Welcome to Knockout Horror. Today we are reviewing David Sumner’s low budget Time Loop horror ReSet. Despite having a rather unfortunate title. Especially given the success of 2022 Chinese time loop whodunit Reset. We were actually quite surprised by this film. How about joining us and finding out why? You can check this movie out for free right now on Tubi.

If you are new here, why not stick around? We review horror, explain horror endings and write horror lists. Yes, very original, I know. Man it has been a minute. I have been crazy busy with in real life stuff lately. I have really had to push the site to the background for a little. This has meant virtually no reviews or, well, anything in the month of May. I have just finished setting up a new office area in my house, though. So this means it is back to the grind.

Horror Movies on Tubi

I figured I would get a review in before the month is out. I, also, figured it would give me the perfect excuse to start my new feature Horror Movies on Tubi. For the month of June, we are hitting up Tubi and Tubi alone. Every time I go to flick on a horror movie with the intention to review it. It will come by way of Tubi’s selection of Ad supported content. I am not going to read anything about the movie or check reviews. I am going to pick purely based off of the synopsis. The only catch? It has to be low budget. No major releases, no well known movies. Hell, no movies that could afford to pay a tea boy to fetch people coffee. What could go wrong?

For those who don’t know. Tubi is a free video streaming platform available to people in North America. Of course, you can also fire up a VPN and check it out from other countries. As I will be doing here. But the service is aimed, predominantly, at those in the USA. Tubi has a wicked selection of horror movies. Some of them well known mega hits and some of them lesser known indie efforts. I’ve already put together a couple of lists on Tubi’s horror movies. Google absolutely hates my lists for some reason. It flat out refuses to index them properly which means they get no views. Yay!

Prepare for Pain

Let’s be real. A lot of the movies that you are going to find on Tubi are going to suck ass. This service has the most budget of budget horror movies. A quick glance at the posters for many of them clues you in on what to expect. Bad acting, terrible effects and even worse directing. This is going to be a long month, that’s for sure.

Still, we are going to stick with it. With great challenge comes great reward. In this case, I have no clue what that will be. Probably a few extra views on some of the articles. After all, most people barely even know these movies exist. I doubt many people are bothering to review them.

A Nervous Start – ReSet

So I ventured onto Tubi with no small amount of trepidation. My fiancee and I chatted back and forth about some of the choices on offer. “Shall we go for a found footage?“. “Hey, this actually sounds pretty good“. “Have we seen this before?“. “Jesus, if the cover is that bad imagine what the movie is like!“. The debate raged on for about 15 minutes as we doom scrolled our way through movie after movie.

We finally accepted the fact that it really didn’t matter. We were probably going to end up watching more bad movies than good. Why not just dive right in? With that new mantra in mind. We picked a movie with a terrible cover, a crap name and a short runtime. Grabbed some snacks and prepared to be disappointed. But then something really strange happened. We weren’t actually disappointed… In fact, we were the opposite.. We were appointed! Wait, actually, I don’t think that is the right word. Whatever! We actually found ourselves enjoying the movie. What the hell happened?

Resetting our Expectations

We started watching ReSet and, naturally, immediately cringed a little bit. An opening flashback scene features some dreadful dialogue. All regurgitated by an elderly man who provokes a heated debate. Does he lack more in years left on this planet or acting talent? I am not sure. It’s not very promising, to tell you the truth. Things aren’t quick to improve, either. The party scene that follows is both awkward and a bit silly. Clearly suffering for a lack of extras. Our lead character Danielle (Alyssa Corella) dances away among a sea of apathy. Characters are out of sync. There is clearly no music actually playing. And people avoid the glare of the camera. In much the same way that I do when a stranger is on a video call in a supermarket.

Corella’s competent dancing, low cut dress and swaying hair. Afford her something of a main character in a Playstation 1 JRPG feel. It’s like most of the resources were dedicated to processing her slightly more elaborate animations. All while background NPCs repeat the same three movements. It’s jarring but exactly what you would expect from a movie like this. But we persisted.

Our girl is there to party and she isn’t put off by the lack of energy in the room or questionably aged students. Hell, even her best friend’s inconsiderate and unappreciative bitching can’t quash her mood. Can you believe this cow complained about Danielle getting her a job? Young people today, right? Or, in this case. People in there thirties playing young people today. Anyways, Danielle heads downstairs to chill on the chaise lounge. Kicking back on her phone and drinking some nondescript alcohol. That’s when things begin to go seriously wrong.

Mr Nice Guy

It becomes clear, pretty quickly, that someone has spiked Danielle’s drink. They watched her shaking that ass on the err dance patio? Decided they wanted a piece but knew they had no shot. Danielle wakes up in the bed of absolutely massive nice guy Edgar Lorne. This dude is huge. Played by Ben Barlow, he has to be about 6′ 3″ and 300lbs of pure meat. Danielle wants to know what is up. The nice guy claims to have rescued her from the party after her friends ditched her. He brought her back to his place and put her in bed.

Naturally, nobody would feel comfortable in that situation. He claims he hasn’t done anything to Danielle. But you know this dude would have copped a feel getting her into the car. He’s clearly the type to enjoy hugging female friends to feel their boobs against his chest. Give him the ol’ shoulder hug ladies. Don’t let him have the pleasure. Keep them boobies for people you actually want feeling them.

This prompts Danielle to call bullshit. The windows are padlocked. The doors have keycode entry systems and Edgar is a seriously strange dude. Danielle demands her release only to be brutally murdered by Edgar. End of the movie, right? Well, nope. A vision of the afterlife and a chat with the now deceased, and still terrible at acting, relative clears things up. Danielle wakes up in the bedroom only to start the events all over again.

Happy Death Day Lite

Am I spoiling too much here? Well, perhaps and I apologise if that is the case. But this movie does not give any hint of what type of film it is. I suppose the name gives it away. But the first thing my partner and I said when Danielle woke up again. Was “Why didn’t the movie just say that it was Happy Death Day lite?”. We love movies like this. We adored Happy Death Day and its sequel. I am always up for time loop horror.

Sure, the concept is not at all original. Groundhog Day kicked things off in the mainstream years ago. With Happy Death Day bringing the concept to the popular horror zeitgeist a little while ago. But this is still a fun movie that uses the idea well. Let’s be real. It is impossible for Reset to not draw comparisons to the aforementioned horror hit. But for a cheap, ultra low budget movie scraped off the bottom of Tubi’s shoe. It is genuinely enjoyable.

Obviously There are Issues

Again, being completely honest. There are issues here. Before we get into the pros we should talk about the cons. Sound production is lousy. The movie feels terribly low budget. Some of the dialogue is a bit shit. Direction can be hit or miss here and there. There are a lack of scares and everything feels a bit cheap. But I expected all of those things before we actually started watching the movie. 

Makeup, hair and wardrobe inconsistencies are a bit of a problem. Especially given the theme of the movie. For some reason, I find myself obsessing over minor details with these time loop movies. I couldn’t help but notice hair styles changing. Makeup looking different and Danielle alternating between wearing a bra and being braless. Significantly changing the look of the dress between scenes. Not to mention the random lapel microphones that occasionally appear in shot. As well as the microphone receiver box being clearly visible under Danielle’s dress at points. These aren’t major problems but it speaks to a lack of care. Maybe the result of an inexperienced director?

The wooden acting from a couple of characters can be jarring. Some of the aesthetic choices leave a lot to be desired, as well. Particularly those concerning Danielle’s visions of the afterlife. They just look really silly and are, honestly, pretty baffling. That’s without mentioning that the dialogue can be a bit shit in places. But this is one of those horror films where perspective is important. It is low budget. The plot is very character driven. It is entirely dependent on the main actor’s performances. Special effects are limited and it was clearly made with a skeleton crew. But compared to so many other movies like this. ReSet is legitimately fun and a very easy watch.

An Honestly Fun Watch

The positives manage to outweigh the negatives here. The death loop cycle is fun and interesting. The movie is legitimately funny in parts. Sumner keeps you guessing with how Danielle will try to outsmart Edgar next. And some of the references to incel culture feel particularly apt. This is a movie with its finger on the pulse of a few specific social issues. Namely that of men feeling like they are owed love. Sure, this is a bit of a played out theme in recent years. But Edgar’s constant self pitying and sense of entitlement rings very true. Especially when considering young men with vulnerable narcissism.

While not being particularly scary. ReSet has some brutal kills. Even despite the majority of violence happening away from the camera. Edgar is a big mother fucker. Danielle feels incredibly diminutive compared to him. This affords her a real sense of vulnerability. At least until she starts outsmarting him. Wisecracking, poking fun at him and challenging his very tainted world view. It’s fun stuff. The movie managed to make me laugh on a number of occasions. Danielle’s witty retorts make for some comedic moments. Her seemingly otherworldly knowledge of Edgar and his house. Also offer up the opportunity for some hilarious reactions from Edgar. This brings me on to the next point.

Fantastic Acting

Alyssa Corella and Ben Barlow are both excellent. Corella’s confident delivery and excellent comedic timing stand out. Making Danielle a character who is, genuinely, easy to root for. She is never afraid to get physical. She has a range of expressions that belie her lack of actual movie acting experience. And Corella’s understanding of her character. Allows her to bring something a little more personal to Danielle. There were a few parts here and there where her enunciation was a little unclear. This is likely due to limited opportunities to reshoot, though. Something that is very common with low budget movies. Some sentences sound fine in a room but don’t come across well on the mic.

Barlow was excellent. Switching seamlessly between wannabe nice guy and mean, self absorbed, incel. He does a great job of capturing that very particularly type of nastiness. Oh so common in some circles of people. I, also, really enjoyed some of his reactions to Danielle. His shock when he thinks he has the upper hand. Only to realise that Danielle knows something he doesn’t is always comical. Great job but this is, really, the Alyssa Corella show. I look forward to seeing her in more horror movies somewhere down the line.

Final Thoughts and Score

So, if you have read many of my reviews. You might be wondering what the deal is. How can I give this random, ultra low budget, Tubi horror movie a six out of ten. While giving From Black a 4.5/10. A movie that is rather high budget and fairly glossy. Well, aside from the fact that From Black somehow manages to both suck and blow. It’s simple; context is ultra important. We all set our expectations to a certain level before turning on a movie. You don’t go into watching Midsommar or Hereditary in the same way as you go into watching Leaving D.C or Unseen. They are all great movies but you set your expectations a little lower for some. While setting them higher for others. This can lead to disappointment or, even, a pleasant surprise. This is the case with ReSet.

I really wasn’t expecting anything positive with this movie. To be brutally honest, I was expecting it to be pretty awful. I was preparing for terrible acting. Awful direction, a boring story and no scares. What I found was a movie with some legitimately funny moments. An interesting story and some fantastic acting. I really enjoyed ReSet and I think it deserves some props. Sure, it isn’t going to appeal to everyone. Some likely won’t make it past the awkward opening scenes. Others will dislike the overly familiar story setup. It does have a decent number of problems as well. But if you give it a chance. You may have a laugh. It’s good to support small movie makers. Tubi is a great way to do it. You are only spending your time and nothing else. Why not check ReSet out?