Dropbear (2025) Review – It’s Ridiculous and I Love It!

Welcome to Knockout Horror. Today we are heading over to the lowest of low budget sections of Tubi to check out Dropbear (2025).

Let’s Be Clear: It’s Bad But In a Good Way!

This is an objectively bad horror movie. I want to make that point abundantly clear before I even start this review. For all it’s ridiculousness, however, Dropbear is just a ton of fun. This is proper ‘grab a beer, grab a few mates, and have a laugh’ stuff.

“B-movie fans absolutely have to stick with it, though because it gets a lot worse in the best possible way.”

The story follows a group of Americans who find themselves falling victim to a tourism scam orchestrated by Stevo Irving (Lucas Andrews) and his partner Bazza (Kieran Thomas McNamara). The pair claim they can take them to the location of the infamous ‘Dropbear’ but the whole thing is nothing more than a ruse to empty their wallets. That is, however, until the group are actually attacked by killer koalas and the trip turns into a fight for survival.

As you can see, it’s a pretty terrible story and writer, director John DeCaux doesn’t exactly go out of his way to pull you in. Characters are obnoxious, acting is a bit rough, and the premise is shaky at best. Hell, the whole Dropbear meme itself is pretty damn farcical. Turning the eucalyptus loving, Chlamydia carrying marsupials into vicious killers rather than simply dumb animals that fall out of trees.

It takes a tiny bit too long to get to the good stuff, as well. It would be perfectly understandable to come out of the first 20 minutes of this film wondering what the hell you just put on. B-movie fans absolutely have to stick with it, though because it gets a lot worse in the best possible way.

A proper farcical creature feature

Once the movie gets going, it becomes very clear what Dropbear is going for. It’s an utterly ridiculous creature feature that is doing absolutely everything it can to be completely absurd. The kills are farcical and over the top, the character’s address the threat with a level of seriousness that belies it’s laughable nature, and the effects are, frankly, completely pants.

Koalas dropping from trees to rip out throats as people scatter in fear is simply a hilarious visual. The dropbears themselves look ridiculous, as well. It’s z-grade special effects complete with animatronic looking movements and glowing red eyes. It’s impossible not to laugh unless you take yourself far too seriously.

Just when you think it can’t get any weirder, it does and in a way that I absolutely refuse to spoil because you deserve to see it yourself. Let’s just say that the threat isn’t confined to an entirely natural source and things get extremely strange.

“Once the movie gets going, it becomes very clear what Dropbear is going for. It’s an utterly ridiculous creature feature that is doing absolutely everything it can to be completely absurd.”

Again, the characters in the film react like this is utterly terrifying which provokes even more laughs. It’s just silly nonsense that is actually really enjoyable if you just don’t take it seriously. Think of movies like Birdemic: Shock and Terror but with a little more effort and you are in the right ballpark. Know what to expect and you might just have a good time.

Okay, let’s talk about the problems

With the above being said, let’s be a little bit more constructive about the film itself. This isn’t a particularly well made movie and there’s a hell of a lot that doesn’t work. Some of the early comedy moments land but the cast are pretty unlikable and it’s juvenile to a point that will be distracting to many.

The ‘dumb tourist’ trope has been done to death and the accents are all over the place. The opening parts of the movie are ruthlessly dull and will probably lose viewers who are expecting something that takes itself more seriously. It looks cheap, too.

The film opens with a dropbear kill and that sets the tone. It’s almost like a beacon suggesting that you should prepare for absurdity and terrible effects. This is going to put some people off but that’s not a huge problem; Dropbear was never intended for those viewers. People, despite the theme and the title, go into this expecting horror and that’s just not what they will find.

It’s almost a horror satire

This is more like a full blown satire of horror than a movie that’s actually trying to be scary. It pokes fun at all the tropes that make the genre so unintentionally hilarious. Just the sheer idea that the characters are intimidated by these creatures puts paid to the idea that horror is something of a vehicle for farce when it takes itself too seriously.

It’s a very deliberate piss-take that ultimately wants to make you laugh. I can almost imagine the discussions that took place while writing. “Can we get away with this or would it be a bit too ridiculous? Nothing’s too ridiculous in Dropbear, mate… Put it in the script! Let’s get the costume ordered“.

Dropbear’s biggest sin, however, is that it reverts back to the mundane once the novelty wears off. You are looking at half an hour of satirical horror absurdity before the joke wears off and the enjoyment evaporates. After that, it’s just playing the hits and the focus turns more toward rote budget action stuff.

“The film opens with a dropbear kill and that sets the tone. It’s almost like a beacon suggesting that you should prepare for absurdity and terrible effects.”

There’s a joke that gets worn to the point of becoming thread bare in the final stanza, as well. Again, it’s easy to see it as a satirical poke at the age old horror tropes of nobody believing the survivors but it’s overdone just a tad. The line between “this is funny” and “this is awful” is razor thin in films like this so overdoing any one element is a risky move.

Our Scoring Philosophy: A Fair Fight

Horror is a genre that thrives thanks to indie film makers and low budget creators. At Knockout Horror, we firmly believe that every movie that we review deserves a fair fight. That's why we grade on a curve. Our star ratings are all about context, judging a film on what it achieves with the resources it has.

A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.