Best Hidden Gems On Tubi

Tubi remains a diamond in the rough in an increasingly fraught streaming landscape. What sets Tubi apart from most other streaming services is the fact it’s ad-supported rather than using a subscription model. This means, provided you’re willing to sit through a few ad breaks now and again, you can legally watch anything in Tubi’s catalog for free.

Tubi’s main downside is that most of its catalog consists of B-Movie shovelware, straight-to-DVD oddities, and stuff none of the other streamers want. While it does have many big-name movies and shows, these tend to only remain on Tubi for a few months before moving to other streaming services, meaning that if you see something you like, you should watch it sooner rather than later.

However, if you know where to look, Tubi’s catalog contains many hidden gems. Because of this, Tubi is a great, no-pressure way to expand your cinema horizons because if you try something and don’t like it, you’ve not lost anything.

So, with that in mind, here are ten lesser-known but must-watch films currently available for free on Tubi.

10. The Man From Earth

A Memorable Sci-Fi Film About The Nature Of Belief

Year	2007
Director	Richard Schenkman
Length	89 minutes

The Man From Earth was written by Jerome Bixby, the legendary sci-fi writer who wrote the Star Trek episodes “Mirror, Mirror” and “Requiem for Methuselah” as well as the story “It’s a Good Life,” which would later be turned into a beloved Twilight Zone episode.

The film follows a group of academics who have arrived at the house of Professor John Oldman to throw him a last-minute farewell party before he departs for a new city. However, when the group pushes John to reveal his reason for leaving, he informs them that he is an immortal being who has lived since the Paleolithic period. While everyone doubts this at first, the academics start to question John, and a rift between believers and non-believers forms, leading to a very tense party.

An excellent slice of atmospheric and philosophical sci-fi enhanced by a mesmerizing performance from David Lee Smith, The Man From Earth is a film that will leave you pondering long after the credits roll.

9. Border

A Horror Film With A Swedish Fantasy Twist

Year	2018
Director	Ali Abbasi
Length	110 minutes

Based on Ajvide Lindqvist’s short story, Border follows Tina, a Swedish contraband officer with a powerful nose that allows her to smell people’s emotions, meaning she can effortlessly spot people trying to smuggle contraband into the country. However, Tina’s life gets turned upside down when, during a regular check, she sniffs a memory card containing illegal content and gets roped into tracking the owner down. Even more confusingly, a strange man named Vore arrives in town, and not only does he look like Tina, but he also seemingly knows more about her than he lets on.

Border is an excellent fantasy horror film that combines a gripping plot and an amazingly unique atmosphere, making it quite unlike any other movie. Plus, its story subverts many common genre expectations, meaning that first-time viewers will be in for a rollercoaster ride.

8. 2046

A Writer And His Complex Romances

Year	2004
Director	Wong Kar-wai
Length	129 minutes

While technically a sequel to Wong Kar-wai’s previous films, Days of Being Wild and In The Mood for Love 2046 is a spectacular treat that can be enjoyed as stand-alone work. The story follows Chow Mo-wan, a writer who has fallen on hard times after losing the woman he believed to be the love of his life. However, while trying to write his new work in Hong Kong, he meets and dates a series of women, leading to his life becoming rapidly more emotionally complex, doubly so because these relationships stir up memories of the past and often lead to the women’s lives growing even more messy.

An emotionally raw film, 2046 is packed with memorable moments and stunning visuals, especially the scenes where the film jumps between the actual world and the world within Chow’s book, giving viewers a unique look at his tangled internal life.

7. Heavy Trip

An Underdog Heavy Metal Road Trip

Year	2018
Director	Juuso Laatio &Jukka Vidgren
Length	92 minutes

Heavy Trip is a Finnish comedy that follows the extreme battle band Impaled Rektum. Consisting of Turo, Jynkky, Pasi, and Lotvonen, the band has big ambitions but can’t make any headway due to their lack of money and complex personal issues. But, after a series of mishaps and tragedies, the band decides that they’re going to perform at a festival no matter what it takes and embarks on a chaotic road trip to make it happen.

Heavy Trip is a must-watch film for metal fans as it lovingly parodies the genre and all its eccentricities while presenting a wonderfully written underdog story that beautifully balances pathos and laughs. On top of this, most of the film’s music is composed and performed by legendary Finnish metal artists, including Stratovarius’ Lauri Porra and the melodic death metal band Mors Subita.

6. Ghost World

Alienated Girls Find That Life Can Always Get More Tangled

Year	2001
Director	Terry Zwigoff
Length	112 minutes

Based on Daniel Clowes’ comic and starring Thora Birch and Scarlett Johansson, Ghost World follows Enid and Rebecca, two social outcasts who have just graduated high school. In a fit of boredom, the girls reply to Seymour, an older man’s missed connection ad, planning to invite him to a dinner date and then ghost him. However, after watching the man from afar, Enid starts to feel guilty and ends up tracking him down, striking up a friendship with him. However, this friendship will have far-reaching ramifications on Enid and Rebecca’s lives.

A quintessential and emotionally honest early-2000s black comedy, the movie is perfect for anyone who has struggled to find their place in the world or for people who enjoy films that take a sideways glance at the dark ironies of modern life.

5. The Motel

A Charming Coming-Of-Age Comedy

Year	2005
Director	Michael Kang
Length	76 minutes

Written and directed by Michael Kang, The Motel is a comedy that follows thirteen-year-old Ernest Chin, who lives with his mother, grandfather, and younger sister after his father abandoned them. Chin spends most of his time working in his family’s hourly motel, a job that leads to him encountering many strange characters.

While dealing with all of this, Ernest also has to deal with the problems of an awkward adolescence. This includes him having to handle school bullies and trying to come to terms with his quickly developing sexuality.

A deeply relatable comedy-drama, The Motel is a fantastic coming-of-age tale for people who welcome the inherent awkwardness of life and all its strange ironies.

4. Lady Vengeance

A Tale Of Pain, Crime, And Revenge

Year	2005
Director	Park Chan-wook
Length	115 minutes

Lady Vengeance is the third film in Park Chan-wook’s Vengeance Trilogy (which also includes Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and the legendary Oldboy). After spending 13 years in prison for kidnapping and murdering a schoolboy, Lee Geum-ja is released early due to her behavior and apparent spiritual transformation while in prison. However, Geum-ja soon reveals that her transformation was a ruse as she starts to plot revenge against the people who put her in jail, uncovering the truth about what revealing what really happened as she does.

Park Chan-wook’s films always have fantastic atmospheres, and Lady Vengeance is no different as the film is a gripping rollercoaster from start to finish, packed with enough twists and turns to keep even seasoned thriller fans on the edge of their seats.

3. Welcome To The Dollhouse

Suburban Pains And Fever Dreams

Year	1995
Director	Todd Solondz
Length	87 minutes

Dawn Wiener is a young girl living with her family in suburban New Jersey. Alas, her life is far from middle-class bliss as she doesn’t get on with her older brother or younger sister, and her parents always side with the younger sibling, no matter how manipulative or mean she is. Dawn’s school life is even worse, as she’s a frequent target of bullying and harassment.

But, as her parents’ 20th-anniversary party looms, Dawn’s life takes an even more confusing turn when she suddenly gets close to one of her bullies and develops a crush on Steve, one of her brother’s classmates, leading to several painful meetings.

Welcome To The Dollhouse is a memorable black comedy that tackles the pain of growing up in a way that combines relatability and exaggerated farce into something profoundly memorable and utterly unique. While some may be unable to handle some of the film’s more awkward moments, those who push through will be treated to one of the best high-school satires of the 1990s.

2. Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum

A Spine-Chilling Found Footage Film

Year	2018
Director	Jung Bum-shik
Length	91 minutes

Gonjiam follows Ha-Joon and his six friends as they do a live stream from Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital. Legend says the hospital is haunted as the former hospital director murdered all the patients before suddenly going missing, turning the place into a magnet for urban explorers and ghost hunters.

But unbeknownst to most of the group, Ha-Joon and his friends Sung-Hoon and Seung-Wook have filled the house with fake scares, as they don’t believe in ghosts and thus script all their streams to get the most viewers possible. Alas, it soon becomes clear that the hospital is really haunted, and the spirits there don’t take kindly to people walking into their domain.

While Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum doesn’t stray too far from the expected found-footage formula, it makes up for it with several stomach-churning scares that will give viewers nightmares for weeks. Combine this with some well-realized characters, and you’re left with a horror film that will keep your heart pounding the entire runtime.

1. Paprika

A Surreal Anime Classic

Year	2006
Director	Satoshi Kon
Length	90 minutes

It is impossible to understand the brilliance of the late, great Satoshi Kon, and while Paprika is far from the most obscure film on this list, it is still a must-watch film for anime and movie fans alike.

Paprika is set in a future where dream therapy is revolutionizing psychiatry. The DC Mini, a new technology, allows doctors to jump into patients’ dreams and explore their unconscious thoughts to understand what’s bothering them. Dr Atsuko Chiba, one of the doctors working on the treatment, begins illegally using the device on psychiatric patients outside of the research facility, dubbing herself Paprika to avoid her dream detective work being traced back to her. But when the DC Mini is stolen, Atsuko is thrown into a race against time to save everyone in the city.

A beautifully animated movie packed with memorably surreal visuals, Paprika‘s commentary on the nature of dreams and the conflict between the desires of the conscious and unconscious are just as relevant today as they were in the early-2000s, meaning that Paprika is as beautiful as it is thought-provoking.