socks off or anything but it's a wildly fun ride that is never once dull or uninteresting and leaves the viewer with a sense of intrigue and just the excitement of seeing how these two families are going to clash. At the very least I can say that this movie is impressively well made, from it's set designs, acting, and of course effects - this is a movie that I definitely recommend for anyone craving a dumb fun horror film but don't go expecting some masterpiece. It doesn't take itself seriously like ever and neither should you, it's an enjoyable experience and that's all I could really ask from it.
