“This will be a night you will never forget.”
That’s what Henry promises Paola when she arrives at his house for their first date. He’s not lying—though not for the reasons she expects. What starts as a typical dating app meetup quickly descends into one of 2025’s most deranged, uncomfortable, and unexpectedly entertaining horror experiences.
Match, director Danishka Esterhazy’s latest Tubi original, is the kind of movie that makes you wonder if you should be watching or looking away, laughing or gagging. It’s gross, it’s twisted, it has a penis trapped in a mousetrap (yes, really), and it somehow manages to be both a cautionary tale about online dating and a gleefully perverted B-movie romp that knows exactly what it’s doing.
With wildly divided reactions—some calling it “one of the best horror films you’ll want to watch” while others label it “disgusting and bad”—Match is the definition of a love-it-or-hate-it experience. But here’s what you need to know: if you have a strong stomach, a dark sense of humor, and a tolerance for movies that get weird, this might be your new guilty pleasure.
Fair warning: This is not a date movie. Unless you want to ensure there won’t be a second date.
The Setup: Swipe Right for Nightmare
Paola (Humberly González) is exhausted. Exhausted by terrible dates, exhausted by ghosting, exhausted by the soul-crushing monotony of modern dating apps. When she finally matches with Henry—handsome, charming, seemingly perfect—it feels like the universe is finally throwing her a bone.
Ignoring her sister Maria’s warnings (red flag #1: always listen to concerned sisters in horror movies), Paola accepts Henry’s invitation to his house for a home-cooked dinner. Because what could possibly go wrong meeting a stranger at their isolated home for your first date? (Narrator: Everything could go wrong.)
Upon arrival, Paola only meets Henry’s mother, Lucille (Dianne Simpson)—an immediately unsettling presence who insists Henry is just finishing preparations. The house is massive, labyrinthine, filled with endless corridors and locked doors. The vibes are off. Very off.
Then the real nightmare begins.
Without spoiling the specific twists (and there are several), Match takes the familiar “dating gone wrong” premise and careens it into increasingly demented directions involving sexual violence, body horror, family dysfunction, and practical effects that will make you squirm. This is Barbarian meets Fresh filtered through the grimy lens of 1970s exploitation cinema and Tubi’s “we have no oversight” budget.
What Works: Commitment to Chaos
Danishka Esterhazy Knows Her Lane
Esterhazy previously directed The Banana Splits Movie and the 2021 Slumber Party Massacre reboot—both films that upset purists by taking familiar IP and warping it into something subversive and weird. Match continues her streak of making horror that’s willing to be uncomfortable, excessive, and tonally slippery.
She stages early scenes with unnerving precision—the camera lingers too long on objects that shouldn’t matter: the lock on the door, the untouched wine, the glint of a knife. Once Paola steps fully into Henry’s home, the film stops flirting with genre conventions and commits completely to its twisted vision.
If Match had been shot on film in the 1970s, it would have become a cult classic for its skin-crawling weirdness that’s still snicker-worthy in a wicked way. Esterhazy understands that B-movie horror doesn’t need to apologize for being trashy—it just needs to own it completely.
The Practical Effects Hit Hard
This Tubi horror movie is not for anyone with a weak stomach, as the practical effects hit hard and in so many different ways. The film earns its grotesque reputation through committed practical work that feels tangible and disgusting.
Without getting too specific (you’ll know it when you see it), the effects involving male anatomy and various torture implements will make every man in the audience cross their legs and wince. The gore is creative, surprising, and deployed strategically for maximum discomfort.
Some reviewers claimed they were “dry heaving” while watching, which seems like an overreaction—but the film definitely pushes boundaries in ways that mainstream horror typically avoids.
Humberly González Commits Fully
González (known from Ginny & Georgia) plays Paola with the exact right balance of resourcefulness and poor decision-making that horror demands. She’s not a passive victim, but she’s also not unrealistically capable. She makes mistakes—lots of them—but you understand why she makes them in the moment.
The character could have been insufferably stupid, but González plays her with enough vulnerability and determination that you root for her even when you’re screaming at the screen for her to run.
Lucille Steals Every Scene
Dianne Simpson as Henry’s mother Lucille is the MVP. The star of this film is Lucille. She is cringe at its full glory. When she was on screen my skin crawled.
Simpson plays Lucille with a level of deranged maternal energy that’s both comedic and genuinely disturbing. She’s not just an obstacle—she’s a fully realized character with her own twisted logic and horrifying motivations. The scenes between her and Paola crackle with tension because you genuinely can’t predict what Lucille will do next.
The Surprises Actually Surprise
One of Match‘s genuine strengths is that it doesn’t go where you expect. I’m usually rather good at guessing the outcomes of a movie—and this is one that I was honestly unsuspecting of.
The film takes the standard “catfished by a killer” setup and spins it in directions that feel genuinely fresh within a crowded subgenre. Just when you think you know what movie you’re watching, it pivots into something weirder and more uncomfortable.
What Doesn’t Work: Dumb Decisions and Tonal Whiplash
The Character Makes Infuriating Choices
This movie wouldn’t be half bad if it wasn’t for one of the main protagonists’ inability to have any urgency to do anything useful at any point. She feels like a damsel in distress pretty much the whole film even when she has the upper hand.
Paola’s survival instincts are… questionable. There are multiple moments where she has opportunities to escape, call for help, or arm herself, but instead makes baffling choices that prolong her captivity. One reviewer was particularly incensed: “I WAS ROOTING FOR PAOLA UNTIL SHE WASHED HER OPEN WOUND IN BROWN TAP WATER.”
The thing is, these dumb decisions are baked into the design. It’s entirely reasonable for someone to roll their eyes at the dumb decisions characters like Paola repeatedly make throughout the movie, though they should realize those ill-advised actions are features, not bugs. Trope-y behavior is baked into the story’s design.
Match is not interested in realistic behavior. It’s interested in putting its protagonist through increasingly absurd and horrible situations. If you need your horror characters to make smart choices, this will drive you insane.
The House Makes No Sense
The labyrinthine home with seemingly endless corridors is one of those horror movie conceits you either accept or it ruins the entire experience. Why does this house have so many rooms? Why are there so many locked doors? How is it laid out like an M.C. Escher painting?
The setting has a thousand doors which will annoy you if you think about it for more than five seconds. But honestly, in a movie where a penis gets trapped in a mousetrap, realism about the house layout feels like a weird hill to die on.
The Tone Can’t Decide What It Is
Match isn’t quite a comedy, but it’s not meant to be stiffly serious either. The way the film gets away with its excesses is by having a perverted sense of humor whose off-kilter tone makes sense for overlooking unrealistic inclusions.
But this tonal inconsistency will frustrate viewers expecting pure horror or pure dark comedy. The film repeatedly builds tension then deflates it with a joke that feels flat. Any scenes that had tension very rapidly cooled down with some form of joke that fell flat.
One moment you’re genuinely disturbed, the next you’re watching someone get bonked on the head like a Three Stooges routine. It’s jarring, and whether that works for you will determine your overall experience.
The Subplot Goes Nowhere
There’s a small subplot about Paola’s father’s declining health which could have been left out, since it does not add very much and only becomes relevant during one later scene. Paola’s relationship with her father feels like a narrative afterthought—introduced only to serve a climax that never fully convinces.
The film would have been tighter without it, but at 99 minutes, it’s not egregious padding.
The Sexual Violence Problem
Potential viewers should be advised that sexual assault comes into play more than once. Those instances aren’t particularly graphic or seen through to completion, although shots of incestuous masturbation and a grotesque penis fighting to be freed from a mousetrap can’t say the same.
The film includes multiple scenes involving sexual violence and implied incest that push beyond discomfort into genuinely disturbing territory. There’s a particular sequence—where Paola is hiding in a tiny supply closet—involving an unspeakable act that feels totally out of place, which is harrowing and intended solely for the purpose of creating shock value.
Whether this crosses from “dark horror content” into “exploitative and unnecessary” will depend entirely on your tolerance. The film never shows graphic rape, but the threats and implications are constant enough to make this genuinely uncomfortable viewing for survivors of sexual violence.
This isn’t Funny Games-style commentary on violence—it’s B-movie excess that sometimes feels like it’s shocking for shock’s sake rather than serving larger themes.
The Divided Audience: Cult Classic or Trash?
Reviews for Match span the entire spectrum:
The “Hidden Gem” Camp
Viewers who loved it celebrated:
- Gleefully twisted energy and perverted humor
- Genuine surprises and unpredictable plot
- Lucille as an all-time great horror mom
- Practical effects and commitment to gore
- Free entertainment on Tubi
Morbidly Beautiful gave it 3.5/5: “Match takes the dangers of digital dating to deranged new depths. It’s gross, gutsy, and gleefully grim.”
Crooked Marquee awarded it a B+: “Being catfished by a killer is a standard plot for true-crime thrillers, but Match takes the premise in increasingly demented directions.”
Culture Crypt was enthusiastic: “Suspenseful, surprising, and funny when it wants to be, Match is a pure horror film splashed with an amusing amount of twistedness.”
The “Waste of Time” Camp
Viewers who hated it complained about:
- Boring, repetitive structure
- Insufferably dumb protagonist
- Bad writing and plot conveniences
- Tonal inconsistency (horror? comedy? neither?)
- Shock value without substance
One IMDB reviewer was brutal: “Whoever wrote this stupid movie should never be able to write anything else ever… It’s like the writer could not make up his mind on which direction to go. Horror, comedy, well I guess they finally decided to just go plain stupid.”
Another noted: “This movie is disgusting and bad, and doesn’t end well either. Sorry to say, sometimes low budget movies can be okay, this doesn’t fit into that category for me.”
The “It’s Free, So Whatever” Middle Ground
The most common take: At the very least you can catch it on Tubi so at least I didn’t pay for it. If it’s a tongue-in-cheek horrorish romp to watch on a Saturday night this will fill the gap.
Many viewers landed on “not great, but weirdly watchable” territory. It’s the kind of movie you throw on for free, enjoy the absurdity, and forget about a week later—which is fine! Not every horror movie needs to be a masterpiece. Sometimes you just need something bizarre and memorable on a Saturday night.
Who Should Watch Match?
Watch Match if you:
- Enjoy Tubi’s chaotic horror originals
- Love B-movies that embrace their trashiness
- Have a strong stomach for body horror and sexual violence
- Appreciate Danishka Esterhazy’s subversive sensibilities
- Want something free, weird, and memorable
- Don’t mind protagonists making terrible decisions
- Enjoy dark horror-comedy hybrids
- Are looking for cult classic potential
Skip it if you:
- Need your horror to make logical sense
- Get frustrated by stupid character decisions
- Are sensitive to sexual violence and incest themes
- Want something polished and serious
- Need consistent tone (horror OR comedy, not both badly)
- Prefer elevated horror with deeper themes
- Can’t handle gross-out body horror
Content Warning: This film contains sexual violence (threatened and implied), incestuous content, graphic male genital torture, gore, disturbing family dynamics, and pervasive profanity. This is genuinely upsetting material beyond typical horror violence.
The Final Verdict: Trashy Fun with Serious Content Warnings
Match is exactly the kind of movie Tubi exists to produce: cheap, excessive, uneven, and willing to go places mainstream studios won’t. It’s too violent and disturbing to be pure camp, but too silly and tonally inconsistent to be genuinely terrifying.
Danishka Esterhazy has crafted something that feels like a 1970s grindhouse film accidentally time-traveled to 2025 and got a streaming release. The practical effects are impressively disgusting, Lucille is an instant horror icon, and there are genuine surprises buried in the exploitation excess.
But it’s also deeply flawed—hampered by a protagonist who makes terrible choices, sexual violence that sometimes feels exploitative rather than meaningful, and tonal whiplash that undercuts its own tension.
If you go in knowing it’s trashy B-movie horror that’s trying to disturb and amuse you in equal measure, you might have a great time. If you’re expecting Barbarian or Fresh levels of craft and intelligence, you’ll be disappointed.
Think of Match as the horror equivalent of junk food: not nutritious, probably bad for you, but undeniably satisfying in the moment if you’re craving something greasy and excessive. Just maybe don’t tell anyone you enjoyed it.
And for the love of all that’s holy, never agree to a first date at someone’s house.
What works: Lucille steals every scene, practical effects are impressively gross, genuine surprises in the plot, Humberly González commits fully, gleefully perverted energy, it’s free on Tubi
What doesn’t work: Protagonist makes infuriatingly stupid decisions, tonal whiplash, sexual violence borders on exploitative, plot relies on massive conveniences, the house makes no architectural sense
Bottom line: A twisted, trashy, occasionally brilliant mess that’s perfect for horror fans who enjoy B-movies with strong stomachs and low expectations. Not for everyone—maybe not for most people—but for its target audience, it’s gleefully demented fun.
Rating: 4/5