First published in Cat House & Shooting Society in Medium on 12/31/2025
The hubby and I love to watch movies and are always on the lookout for interesting ones. They don’t have to be great movies; half-decent ones are fine, and the ones not so good should at least have been made with sincerity.
We usually refer to the IMDb when we find a movie we might be interested in. We look at the rating listed; if it is less than a 3, we pass. Some people would turn up their noses to movies with ratings lower than 5 or 6, but we have found some surprisingly good ones that we liked. Other people may not have liked it, but we are pretty forgiving as long as the movie keeps us engaged.
So here are some of the movies we’ve found while rabbit-holing some of the free streaming services:
Netherbeast Incorporated (2007)
Netherbeast Incorporated is listed as a vampire movie, but it isn’t. Netherbeasts are more like ghouls in that they prefer human flesh. But they are as human as the next person. Sort of.
The setting is a telephone company that has been around for quite a while and is entirely staffed by Netherfolk, as they prefer to call themselves.
The head of the company, Turner Claymore, has developed senility and is killing off his subordinates, claiming they are vampires. This disturbs the rest of the employees, and we follow Otto as he and his fellow employees try to figure out what is going on and try and set things right.
The problem is, Turner has hired an efficiency expert from the human population, and the staff needs to hide their nature and attempt to act like normal humans.
Throw in a new employee who is also human and a budding romance with Otto, and things get interesting.
I loved this movie. The characters were engaging, and I cared about them. The story had some wonderful twists and a satisfying ending.
10-year-old Andi Gibson had an encounter with an alien spaceship that gave her special powers, but of course, no one believed her. Seventeen years later, they come back, focusing their attack on Australia, ignoring the rest of the world (who have their noses bent out of joint, so won’t send help).
Andi is positive they have come back for her, but they kidnap her mother. She and her friends must race to find her mother and find out why the aliens are attacking. All the while, family secrets are coming to light.
All the characters are fun, there are twists, car chases, shapeshifting aliens, and having to deal with parents.
Tim Travers & the Time Travelers Paradox (2024)
Tim Travers is a scientist who wonders about the Time Travelers’ Paradox, which poses the question, can a person go back in time to kill themselves, and still exist? So he decides to test the theory.
It is hard to really explain this movie without giving things away, so I won’t try. This is NOT a family-friendly movie, but it is one that made me laugh, giggle hysterically, cry, and ultimately go WOW!
And, amazingly enough, it didn’t break my brain like most movies that try to deal with the subject of time travel and paradoxes.
You can watch this movie on Tubi, Fawesom, Plex, or rent it on Amazon Prime.
The Return of Captain Invincible (1983)
A hero of WWII for fighting the Nazis, Captain Invincible is accused of being a communist sympathizer, so he retires to Australia and obscurity.
But with the rise of the evil villain, Mr. Midnight, who has stolen a super-secret super weapon from the USA, he is called back to action if they can sober him up, as he’s become an embittered alcoholic.
Can Captain Invincible make a comeback? Will he be able to defeat Mr. Midnight? Tune in to find out.
Oh, it is also a musical.
You can catch Captain Invincible on Tubi and Fawesome
Voyage of the Rock Aliens (1984)
How to explain this, that is going to be tricky. We stumbled on this one night, figuring we were probably bailing on the movie within the first 10 minutes or so. We didn’t.
Think the Beach movies with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello meet space aliens, escaped psycho killers, a batty local sheriff, and some pretty decent music.
Oh, and Pia Zadora, who is a pretty good singer.
This is not the greatest movie, but it was made with sincerity, the music was good, and Ruth Gordon as the batty sheriff was a hoot.
I love Ruth Gordon.
You can get your Pia Zadora fix on Tubi or the Roku Channel.
If you are into cheese, this is the movie for you. The monsters are a giggle, the dialogue could use a lot of work, and it has Jeffrey Coombs.
I love Jeffrey Coombs.
The plot centers on a group of people in search of where some diamonds found on a killer cave monster came from. There, they encounter more of the cave monsters, scantily clad cave bunnies, and the Alien Queen.
Oh, there are also some dinosaurs; the footage is from the movie, “The Planet of the Dinosaurs,” and edited in.
All in all, the movie is definitely cheesy, but keeping in mind it is very low budget and not even a B movie, it is fun. Even more fun when watching with friends who appreciate this type of movie.
Violet and her friends witness the crash of a small alien craft containing the egg containing the last female of an alien race. Against her friend’s advice, she takes the egg to protect it. They are now being chased by the aliens who want to destroy the egg and the government.
Oh, and Violet has just found out she’s pregnant.
See how things turn out on Tubi, Amazon Prime, Fawesome, or Plex.
Night of the Living Deb (2015)
After a girl’s night out, Deb wakes up in the bed of Ryan, the hot guy she met the night before; however, she doesn’t remember much at first. The issue comes in that Deb is very awkward and not the most clued-in person. Ryan, while trying to be nice, knows it was all a mistake and tries to get her to leave.
The only problem is, the town is now overrun with zombies. So Deb and Ryan have to figure out what happened, get to safety, and try to get along.
Available on Tubi, Amazon Prime Video, and Plex
Anne Hathaway is Gloria, an out-of-work party girl whose boyfriend has thrown her out of their apartment. She moves back to her hometown to live in her parents’ empty house. Soon, news of a giant monster in downtown Seoul destroying buildings comes to her attention.
Gloria is left wondering, what is her connection with the monster, and will she get her life back together with the help of her childhood friend, Oscar?
There are some nice twists and turns with the movie ending in a completely different direction than I had thought it would.
Colossal is available on Tubi and for rent on Amazon Prime Video.
What can I say about Cryptic? Well, it is a closed room (well, a crypt) with 7 people from London’s criminal class. They have been sent by the big boss to guard a coffin, but why? You are kept guessing as time goes on. What is in the coffin? Who is the junkie who is now locked in with them? What is the story behind the dead girl they keep mentioning?
Some of the characters are likable, even though they are criminals and killers. Others are definitely not likable, with some I wasn’t too sure about for a while.
Eventually, we learn more about the people and their relations to each other and the big boss, who is supposed to be there but has been detained.
My husband is not a big fan of this type of movie, but even he was hooked.
Cryptic is available on Tubi, Amazon Prime, Plex, Fawesome, and PlutoTV.
Okay, I lied, 11 movies:
By far the best (and only) movie that has been adapted from a Robert Heinlein story. While I enjoyed some of the previous adaptations, the writers and directors missed the point of the stories by a million miles.
Based on the short story “All You Zombies” by Heinlein, the story follows Ethan Hawke’s character through time as he works as a Temporal Agent and is chasing a criminal who has eluded him.
I won’t go into any details, one, as they could be spoilers, and two, trying to explain the movie adequately will give me a headache.
Suffice to say, Ethan Hawke and Sarah Snook are fantastic in their roles, and the twists were mind-blowing.
You can watch the movie on Plex or rent it on Amazon Prime.
We love going down the rabbit hole on the various streaming services. We have found some pretty good movies that we have enjoyed, but we have found some serious stinkers along the way. I may decide to write something about those one of these days.
Comments