“Hag” is a Tubi movie to rule them all

It began, as so many things do for me these days, on Letterboxd. As great as the movie-logging social platform is for discovering films, it’s even better for being nosy. What is this person watching? What did they think about that movie? What have they added to their watchlist? While snooping around the app a few weeks ago, I noticed a friend of mine had logged a film I’d never heard of, a little Tubi Original called “Hag.”

It didn’t inspire instant faith. As far as streaming platforms go, Tubi isn’t exactly known for its prestige output. The streamer is completely free, generating its revenue from advertising. But if you’re willing to watch a couple of salad dressing commercials in the middle of your film, you’ll have access to Tubi’s vast, ever-changing content library, which, at the time of writing, includes everything from “Poor Things” and “Oldboy” to heartwrenching, unforgettable fare like “Grown Ups 2.”

Since 2020, Tubi has commissioned and licensed hundreds of original films, exclusively for its platform. Often, these movies are from up-and-coming and aspiring filmmakers from all over the world, getting their feet wet in the film industry with a unique opportunity for a global audience. And just as frequently, these films are not very good at all. On Reddit and Letterboxd, users post about weekly watch parties dubbed Tubi Tuesdays, where just about any Tubi movie is on the table. At first glance, I brushed “Hag” off as just another bad-but-enjoyable film. It had all the trappings of a Tubi Tuesday favorite: limited production value, a sensational plot, pretty people in peril — all things I enjoy, but only if the direction or script has some standalone merit outside, too. My interest in watching any film solely to make fun of it is slight.

Then, my friend logged “Hag” a second time. A third. A fourth. He was watching it once a week for a month straight. I’m hard-pressed to think of any movie I’d watch four times in a month if I didn’t genuinely admire it on some level. Maybe “Hag” was knocking on my door, trying to manifest the fate I’d been so quick to refuse. On paper, it sounds like a boon: A self-proclaimed “f*g hag” reconnects with her gay friend after a decade apart, and her growing obsession with him becomes deadly. A quietly brilliant premise, and a film no one has ever really made, despite the “hag” title perfectly primed for a tale of sick fixation. There’s something covertly chilling about taking some relatively banal aspect of real life and pushing it to its most extreme lengths — and there’s also so much that could go wrong trying. Maybe “Hag” had to be seen to be believed. Maybe there was something special waiting for me on the other side of clicking play. To say that would be an understatement in and of itself.

“Hag” sits smack-dab at the center of a four-way intersection between camp, arthouse, schlock and retro TV movie of the week. At times, it reminded me of John Carpenter’s little-seen, Lauren Hutton-starring 1978 film, “Someone’s Watching Me!,” an equally economical yet surprisingly stylish little TV movie that flaunted the still-budding horror legend’s early talents. At a sturdy 100-minute runtime, “Hag” blows past pastiche at every turn, doing laps around the thriller genre’s conventions and tropes. Writer-director Sam Wineman’s outrageous vision is the result of an obvious affinity for the genre, particularly its campier f*g/hagsploitation entries. What’s more, there are countless small yet memorable visual and narrative details to adore — things that, at first sight, look like bizarre directorial choices, but ultimately operate in the service of this gonzo story. “Hag” is not merely a fun yet unremarkable film in Tubi’s vast library; it’s a true hidden gem that speaks to the power of ambition when working with limited resources, and the treasures one can find if they’re open-minded enough to look for them.

The frugality in “Hag” is apparent from its modest start. There is no opening credits sequence, not even a single bit of pre-title exposition to get viewers acclimated to the characters or the setting. On a production like this, no second or cent can be spared. And that works just fine, as “Hag” uses every bit of its runtime to its favor, planting no less than 63 Chekov’s guns throughout the story, each one a more delicious callback than the last. “Hag” is meant to be watched, enjoyed and watched all over again, preferably with a different set of friends than the first go-round so the gospel can spread as quickly as possible. A rewatch lends itself to the trifles peppered throughout Wineman’s clever script, but there’s nothing quite like the first time seeing his film transform from its humble beginnings to its jaw-dropping final act.

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Rowan (Ryan de Villiers) is an unpretentious aspiring musician, making ends meet working as a barista at a corporate coffee shop in the lobby of a Los Angeles record label called Teal Onyx. After his boyfriend dies tragically, Rowan is forced to start from scratch, mourning the dream of the life he once had alongside his partner and trying to rent out his now-spare bedroom. While working one afternoon, a plucky new hire at the label, Mag (Jane de Wet), recognizes Rowan, realizing that they briefly dated in middle school while Rowan was still in the closet. It’s an extremely chance meeting, but these kinds of things happen all the time. In a way, maybe they were destined to reconnect. Rowan’s best friend KC (Anja Taljaard) has recently moved away, and his coworker Opal (“RuPaul’s Drag Race” alum Adore Delano) isn’t the most reliable companion. Rowan could use another friend to help him through the grieving process.

After spending a lovely, much-needed night together, Mag floats the idea of her moving in. She’s new in town, he’s got a room, why not? It would be a seemingly dependable, predictable roommate relationship, and those are hard enough to come by as it is. Before Rowan knows it, Mag has moved in and made herself comfortable, but already seems a bit overbearing, organizing girls’ nights and declaring herself “Mag the hag.” Mag is infatuated with gay culture at the level of a 17-year-old white girl who just watched her first season of “Drag Race.” She’s got “slay” and “work” sitting at the tip of her tongue, ready to rip, and it’s a blast seeing what Wineman does with this very specific archetype. When does well-meaning become problematic? In “Hag,” pretty quickly. During my first watch, I thought this would be a run-of-the-mill, substandard thriller: Establish the characters, ramp up the obsession, throw a little violence in. But when Mag asks Rowan to use a banana to show her how he performs oral sex, “Hag” takes an exciting psychosexual turn that elevates the material tenfold.

Saying too much more would spoil all of the fun to be had, but the banana is only the beginning. What follows is a cyclone of torrid passion, threesomes, industrial bleach, box cutters, blackmail, high kicks and haircuts. Wineman isn’t afraid to spelunk truly deranged depths, but what’s remarkable is how much style he incorporates into the film’s most outré moments.

In one montage, Delano sings an original song for a predatory label executive while Wineman intercuts with glimpses of Mag, alone in a dark room and lit only by the light creeping in under the door, painting the skin under her fingernails after tearing each one off in a rage. It’s positively demented, but it’s not insanity for insanity’s sake. The light on Mag is framed like a melodramatic diva’s spotlight, and the close-ups of Delano’s electric purple lip gloss and severe makeup heighten the sequence’s sense of surrealism. That the song itself is not very good at all lends to this eeriness, too. Wineman isn’t aiming for realism. Rather, he’s using a shoestring budget to concoct left-of-center sights that feel like a peek into a specific Los Angeles netherworld. I see flashes of modern neo-noirs like Paul Schrader’s “The Canyons,” and the cold but still realistic otherworldliness in David Cronenberg’s “Dead Ringers” and “The Shrouds,” filtered through a silly, gay “Single White Female’ lens.

Specific attention must also be paid to Jane de Wet’s performance, which nips at the heels of the women who led the great ’90s thrillers. De Wet maintains an unnerving smile and intensity throughout “Hag,” playing the role with as much humor as it deserves. Neither she nor Wineman bothers to give Mag a humanizing backstory. The character doesn’t need any redeeming qualities for this particular film to remain entertaining. Let de Wet do all the work, and she’ll give you the world, cutting her hair to look like Rowan’s for a Halloween party and henceforth rocking a 55-year-old mom ‘do, paired with a wardrobe of hoochie skirts and weird blouses. Oddly enough, it works. It’s believable! Every hag I’ve ever met (or had) can’t seem to pinpoint her personal style. De Wet convincingly delivers all of her tone-deaf lines with knowing wit. She’s the exact person who is so proud to know gay trivia that she doesn’t realize she’s fetishizing her friend. When someone asks Mag if she says anything she didn’t steal from queer culture, she doubles down, responding, “Where do you think you got it? Black culture didn’t get a cut of that sale either.” Inspired.

Halfway through “Hag,” I had two thoughts. The first was that I was having the time of my life. The second was that I couldn’t believe there was still so much of the film left, and I felt like so much had already happened. It’s a rare feeling to be excited about what might come next while you’re in the middle of watching a film. But this realization didn’t happen because “Hag” took me out of the action; it occurred because I was silently applauding all of its ambition and scrappy style, two things I didn’t expect from a Tubi Original. Visual elements that initially seem like clear products of a small budget actually show off what one can achieve with limited means. Here was this little film, buried in the Tubi library, just waiting to be discovered and appreciated.

It’s part of my job to check my biases at the door before watching any film, but occasionally, one or two sneak through. “Hag” slapped my remaining predispositions out of my hand, shattering them on the ground. Whatever class of film I believed I’d be getting after watching other mediocre Tubi Originals in the past, I was so very wrong about. “Hag” is a promising showcase for all involved, teeming with great ideas, splashy kills, loud laughs and a just-dreamlike-enough atmosphere to push my affection beyond irony. That something so entertaining is available for free makes it all the better. I’d watch “Hag” over the next 15 Netflix originals any day. In fact, I think I will.

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