This week, I went looking for some genuinely good underrated movies so you don’t have to. What I found is a solid trio that covers three different moods. One will make you sweat through a dinner party, one will make you paranoid about your neighbours, and one will make you want to adopt a ginger cat immediately. Best part? They are all free to watch movies on Tubi. So here are my picks for this weekend.
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The Invitation (2015)
The official synopsis of The Invitation sounds like a perfectly ordinary film – a man goes to a dinner party at his ex-wife’s house and something feels off. That’s it! That is the whole setup. And yet director Karyn Kusama turns that premise into a suffocating and anxiety-inducing movie.
The genius of it is that you are never quite sure whether the dread you feel is real or just grief wearing a sinister mask. Logan Marshall-Green carries the whole film on a knife’s edge, and the slow build is precisely calibrated so that by the time the third act arrives, your palms will be sweating. This underrated movie somehow flew under most people’s radar. You can watch it alone and then maybe decline any dinner invitations for a week.
You can watch The Invitation on Tubi
The Ones Below (2015)
This one is a British thriller that deserves far more attention than it ever got. It starts slowly with a young couple expecting their first child. They strike up a friendship with the new couple downstairs, who are also expecting. Then something happens, and the film begins to tilt in a creepy direction.
What makes The Ones Below so effective is how ordinary everything looks. Polished, calm, suburban. The horror creeps in through small gestures and loaded silences rather than jump scares or obvious manipulation. If you enjoy films that make you question people’s motives from the opening scene, this one is for you.
You can watch The Ones Below on Tubi.
A Street Cat Named Bob (2016)
After two thrillers, here is something that will repair your faith in people a little. A Street Cat Named Bob is based on the true story of James Bowen, a homeless busker and recovering drug addict living on the streets of London, whose life changed when he found an injured ginger cat and nursed him back to health. The cat, Bob, refused to leave. And so began one of the more unlikely and genuinely moving friendships you will see in a movie.
It would be easy to dismiss this as sentimental, and it does not shy away from sentiment. But it earns every moment of it. Luke Treadaway is excellent as James, and the real Bob the Cat plays himself, which is arguably one of the finest casting choices of the decade. It is the kind of film that doesn’t ask much of you except to pay attention, and rewards you quietly and completely.
You can watch A Street Cat Named Bob on Tubi.