New Tubi Horror Movie ‘No Filter’ Brings to Mind Disturbing Viral Video
Whether or not it was intentional, the upcoming social-media themed horror movie No Filter might be paying tribute to a video that went viral a few years ago about a makeup tutorial gone horrifically wrong.
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Over the past couple of years, Tubi has consistently provided entertaining low-budget original movies. These “Tubi Originals” place a strong emphasis on the thriller and horror genres, making the streaming site a great (and free) destination for horror fans.
Debuting July 15th, 2023 on Tubi is No Filter, the latest horror Tubi Original. No Filter is about a high school girl, Anna (Hannah Mciver), who is a popular social influencer. Anna decides to start a new account that focuses on “horror and pranks,” but, as described in the trailer’s YouTube description, a demonic force invades her feed. Take a look at the trailer below.
No Filter looks like it will be a fun combination of screenlife horror along with a more traditionally presented possession-style movie. The trailer is definitely intriguing, and one of its most intriguing aspects is that it seems to pay tribute to a creepy video that went viral a few years ago.
Originally uploaded in 2014, “Party Make Up by Nikki” (often spelled Party Makeup by Nikki in searches) is a horror-themed short made to look like a makeup tutorial. The host, Nikki (actor and filmmaker Nakia Secrest), demonstrates how to apply eye makeup before going still and silent when a mysterious video pops up on her computer monitor. Nikki then repeatedly slams her head onto the table right in front of her camera. Her head gets bloodier with each impact, and the video ends with a large wound on her head and blood pouring down her face.
The clip went viral sometime in 2016 with the headline “Girl Goes Psycho During Makeup Tutorial” often attached to it. Amazingly, a portion of the internet apparently believed the clip was real. Of course, it isn’t real, as any horror fan could easily tell you. It is, however, a well-made creepy video, and if you were part of the online horror community in 2016, there’s a good chance you came across it at some point. People still post TikToks and write articles about “Party Make Up by Nikki” all these years later, so it clearly had an impact.
The creator of No Filter might have been impacted by Nikki’s head-smashing video as well, since parts of the trailer appear to emulate the fake-makeup-tutorial-turned-horror short. In the trailer for No Filter, you can see a clip of Anna sitting in front of a camera and spreading what could be makeup (or maybe some discolored gore) all over her face. Then, a couple of other clips show Anna smashing her head directly at a camera with blood splattering on the screen.
Whether it was an intentional homage or not (after all, makeup tutorials aren’t exactly a niche genre on the internet), Anna’s makeup video and head smash seems a lot like Nikki’s. It makes sense for a movie about internet culture and influencers to use well-known examples as inspiration for a scene. Either way, being reminded of Nakia Secrest’s video does make No Filter seem even more appealing. No Filter streams on Tubi beginning July 15, 2023.
As mentioned above, the original upload of “Party Make Up by Nikki” video is no longer on YouTube. It was presumably taken down because of the blood, violence, and its possible implications of self-harm (even though the video is presented as more of a possession-horror short than a self-harm short). The good news is, you can find the video elsewhere. Even better, the short is included as the first segment in the anthology horror film Dark Web (2017) which is currently streaming on Screambox. And if you really want to dig deep, you can find the creepy video that Nikki sees on her computer on the YouTube channel the15experience.
