Reviews
‘Match’ Review – An Uneven Tubi Exploitation Thriller
Match, the latest film from director Danishka Esterhazy (The Slumber Party Massacre remake, Killer Body Count) doubles down on the meaning of its title. On the surface, it’s very clearly about protagonist Paola (Humberly González) ‘s attempts to “match” with men on dating apps.
Because the film is a dating horror movie, it’s unsurprising when her perfect match, Henry, proves to be something entirely different. Like so many contemporary horror films, the cold open spoils the surprise by beginning in media res as a drugged, restrained Paola is being wheeled down a decrepit hallway. The film then flashes back to reveal how she got there. Thankfully, that’s only the first ~12 minutes, though. Co-screenwriters Al Kaplan and Jon Kaplan have a good handle on their pacing, so each time the film starts to lag or become repetitive, they switch it up: either by introducing a new complication for Paolo or inserting a new person into the mix.
The basic premise is as such: Paola is a single woman who has gone on a series of terrible dates with awful men. She matches with Henry and, despite a warning from her sister Maria (Shaeane Jimenez), Paola takes Henry up on his offer to make her a home cooked meal on the night before her father’s (Peter Butler) heart surgery.
Naturally, Paola is being catfished by Henry’s mother, Lucille (Dianne Simpson, serving major Laurie Matcalf-in-Scream 2 vibes). Lucille is a doting mother who desperately wants her son to find a mate. What follows is quite similar to the premise of Fuck My Son! because Henry (played by Jacques Adriaanse under heavy prosthetics) is not your average man, and Lucille has no qualms about sexual assault in order to secure herself a grandchild.
The remainder of Match follows a fairly predictable pattern as Paola struggles to escape from captivity and avoid being raped. Meanwhile, Maria switches into investigative mode when Paola doesn’t turn up, and other characters find their way into Lucille’s house of horrors. The film has a heavy amount of familiarity, but the Kaplans have enough narrative tricks up their sleeve, and also pepper the film with a healthy dose of (sometimes non-PC) humor.
The comedy is much needed, considering how dour and upsetting the general premise is. In one memorable instance, Paola makes efficient use of the home’s many mousetraps to catch Henry on a particularly sensitive piece of anatomy, and Esterhazy is content to let the camera linger on the mutant carnage to both icky and funny effect.
Overall, the film looks good. It’s hard to make a house of horror feel memorable without evoking the classics like Psycho or TCM, so credit Production Designer Kerry Von Lillienfeld for dressing the corridors and rooms to quickly and easily convey the rot and ruin (naturally, this includes a room full of decapitated dolls, as well as a disgusting bathroom).
Esterhazy and Second Assistant Director Alex Lee also do a good job of creating tension as Paola explores dark spaces using the light from her trusted pack of matches (this is the other play on the film’s title since Paola helpfully keeps a book of matches in her bra). These sequences maximize Paola’s limited field of vision and capitalize on the shadows that are thrown off by a tiny light source. This only comes into play two or three times, but each time Paola strikes a match to go searching, it’s effective.
The biggest issue is that despite the film’s willingness to regularly introduce new elements, the story is essentially exactly what you expect. While other characters, such as new catfish victim Natalie (Nikita Faber) and Paola’s ex-boyfriend Ryan (Dean Goldblum), add some spark and more comedy, they’re introduced so late in the film that they are barely used before Match rushes into its conclusion.
Alas, the end is also the film’s weakest aspect. While the outcome of Match and the fate of several characters are surprising, it’s also unsatisfying. To say that the film ends on a sour, unearned note is an understatement; it may subvert expectations, but the end of the film also arguably doesn’t work.
It’s a shame because there are several aspects of Match that are worth recommending. From González’s dedicated performance to the sisterly relationship between Maria & Paolo to Simpson having a ball playing an extremely non-PC character, the Tubi original has the right qualities to be a solid exploitation thriller.
Between the uneven use of characters, the occasionally repetitive beats, and the unsatisfying ending, however, this one isn’t a slam dunk.
Match is now streaming exclusively on Tubi.
Movies
‘Recluse’ Review – Harrowing Haunted House Horror With Lots Of Skeletons In Its Closet [Tribeca 2026]
A haunted house story is tense, terrifying storytelling when it’s properly executed. There’s been a growing tendency in horror to blend together harrowing haunted house stories with traumatic homecomings. A family member’s illness or death triggers a return to something dark that was intentionally left behind. Recluse hits all the tropes that one expects to find in this type of horror film, yet it manages to push this story in a daring, disturbing new direction that uses sound as a superpower.
It’s a unique lens to experience a familiar story about family secrets, generational trauma, unresolved grief, and the importance of not just legacy, but preservation. It’s a hell of a directorial debut from Henry Chaisson that’s guaranteed to get under the audience’s skin as they’re dragged through this painful, toxic tale.
Recluse is a gothic haunted house story where an isolated audio engineer, Joan (Sasha Frolova), returns to her family’s estate to check in on her father after he suffers a terrible accident. Joan suddenly discovers something much more sinister that paints her family’s tragedies in a very different light. Chaisson’s debut functions as a fascinating companion piece to this year’s undertone, which does a lot of the same things.
These two films make for a fascinating case of parallel thinking that tackles comparable subject matter through a similar lens, albeit in a bigger, less claustrophobic story in Recluse’s case. In fact, it’s the perfect horror film for anyone who was let down by undertone and didn’t feel like it brought enough to the table. It’s a considerably more conventional horror film, but this isn’t meant to denigrate its high quality. Recluse may hit some familiar notes, but it’s a scary, well-crafted haunted house horror story that goes for the jugular.
A gripping mystery that involves the tragic, unresolved circumstances that surround Joan’s mother teases a chilling connection to the recent horrors that have afflicted her father. Joan desperately tries to put these pieces together and give her family some sense of grander peace before she’s pulled under and becomes another victim of this festering curse that’s systematically worked its way through the Wyatt family. By doing so, Recluse digs into some deeper commentary on collective trauma, a very literal look at the “sins of the father” adage, and how one selfish decision can ripple through generations and fracture off into different dilemmas. By the end, Recluse has brilliantly flipped the powerful concept of legacy on its head by illustrating the horrors and sense of entitlement that can be born out of this idea.
A legacy is just another name for a curse under the right context.
”Listen” is a simple but powerful command from Joan’s father that she briefly obsesses over. In a way, it becomes Recluse’s grander mission statement, whether it’s in response to Joan listening to the people in her life, the signals that her body and mind are telling her, or the world’s greater whims. It’s important to reconnect with these grounding pillars, especially when it feels like control is slipping away.
Recluse excels with how audio and soundscapes can create entire universes that are full of rich details that transport individuals to these environments. There’s also a level of objectivity when it comes to audio recordings and the evergreen permanence that they’re able to provide. Joan’s career as an audio engineer makes sense for someone who wants to cling to hard evidence and proof of existence. It provides great insight into Joan without ever getting lost in contrived exposition.
Joan’s entire life is built around audio engineering, and so it makes sense that Recluse features excellent sound design that really goes above and beyond with its production elements. All of the sound design is expertly handled and turns the film into something special. These auditory elements intuitively keep the audience on edge so that they’re more susceptible to the actual scares that eventually strike. The smallest sound effect gets turned into a crushing, cacophonous assault. It’s a really effective way to build terror. Writer/Director Chaisson also handles the film’s music, which achieves a sublime, unnerving dissonance that further heightens the free-floating anxiety.
The story at the center of Recluse is slightly generic in some respects, but the film’s visual language and tone make it feel distinctly memorable. It also doesn’t hurt that the home that Joan returns to is basically an eerie art studio that’s full of contorted paintings. Recluse never struggles to generate mounting dread and terror that pump through every scene. Powerful, thoughtful cinematography consistently reinforces the film’s themes. Joan is constantly reflected in different surfaces or viewed through mirrors. She’s also often confined to tight, constricting framing that all speaks to her refracted identity during this moment of loss and her attempts to regain agency and control by making sense of something that’s seemingly unexplainable.
Recluse is full of truly disturbing visuals that make it seem like Joan is lost in a dream that turns out to be an extended nightmare. It’s a surreal journey reminiscent of invasive psychological horror like Silent Hill, with a touch of Sinister and Hereditary thrown in for good measure. There are so many individual frames that could endlessly fuel urban legends and creepypastas.
It does a great job with how it presents Joan’s fragile state of mind, where chilling flashes of the past sneak up on her and unresolved trauma manifests into unsettling imagery. There are endless shots that are obscured in darkness, or shadow is creeping in from the corners of frames like a suffocating force of nature. It’s very rare that a scene is fully lit. It leads to a very lonely, isolating atmosphere that’s easy to get lost in.
Chaisson’s debut stands out from the many other high-minded haunted house horror films without succumbing to the same pretensions that often drag down these stories. It’s a grief-stricken character study that’s full of upsetting visuals that scratch at something visceral and raw. The horror elements connect, and the answers to its grander mystery provide an appropriate and believable sense of closure. Those who are looking for an atmospheric horror film that isn’t afraid to be different while still channeling something real will appreciate Recluse.
Recluse made its world premiere at Tribeca; release info TBD.
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