3 hidden masterpieces on Tubi: Death to Smoochy, A Shot in the Dark, The Babadook

Polygon highlights three under-the-radar masterpieces available on Tubi right now: two comedies and one psychological horror pulled from the streaming service’s growing, ad-supported library. Death to Smoochy (2002), directed by Danny DeVito, was widely panned on release but offers a darkly comic look at a seedy children’s television world.

Robin Williams plays Rainbow Randolph, a disgraced host who spirals after a bribery bust and the loss of his show, while Edward Norton plays Sheldon Mopes, the earnest entertainer who becomes Smoochy the Rhino — and Randolph’s target. A Shot in the Dark (1964) is cited as Peter Sellers’ best outing as Inspector Jacques Clouseau.

Directed by Blake Edwards, the film adapts a play by Harry Kurnitz that had its detective replaced with Clouseau; it earned just $12 million but is praised for combining Sellers’ precise physical comedy with a satisfying mystery. Polygon notes the Pink Panther name later drove bigger box-office returns, with 1975’s The Return of the Pink Panther earning $75 million.

The Babadook (2014) is an Australian psychological horror about a grieving widow and her son haunted by a shadowy monster introduced via an unsettling book.

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