Tesh Guttikonda & Mitch Oliver’s “Lowlifes” is one of those movies where the less you know, the better. However, to summarize it without spoiling much, it is about a family on a road trip trying to make their way back home. Once they sense danger in the small town of their visit, they must stop at a house of people who are nothing like them. Through their collective journey, the movie takes us on an absurd ride where deceptions lead to moments of suspense, horror, and occasional laughter. In this chaotic horror film, Amanda Fix, Matthew MacCaull, Elyse Levesque, and Josh Zaharia play the members of the central family.
Spoilers Ahead
Lowlifes (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
“Lowlifes” on Tubi is directed by Tesh Guttikonda & Mitch Oliver and based on a screenplay by Al Kaplan. It follows a touring family of four that must test their survival instincts in a remote homestead in a small town.
What is ‘Lowlifes’ on Tubi about?
“Lowlifes” begins with a gory shot of a man’s throat getting slashed. It offers us a brief glimpse into what we later witness. However, from a horrifying death, the film switches to a mundane outing of a family of four near an RV. It looks like an old-school traditional American family where the father, Keith (Matthew MacCaull), roast steak for his wife. Kathleen (Elyse Levesque) and their two children, Amy (Amanda Fix) and Jeffrey (Josh Zaharia). Amy isn’t as interested in it as Jeffrey is. So, she refuses to eat a rare steak. Keith pressures her to respect the values and have a barbeque meal with them. Still, she leaves to smoke a cigarette.
While Amy is away, Billy (Ben Sullivan) and Vern (Richard Harmon) show up near the RV, looking for their cousin, Melior (Todd Masters). By the time Amy returns, the duo intimidates the family. Once they leave, the family starts driving back home. Jeffrey makes fun of the small-town people and their dialect. Keith advises him against it. Soon after, they again cross paths with Vern & Billy, whose car was in an accident. Vern forces Keith to offer Billy a ride back home. During the drive, Billy has a small talk. He shares details about his cousins and great-uncle to intimidate Keith’s family even more.
The Actual Villains
Billy keeps getting on Keith’s family’s nerves and derives a fiendish pleasure. Eventually, it makes Jeffrey so angry that he strangles Billy to death. Then, the family reveals their true faces. They are not a kind and loving family but cold-blooded murderers who seek joy by killing people. After taking care of Billy’s dead body, the family shows up at his house. Keith lies that their trailer broke down and asks for help. He also mentions they crossed paths with Billy, who was looking for Melior. Inside, they meet Neville (Kevin McNulty) and his two granddaughters, Savannah (Brenna Llewellyn) and Juli Ann (Cassandra Sawtell).
While Neville and Juli Ann welcome them with open hearts, Savannah suspects there’s something wrong with them. Then, they get introduced to Juli Ann’s hairdresser partner, Big Mac (Dayleigh Nelson), who has a menacing presence. At the end of their meal, Amy enters their washroom to work on their family’s plan. Accidentally, she leaves a ripped eyeball on the ground. Then, in the living room, Savannah starts playing the piano to entertain others. It reminds Keith’s family of their old emotional wounds. Later, Keith and Kathleen enter a guest room. While Jeffrey gets a small spare room, Amy has to share a room with Savannah.
The Bloodbath
Once in their room, Keith and Kathleen start discussing their plan of killing Neville’s entire family. During their dinner, they poison Neville’s family, which is bound to make them nauseous. Considering Big Mac’s size, Keith decides to kill him. But Jeffrey wants to prove his worth. So, once Big Mac gets queasy and walks out into the garden, Jeffrey follows him and stabs him to death. At the same time, Keith enters Neville’s room and kills him with an axe. Outside, he notices Jeffrey having killed Big Mac. Even though Jeffrey disobeys him, Keith gifts him a piece of meat to show how proud he is.
In Savannah’s room, she and Amy open up to each other about their fears and insecurities. They admit their mutual sexual attraction and start making out. Midway, Amy recalls the actual reason she came into the room. So, she takes off her knife to stab Savannah. But accidentally, she stabs herself. Savannah ties Amy’s wounds. While Amy reconsiders her future decisions, Savannah walks out to Keith’s trailer and discovers Billy’s dead body. Meanwhile, in her bathroom, Juli Ann sees a packet with a ripped eyeball. Keith realizes that she knows who they are and captures her.
Lowlifes (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
Does Keith’s family make it out of the small town?
While Keith tries to silence Juli Ann, Savannah kills Kathleen with a spear. Still, Keith doesn’t offer Amy and Jeffrey any time to mourn Kathleen’s loss. Amy confronts Keith for killing an innocent family and not the trashy ‘lowlifes’ he hates. But Keith doesn’t see any difference between people from the small town and considers his kind superior. He ties Juli Ann to a chair and begins torturing her. Jeffrey suspects Savannah has come back inside the house and goes looking for her. She beats him with her bow. As Keith threatens to kill Juli Ann, Savannah threatens to kill Jeffrey. Eventually, Savannah decides to take a step back and accepts her defeat. Keith & Amy tie both sisters to the chairs.
Keith starts chopping off their fingers and tries to force-feed them the same. Moments later, he realizes the truth about Amy’s sexuality and takes offense to it. Savannah uses this opportunity to stab Keith’s eye with a fork. So, Amy gets furious and tries to choke Savannah. As Keith begins to eat his eye, Vern enters the house and shoots Keith. Then they all get into a chaotic fight where Savannah kills Jeffrey, Keith kills Vern, and then Juli Ann kills Keith. While the sisters have an emotional moment, Amy stabs Juli Ann. So, Savannah follows Amy to kill her. Outside, Deputy White (Alexander Calvert) shoots Savannah, thinking he is protecting Amy. As he calls his superior officials, Amy kills him. Then, she burns the homestead and leaves in the family trailer.
Lowlifes (2024) Movie Review:
“Lowlifes” is a horror thriller that is best experienced by knowing as little about it as possible. It values its big revelations and milks the suspense of those moments like a pulpy B-movie. At times, the reveal isn’t particularly horrifying in itself. But the build-up is worth your time and patience. These scenes unfold the way the gratuitous violence does in Tarantino films. Overall, the film is entertaining because it is committed to its theme of sadistic pleasure. It largely plays out like a game of deception where a bloodbath is an outcome of opportunities as much as one’s innate nature.
Through its constant twists and turns, the script tries to shift the narrative about lowlifes on its head. It presents people from the city and small towns in the stereotypical light to slowly pull the rug off our perceptions. There is a constant undercurrent of social disparity in the script that takes different definitions of pleasure and satisfaction into account. However, it only acts as fuel to develop the film’s plot into unpredictable chaos. So, despite the presence of ‘Eat the Rich’ themes, the film seems more interested in being just a wild, wild tale.
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