Editorials
[Trailer Tracks] Dissecting the ‘A Werewolf Boy’ Trailer
Today’s entry:
A Werewolf Boy (Dir. Jo Sung-hee)
Introduction:
You may think this looks like a Twilight rip-off, but it’s easy to mistake most Asian cinema that isn’t focused on martial arts, gangsters, and vengeance as derivative of Twilight when in fact, they’ve been making crappy melodramas for decades. This one just looks particularly stupid.
The Setup:
So there’s this girl who lives out on a farm. Given the rural nature of her living space, she’s often in direct contact with all sorts of cute woodland creatures. Like a Korean Cinderella, the girl’s constantly surrounded by birds and squirrels and wolverines who help her get dressed and bake cakes with her and stuff like that. She probably has mild rabies.
Soon, the girl discovers that the cutest woodland creature of all is the A Werewolf Boy. The A Werewolf Boy is a boy who was raised by wolves to be A Werewolf Boy, but then he become such a good A Werewolf Boy that he overcame and ate his werewolf family. When the girl first meets the A Werewolf Boy, he’s covered in dirty and vomit and his skin looks like it has been rubbed off with sandpaper. So of course she feels sorry for him, and they have sex. (It’s okay because they both have rabies already.)
The girl decides that it’s her job to turn the A Werewolf Boy into an A BOY, so she puts clothes on him and teaches him how to use an abacus and comb his hair like an emo butthole. Before long they fall in love, which is weird for her. She doesn’t know how it all works, but she worries that if she gets married to an A Werewolf Boy it’ll literally turn her into a bitch.
The Problem:
Regular people don’t like A Werewolf BoyS because their animal instinct and strength tends to make real manly men look like Don Knotts. This prejudice is extremely strong in Asia, where guys will eat shark fins and suck milk from cow testicles just to prove that their wieners work.
On top of that, the only people who don’t want to kill the A Werewolf Boy on sight are scientists who want to kidnap him for study in labs. Soon the girl realizes that the only way to truly love the A Werewolf Boy is to set him free. But that’s not as easy as it looks. The A Werewolf Boy has feelings for her too and refuses to abandon her side. So, like John Lithgow in Harry and the Hendersons, she has to be super mean to A Werewolf Boy to make him think she hates him. It’s all very sad. But probably not as sad as it was in Harry in the Hendersons.
Love is so awful! How can she have her A Werewolf Boy without risking his death? What will her mother and father think of their forbidden love? Will he ever learn to eat without smacking his stupid lips like a dog? And seriously: If they get married does that means she becomes a bitch?
The Solution:
Regardless of what happens, the A Werewolf Boy is at some point going to have to turn into a werewolf and eat some people, maybe all the people. That much is given. If you go see this movie, and the A Werewolf Boy doesn’t eat anyone, you should try to get your money back. We’ve all had enough of neutered monsters in love on this side of the pond, thank you very much. It’s okay to ripoff Twilight, but not that part.
So let’s say the girl gets back together with the boy and they make a stand against the world. It will be bloody, but he’s a freaking A Werewolf Boy. Surely he can make short work of some dumb farmers and scientists.
With most of Korea murdered between his A Werewolf Boy jaws, the girl and her A Werewolf Boy can finally make a new start. But no nation on Earth will take him since he just ate a whole half-country. So the girl and her A Werewolf Boy turn to the stars instead, joining the Klingon Empire after a brief immigration test (battle to the death). The A Werewolf Boy never becomes a full human. But he makes a surprisingly great Klingon, known to all as A WEREWORF BOY.
Congratulations. You just read the longest set up to the lamest punchline in Internet history.
In Summation:
If everything I just said actually happens in the film, then it’s must-see material. A Korean riff on Twilight that crosses over into the Star Trek Universe should make just under $27 billion dollars just at my house alone. But you know that won’t be the film’s outcome. The best we can hope for is an ending where the A Werewolf Boy accidentally eats the girls face off.
A new month means a new guide as titles are added (and dropped) from streaming services. Let’s unpack the most exciting titles that are available to watch on Tubi in July 2026.
New to Tubi July Horror Films
Deep Blue Sea (1999)
- Premise: Searching for a cure to Alzheimer’s disease, a group of scientists on an isolated research facility become the prey as a trio of intelligent sharks fight back.
- Why Watch It? Let’s be frank: Director Renny Harlin has made some absolute dogs in the last few years (the less said about The Strangers trilogy the better, though this year’s Deep Water was actually ok). Deep Blue Sea remains one of the Finnish director’s best contemporary efforts, though. Between the great cast (Samuel L. Jackson, Saffron Burrows, Stellan Skarsgård, Michael Rapaport, LL Cool J, Thomas Jane, and Jane’s sleeveless wetsuit), the ridiculous premise, and that damn/dumb song (“My hat is like a shark’s fin”), you basically can’t go wrong with Deep Blue Sea. It’s one of two great shark films gliding onto Tubi this month, so why not stay out of the water and watch this instead?
- Streaming: July 1
Exorcist II: Heretic (1977)
- Premise: Reagan (Linda Blair), a girl once possessed by a demon, finds that it still lurks within her. Meanwhile, Father Lamont (Richard Burton) investigates the death of the priest who performed her exorcism.
- Why Watch It? August sees the release of documentary Boorman and the Devil, which is about the troubled production of this sequel. The notoriety surrounding Heretic has undoubtedly kept plenty of horror fans away from the sequel, but this truly is a “seeing is believing” kind of film. Real talk: it’s undeniably a disaster, but the John Boorman film has also become a minor cult film. Don’t you want to see it to make up your own mind?
- Streaming: July 1
Hostel: Part III (2011)
- Premise: Four men attending a bachelor party in Las Vegas fall prey to the Elite Hunting Club, who are hosting a gruesome game show of torture.
- Why Watch It? What does Hostel look like without Eli Roth? Part III kinda answers the question. Technically Roth is still a writer, but he hands over the directorial reins to Scott Spiegel (best known for acting in Evil Dead films). The result is a film with a terrible pedigree; it’s also the first (and last) entry to skip theatres before the franchise was permanently shelved (until that TV show with Paul Giamatti shows up?). For some horror fans, however, there’s something exciting about a bad low-budget sequel. Just bear in mind that the Hostel: Part III‘s biggest star is Kip Pardue…so adjust your expectations accordingly before hitting play.
- Streaming: July 1
Insidious 1-3 (2010/2013/2015)
- Premise: A family looks to prevent evil spirits from trapping their comatose child in a realm called The Further.
- Why Watch It? It’s hard to believe that the sixth (!) Insidious movie is coming out in a month and a half, but James Wan and Leigh Whannell‘s other horror franchise has been steadily chugging along for sixteen years. It’s a shame that Tubi doesn’t have all five films available to watch, but in terms of quality, you can do far worse than the original trio. The first film is iconic, and the second is basically an extended coda (with some admittedly problematic stuff going on). I’ll go to bat for Whannell’s 2015 directorial debut, though: there’s a few banger sequences in that film that people slept on.
- Streaming: July 1
Man Finds Tape (2025)
- Premise: After finding mysterious video clips, siblings investigate the strange recordings and uncover a disturbing secret spreading through their Texas town.
- Why Watch It? Writer/directors Paul Gandersman and Peter S. Hall‘s well-received found footage film did an extensive tour of the festival circuit, so now is a great time to check out one of the most contemporary titles debuting on Tubi this month. Surely a title that hails from producers Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (Spring and The Endless) is worth a free look?
- Streaming: July 2
Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)
- Premise: A depressed musician Adam (Tom Hiddleston) reunites with his lover Eve (Tilda Swinton). However, their romance, which has already endured several centuries, is disrupted by the arrival of her uncontrollable younger sister Ava (Mia Wasikowska).
- Why Watch It? This beautiful, melancholy vampire film is courtesy of writer/director Jim Jarmusch, who doesn’t often dabble in genre fare. As always, some will quibble if this artsy drama qualifies as horror, but the existential ennui of an eternal life certainly qualifies (bonus: there’s also something inherently sexy about watching Hiddleston and Swinton just lay about). Plus: if Leviticus has you hankering for more Wasikowska, this is an under the radar pick.
- Streaming: July 1
The Shallows (2016)
- Premise:A mere 200 yards from shore, surfer Nancy (Blake Lively) is attacked by a great white shark, with her short journey to safety becoming the ultimate contest of wills.
- Why Watch It? What better time to watch a shark movie than July? The temperatures are soaring and the idea of escaping into the water is so tantalizing. This tight, contained thriller features a great performance by Lively (and that damn seagull!), but it’s the direction from genre fave Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan; the House of Wax remake) that keeps the movie clicking along like clockwork. At 86 minutes, this is a perfect summer flick.
- Streaming: July 1
Vacancy (2007)
- Premise: Stranded in an isolated motel, a couple (Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale) become the unsuspecting subjects of a snuff film.
- Why Watch It? I’m not going to pretend that this Nimród Antal-directed home invasion film is high art, but it is a good time. You’ll likely wish there were deeper characterizations for Wilson and Beckinsale’s David and Amy in Mark L. Smith‘s screenplay, but this mid-aughts thriller is tense, exciting, and just the right amount of grimy. Plus: another short runtime, clocking in at an expeditious 85 minutes!
- Streaming: July 1
July Tubi Originals
The One Next Door (2026)
- Premise: When a mysterious stranger moves in next door to Robert and Tabitha, boundaries are tested, loyalty is questioned, and danger comes for all.
- Streaming: July 10
I Know Where You Live (2026)
- Premise: Sarah thinks she’s found “the one” until his flaws emerge. When she pulls away, chilling threats suggest he’s watching her from inside her own home.
- Streaming: July 24
What’s your favorite from the list above? Will you check out the new Original? Sound off in the comments below
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