Final Days: Tales from the End Times (2025) review – Tales from the bargain bin

Welcome to Knockout Horror. Today, we are hitting up Tubi, once again, to see if we can’t pull another diamond out of the proverbial turd pile. Unfortunately, it might be time to grab another baggy because we are reviewing anthology horror Final Days: Tales from the End Times (2025).

Anthology Horror Woes

I am, actually, a really big fan of anthology horror movies. Something about the format just appeals to the eight year old child inside my head that has no attention span and enjoys novelty. Let’s be honest though, most anthology horror collections feature more bad than good.

The low budget nature of the segments and, frequently, disparate styles don’t always make for a cohesive and enjoyable whole. While one or two of the segments might be enjoyable, there’s a solid chance you will be spending the majority of your viewing time waiting for something good to come along.

Even the greats tend to have a few misses in their line-up. One of the biggest problems with anthology horror movies is that they are frequently home to some of the lowest budget, most basic, poorly acted, and poorly directed shorts this side of Tubi’s horror section. Unfortunately, that’s the case with the majority of Final Days: Tales from the End Times.

It’s a collection of apocalypse themed horror shorts

I’m not going to go in depth on the individual segments of Final Days; suffice to say each of them is focused around an apocalyptic scenario. The blurb on Tubi boasts about the film featuring “Five of horror’s most visionary new directors“. I don’t want to jump on the whole false advertising thing but I am struggling to see that. These segments feel cheap, derivative, and unimaginative. Very far from visionary.

“The blurb on Tubi boasts about the film featuring ‘Five of horror’s most visionary new directors’… These segments feel cheap, derivative, and unimaginative. Very far from visionary.”

The first segment is your standard cult leader fare with absolutely no new ideas and some terrible special effects in the form of blood mist that dissipates instantly. That’s followed up by some terrible shaky cam and a barrage of awful music as the opening credits roll. Luckily, it is all mercifully short.

The next segment features two dudes conducting a ritual in their kitchen. This is purely dialogue and very little substance. It actually made me laugh on a few occasions, though, which I felt pretty guilty about. My fiancée gave me a very concerned look. The guys here really try, though. Special shout out to the horrendous camerawork and editing.

The third segment features a journalist and her cameraman reporting on a local school sports rivalry before stumbling on something much more sinister and interesting. This segment takes place in between the other segments but doesn’t really act like a connecting segment as such, more of a wrap-around. It just serves to really disrupt the flow and make the film feel more chaotic and muddled.

“One of them does feature the worst ‘old woman’ wig I have ever seen in a horror movie, though, so that’s pretty neat.”

So that’s three segments and we are 20 minutes in, I am exhausted! The rest of the segments all follow a similar theme. They are so damn unremarkable that I am not going to waste your time talking about them. One of them does feature the worst “old woman” wig I have ever seen in a horror movie, though, so that’s pretty neat.

Unoriginal, poorly made, and ultimately boring

Final Days is ruthlessly unoriginal. Each of the segments is basically a portmanteau of numerous other horror films. We have dark locations lit by torches with strange creatures hiding in the blackness reminiscent of REC. A creepy old person wandering around menacingly ala The Visit. Undead marauding zombies and bald cult leaders; you’ve seen it all before.

“Each of the segments is basically a portmanteau of numerous other horror films… Undead marauding zombies and bald cult leaders; you’ve seen it all before.”

The closest Final Days gets to originality is with its dishwater dull segment “Apocalypse Eve“. A story featuring two argumentative “lovers” coming to terms with their relationship and impending fate. It is so slow however, that it feels extremely out of place.

This story features a multiple minute scene of them trying to get a radio to work and that’s, pretty much, the highlight so take that as you will. I was impressed by the denim jeans, denim jacket, and check shirt combo, though. Very archaic! I am guessing this was set in the 90s?

A lot of egregious found footage faux pas

Many of the segments are found footage style and they are very guilty of committing some of the genre’s most egregious sins. There’s a lot of shaky cam, a lot of night vision, overly dark visuals, soft focus, and shockingly poor jump scares. The non-found footage segments just feel very amateur. None of this would be so bad if the stories were interesting but they just aren’t.

It’s difficult to become invested in much of what takes place in Final Days as nothing is all that captivating. Even the more promising stories aren’t particularly satisfying. I quite enjoyed the idea behind the segment featuring a prepper documenting the apocalyptic events taking place. It really doesn’t go anywhere, though. The foundation of a decent story is there but it isn’t fleshed out. The journalist segment is so chaotic, predictable, and generic that’s it’s difficult to care.

I should mention that, obviously, this is very low budget. The people working on this anthology likely clock into day jobs during the week so that deserves pointing out. From that perspective, some of the segments are a touch better than what you might expect from your average Walmart movie director or actor. Still, even grading on a curve it is tough to recommend Final Days.

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.

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