PRANK NIGHT Review

I like to imagine I'm really confusing the hell out of the little gremlin personally in charge of my Tubi algorithm.

In recent months, Tubi has become one of my favorite streaming services. Its movie selection is almost unparalleled, and it has a wide array of both big name flicks and independent outings exclusive to the streamer. While most other services are clogging up with series and shows--I don't have the time commitment those require!--Tubi remains mostly dedicated to film. Or, at least, largely dedicated to film. I don't know; I don't look at their Shows page.

After spending far too long only using Tubi for specific film desperation, I've swallowed my pride on being forced to watch a hundred casino phone app commercials. I now go to Tubi oftentimes straight away when I am sans agenda and in the mood to scroll until I find something that looks good.

So how am I confusing my gremlin? Well...

I tend to watch one of two different things when I'm searching the application: an ages-old classic like 12 Angry Men or The Seventh Seal, or some recent D-tier indie movie seemingly made for a thousand bucks and the hopes of a proud crew. Let me tell you: Tubi has a big selection of both kinds of movies.

So there sits my poor algo-gremlin, having no idea whether to feed me Mr. Smith Goes To Washington or Prank Night. And that's no shot in the dark at naming a counter-programming to Prank Night; today's choice from me really came down to those two options.

Obviously, I would go on to choose Prank Night in this instance, in no small part thanks to its thirty-five minutes shorter runtime.

Prank Night is a film that does not earn its title at all, as there is nary a prank pulled across the entire picture. But hey, I get it. It's 2026, and all the good movie names are taken. Sometimes you gotta just pull two random words out of the dictionary.

It's the story of Lex, a young woman back home and visiting her father and step-mother for what seems like the first time in a while. Her step-mother, played by Katharine Isabelle--the one recognizable face here--is concerned that Lex and she have not bonded strongly enough, and desperately wants to make good with her step-daughter. But before they can, Lex goes out for a night on the town with her best friend.

While at home, Lex' parents face a robbery attempt from a gang of ne'er-do-wells. Things go sideways, and dad and stepmom get shot in the exchange!

Lex comes home to find their bodies and is relatively traumatized by the whole ordeal. But not so traumatized that she does not dream of revenge!

TWO UPS AND TWO DOWNS

+ Prank Night does not skimp on the gore or brutality. It is very visceral from relatively early on. I know this is not an Up for everyone, but for me, it was nice to see the solid practical effects work and see that the movie was not shy about showing the viciousness of a home invasion gone wrong. Nothing is held back on poor Lex when she gets home and finds the bodies of her parents!

+ Prank Night is a breezy watch that is well-shot and directed. It's completely competently made for its apparent low budget, and the talent behind the camera is definitely there. Lighting, sound design, and editing... it's all acceptable. I've watched enough indie films to know I need to appreciate this when I'm given it, because some aren't made with nearly the precision of this outing.

- There are a handful of subplots that don't go anywhere or amount to anything of note. The screenwriters clearly had enough material for a fifty to sixty minute movie, and then they just started throwing some extra details in to pad the story out. It happens more often than you might think, I'm sure, but it feels wildly apparent in this one. There are whole moments and scenes that don't feel relevant while you are actively watching them. It's not something that dawned on me when the flick was over; during the scenes themselves, I thought, "Do we need any of this?".

- Characters don't exactly behave in a manner you might expect... or one that is in any way grounded in reality. Lex loses her stepmother and is on the verge of losing her father, but her friends treat her like she just had a rough day. They don't really seem to understand what she is going through, nor do they do anything realistic to help her make it through the following three days in a healthy manner. You could just write this off as her friends being self-centered and idiotic, but even a true idiot would have more empathy and sense than they do. 

OVERALL

Prank Night is not great, and if you know my review style, my second up is kind of a dead giveaway there. When I don't have much to dole out in the way of compliments, I will sometimes (if it's applicable, to be fair, and it is here) fall back on "Hey, it looks like a movie should look!". But aside from its filming competencies, Prank Night is woefully written and not that well acted, either (not writing out Katharine Isabelle so quickly could have helped this, though Chad Rook is trying his level best as the main antagonist). The movie did not actively harm me in any way, but I sure can't recommend it, either.

🍿 SCORE = 26 / 100