This was a STRONG week on Tubi. Right when I was about to give up (not just on Tubi, but on life in general) I got slapped across the face with three BANGERS.
Rectuma (2003)
This is why I say it takes a couple of decades after a film’s release before it can be properly critiqued. Audiences were probably pissed when they saw this in 2003. They probably discarded it as just another lame attempt at South Park-style humor, which many attempted, unsuccessfully, to emulate. But now, nearly 20 years later, Rectuma’s stupidity can be fully appreciated.
Just in case you forgot, I’ve taken a LOT of drugs. And as a result, my memory is nearly shot. So if you want an accurate plot summary, you’ll have to look elsewhere. But best I can recall, the story is about some schlubby dude who gets raped by a frog in Mexico and then he gets nuclear rods shoved up his rectum thus causing his ass to grow massive in size before it starts attacking LA. Plus his wife is trying to kill him.
In 2003, I was fully steeped in this low-brow, offensive, toilet humor (still kinda am, tbh). That was practically internet culture in those days. So watching this movie was like a walk down memory lane.
People forget, there was a time when “politically incorrect” humor (before it got relabeled as “anti-woke” humor 🤢) oddly lacked any political dimension whatsoever. Everyone laughed at it because it was after 9/11 and we all thought we would die soon anyway. Stuff like Rectuma was supposed to distract us from that horrible fact.
So to appreciate this movie, one must see it as an artifact of very early 21st Century life. It should be shown in colleges and history classes across the globe.
Monsturd (2003)
Both Monsturd and Rectuma were released in 2003 and were both seemingly filmed in Butte County, California. So I’m assuming there was some overlap in the productions of these two movies.
I don’t think Monsturd is quite of the same caliber as Rectuma, but I appreciate the effort nonetheless. The plot is simple: a gigantic, living turd -created by a mad scientist- terrorizes the citizens of a small community, and it’s up to the sheriff’s department to stop it.
Despite being the lesser of the two films, like peanut butter and chocolate, this goes well with Rectuma.
Deadbeat At Dawn (1988)
I saved the best for last. Outside of one Ouija Board scene, this really isn’t a “horror” film. But I’m glad, that in Tubi’s infinite wisdom, they recommended it.
Filmed on the mean streets of Dayton, Ohio, Deadbeat At Dawn is about one man’s revenge against rival gang members for killing his girlfriend. The final confrontation at a train station is simultaneously amateurish and utterly fucking brutal…and it concludes in the most satisfying way: the bad guy gets his throat ripped out (this was released a year before Road House, btw).
The violence in Deadbeat At Dawn is delightfully absurd, but the highlight of the movie is when, in his darkest hour, our hero goes from getting drunk to snorting coke to shooting up heroin before finally dropping acid. Self-destruction never looked more hilarious.
This is definitely one of the great underrated action films of the 80s.
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The Internet Ruined Everything 
You’re right, those first two make a great double feature. I never finished Rectuma, though, because my kids kept walking into the room. That happens a lot. I just watch halves of movies now.
Deadbeat at Dawn is an old favorite of mine. I wish star/director Jim Van Bebber got more work. He never lived up to his potential. That final confrontation is a doozy. The funniest thing about Deadbeat at Dawn to me is the series of drunken, screaming voicemails Van Bebber left the head of Synapse Films (at 9 am!) over the quality of the DVD release in your pic, which probably speaks to his lack of steady work. “THAT IS THE WORST PILE OF SHIT I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY FUCKING LIFE!”
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I’m in the same boat. I have to get up at the ass crack of dawn just to watch these movies.
But respect to Van Bebber! It completely went past me that he was also the STAR of the film. But going through his filmography, it doesn’t look like he’s directed a full-length movie in 25 years. Despite some of its amateurish flaws, Van Bebber DID show some legit skill as a director (and even actor on some parts).
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