My Thoughts on Match
Match is a Tubi original horror film with a horror-meets-dating-app story that is a bit predictable, but it has enough moments to make it worth a watch.
The opening scene features Paola, who is strapped to a gurney, clearly in trouble, as she’s wheeled down a dilapidated hallway, which is followed by a flashback that explains how she ended up there, and once that part settles, the story falls into its rhythm.
Paola’s a single woman fed up with terrible dates, and finally, she matches with someone who seems promising named Henry, and after ignoring her sister Maria’s warnings, she accepts his invitation for a home cooked meal the night before her father’s heart surgery.
But of course, nothing about Henry is normal, as it’s almost painfully predictable that this would go south, and the movie gives you plenty of tension as you watch Paola navigate a situation where her instincts are screaming at her, but she’s committed to following through anyway.
We also have an unapologetically twisted yet oddly endearing in her own warped logic character named Lucille, Henry's mother, who wants a grandchild and is willing to cross every boundary to get it.
The horror elements themselves are mostly effective, with Paola’s attempts to escape and avoid harm are fairly tense, and the filmmakers made good use of the setting. From the room of decapitated dolls to a particularly nasty bathroom, the environment feels alive with menace, and I even found myself paying more attention to the small touches.
The story’s predictability though got to me at moments, and it certainly nothing new or too fresh, but while the film kept tossing new complications at Paola, the overall structure will be familiar to many with its classic horror beats, but as said, we do get a few curveballs, but I think a lot of people will be able to guess what is coming.
The biggest surprise of the film was the humor on display, which often comes from the absurdity of the situations and Paola’s reactions, and gives the movie a break from the bleakness of the story.
And the humor is quite dark at times too and doesn’t shy away from being gross or shocking, which is right up my street.
The ending, unfortunately, didn’t sit well with me though, and while there are a few surprises, it feels unearned and a bit unsatisfying - it tries to be clever, but it didn’t fully tie together the tension and character arcs the film had been building.
Despite some flaws, Match has some things I genuinely enjoyed, such as the humor, Humberly González’s performance, where you really believe in Paola’s fear, her resourcefulness, and her frustrations, while Dianne Simpson’s Lucille is the kind of villain that just gets to you.
I think Match is a film that knows what it wants to be, and mostly succeeds in delivering it.
It’s a mix of suspense, dark comedy, and horror that doesn’t overcomplicate itself, even if it doesn’t completely reinvent the genre.
It’s far from perfect, but it has a lot of personality, and I would say is worth a watch, especially as it's free on Tubi!