TL;DR: An interesting, but typical rape-scenario horror that isn’t as gross as some say, or as deep as it intends.
Here we have a movie that, for many, might be under the radar a bit. Released on Tubi, I decided to watch it after reading about how gnarly it was.
I dunno what it is, but every once in a while you just want to stick your hand into the hole in the ground and see if you get bitten, I suppose. While I can’t say I’d ever recommend GOODBYE, UNCLE TOM or A SERBIAN FILM, I can say that as films, they aren’t as bad as some say, but they are definitely as gross as you think. The beauty of horror is that there is something for everyone, whether you want something subtle and sublime or something more akin to a sledgehammer to the head.
As I have gotten older, my interest in more extreme horror has lowered, if for no other reason than I find it less interesting. Often, the violence and extremeities is used to mask a thin plot. Not always, but too often. I certainly don’t seek out movies with rape as a central plot point. Alas, here we are.
I can’t say I knew anything going into MATCH, I just jumped in headfirst. And here’s the thing, you should do it once in a while. Just check a movie out blind. That was half the fun of the VHS era, that you’d judge the film by the box art, or movie poster, the back of the box write-up, and that was it. Sure, you find a lot of duds that way, but you can also find some bangers, like THE RITUAL, which I rewatched recently. You just never know, and that’s the fun.
Now then, with MATCH, I was curious to see how rough the film was, judging from what I had read, and whether it had more to offer than that.
Let’s see how it works out, shall we?
MATCH centers on a young woman seeking love. Using dating apps to meet men, she just doesn’t connect with any of the ones she “matches” with. Desperate to find something real, she matches with a man named Henry, who is handsome, well spoken, and interesting. Her sister seems wary of this internet mystery man, but Paola makes a date to meet him. What she finds is his mother at the address she was given, and she is told that Henry is at the doctor’s and will be along shortly. But, instead of Henry, the Henry she believed was real, she finds a house of horror, and she’ll be pushed to her limits if she wants to escape alive.
The movie is a horror thriller with rape at its heart, as we soon find. While there are thankfully no scenes of it, the film is full of sexual deviance and hints of assault. Worse, for me, was that when we meet Henry, he is immediately “othered” and made a monster due to his physical disabilities and intellectual disabilities. This was the first time I had seen a movie where I felt like it was a bridge too far. They certainly make the character monstrous with his actions, but it just felt gross. And I may be in the minority here. It happens a lot in horror, but we’re at a point where maybe it shouldn’t. Where we shouldn’t immediately make the monster someone with disabilities. Now, these are extreme in MATCH, but it’s still a very gray area that’s worth talking about.
The film commits worse sins, though in the service of the story, but there’s definitely a lot of yuck here for those looking to be shocked.
The acting is good, and I like where the story turns, but man alive, this is a brutal movie. It’s mean-hearted, and no one is held as precious here.
The story is thin and familiar, even down to the mother and son’s goal. There are no real twists to that core, though. The story is far-fetched and would have played better as a sort of fairy tale, of sorts, so that you don’t bother with logic. Once you start to question things, though, the house of horror collapses.
We never really get much of an examination of loneliness or the desperation that would lead one to take the risks the women in the film do. Instead, we get a horny woman in the restroom at her work, and weird fat shaming from dear old mom later in the film. But, if you just want a down and dirty movie that is willing to get gross and mean, then you may have found a movie you’ll love. It was decent and well-made, but it was just not gross enough to stick in my mind or good enough to stick in my movies to revisit.
It’s decent.
3 out of 5
The Spooky World of Chris Ringler 