Obscurus Lupa

/wiki/Obscurus Lupacreator

Allison 'Obscurus Lupa' Pregler is a (often) red-headed female reviewer who takes on Z-grade movies, usually in the horror or martial arts genre. Basically, she does reviews like The Cinema Snob only in a sophomoric manner. She began reviewing in late 2009 and after gaining some notoriety on their forums, she became a member of the TGWTG family.

  • Obscurus Lupa Presents: Z-movies movies from the early 70's to late 90's. A "Z" movie for Lupa is something that doesn't have the capability or the budget to do something incredible. Not all the movies are bad. Some are terrible.
  • Commercial Dubs: Lupa riffs on stupid commercials from the 90's in her inimitable style.
  • Manic Episodes: Focuses on individual episodes from TV shows, usually of the Big Lipped Alligator variety. As with her movie reviews, Lupa points out inherent issues with the writing, acting and production.
  • Radu Reviews: Christian and Edutainment Show films for, kids reviewed by everybody's favorite vampire, Radu Vladislav. Radu seems to be under the impression that these films are macabre and edgy.
Obscurus Lupa provides examples of the following tropes:

A-H

  • Acting for Two /Talking To Herself:
    • During her review of 13 seconds, Lupa plays the demon from the movie who forces her to review Gerry 2: even loster.
    • The beginning of her review of Teenage Sorcery has her acting out how she thinks the conversation between the film-makers went.
    • In for her review of Blood Red Moon, Lupa also plays Jenny Perfect.
    • For Radu Reviews, she simultaneously plays Radu and Michelle, who does nothing but cry hysterically.
  • Actually Pretty Funny: While her review of Two Front Teeth starts off normally, she soon comes around to loving it.
    • Lou Ferrigno, lying in a jail cell with frog makeup on his face, going "ribbit."
  • Adult Child: When the Chick tries to do her analyzing thing, Lupa just farts in her direction.
  • Affectionate Parody: Her fake trailer for Pirahnasaur, a parody of Syfy original movies.
    • And "Lupa Tries Windex", a parody of The Cinema Snob's "Brad Tries..."
      • To further the Brad Tries parody, we now have "Allison Eats... (While Phelous Watches)".
    • Her crossover short film Roller Samurai Vampire Slayers can also be seen as this towards Zen film making.
    • "The Top 10 Hottest Animated Dogs!" (Released shortly after The Nostalgia Chick's "Top Ten Hottest Animated Guys".)
  • Alternative Character Interpretation: Invoked.
    • She interprets the gangster from Razor Sharpe Watson and his assistant being gay lovers.
    • She reckons that Billy Drago isn't even an actor, he just wanders on set and people film him.
  • Ambition Is Evil: Parodied in her "Hard to Kill" review, with her acting like a Rich Bitch to her TGWTG forum friends.
  • Angrish: When the film Mindwarp is revealed to have all been a simulation Lupa resorts to sputtering Angrish for several seconds.
    • Her reaction to Return to Frogtown turning out to be a remake.
  • Anvilicious: Comments in-universe that X-treme Fighter plays like an afterschool special about family and understanding.

Lupa: And when I think of kicking ass and taking names, I think about communication and understanding.

Lupa: Thank goodness they stated the exposition to each other. It was seamlessly awkward.

Lupa: So long Sonny, we'll always remember you for the asshole you were.

Lupa: Uh oh here comes Alyssa- the big bad, the head honcho, the big kahuna, the leader of the pure bloods, the terrifying main villain, the ultimate- oh I guess she's dead.

  • Awesome McCoolname: She admits to having no other reason for the name other than she liked it.
  • Bad Cop, Incompetent Cop: In Zombie Nation the antagonist is a serial killer cop, his partner is too stupid to notice.

Lupa: (imitating partner) So Joe, what happened to that lady you took in there and where did that duffel bag come from?

Lupa: Country Matters.
Oan: [beat] Touché.

  • Beauty Equals Goodness: "Not McDreamy! But...he's so charming and British! Accents make everything sexy, he can't be the killer! Perhaps it was some ugly person!"
  • Berserk Button:
    • Gerry.
    • All Just a Dream endings, which have appeared in numerous films that she has reviewed and which get a different angry reaction each time. She has pointed out that what bothers her the most is how these endings often do not make sense, as they often contradict previous scenes which imply that the movie is taking place in reality. She found this to be a major source of annoyance in 13 seconds, especially since the film included scenes not featuring the character whose dream it supposedly was.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: She is pretty shocked during Lady Dragon when the little boy kills a bad guy with one kick.

Lupa: Send *him* to fight Ludwig!

    • With Lupa herself, she's one of the nicer people on the site, but stalk her, not have fun or refuse to be a lady and she'll get scary. And like the apparent majority of people, she thinks making the Critic suffer is loads of fun.
  • Big No: Used in her review of "Razor Sharpe". It was totally Justified.
    • When the Little Miss Gamer lookalike gets wasted in Blood Red Moon.

Lupa: You were the best of us! {{[[[Military Salute]] salute!}}]

    • While sitting through Mindwarp, something about the desert landscape reminds her something... [cue shot from Gerry] Lupa lets out a scream.
    • When Sleepy Hollow High is revealed to be just a dream.
    • When she realizes there's an eighth Howling movie.
    • Coupled with a Big OMG while watching We Wish You a Turtle Christmas.

"How long is this? [looks at running time] 25 minutes? Nooooooooo--"

    • Shouted this when Toady, the chainsaw-wielding Frog Man, was defeated by Roddy Piper. Realizing he's supposed to be the villain, Lupa half-heartedly follows it up with, "yeeeeesss."
  • Big Yes: YES! YES!! FROOOOOOOG BAAAAAAANNNNND! :D (Return to Frogtown)
  • Billing Displacement: Her review of "X-treme Fighter" observes that despite Cynthia Rothrock being one of the main stars on the cover, she is only in the film for five minutes.
  • Non Sequitur Episode: The concept of Manic Episodes.
  • Blah Blah Blah: The Corey Haim Translator. "Blah blah blah 90s mannerisms blah blah duuude! Goofy face!"
    • Hell Comes to Frogtown in 4 words: BOOBS BOOBS AWKWARD BOOBS
  • Blooper: Featured during the end credits of the review.
  • Boring Invincible Hero: Cynthia Rothrock in several of her movies.

Lupa: (mock whisper) I'm going to spoil it for you- Cynthia Rothrock kicks people. A LOT!

Lupa: Rothrock and Norton together again? It must be Tuesday!

  • Calling Your Attacks: Is amused that the title character in China O Brien does this and explains the effects for no reason.

China: This causes dislocation in the shoulder, or the elbow!
Lupa: (Imitating thug) Who are you talking to?

  • The Cameo:
    • The opening of "Hard to Kill" has cameos by several of her friends and colleagues from the TGWTG forums, including Diamanda Hagan, Audible Underwear of Music Video Theater 3000, Apollo Z. Hack, and Nash of What The Fuck Is Wrong With You??
    • Her (at the time) boyfriend Jeremiah made several cameos in her videos, either as himself or other characters.
    • The Cinema Snob has a cameo at the end of Shark Attack 3, confused why his theme song was used over the end credits. He also provides the narration for the trailer of Pirahnasaur
    • In her review of the third and fourth Phantasm films, Lupa is confronted by Angry Joe.
    • At the end of the Birdemic review, The Cinema Snob fights off poorly-animated birds, whilst Todd in the Shadows tries to save her from them and is killed off-camera. She remarks that, as far as any viewers know, Todd might be black.
      • Todd also appears as the composer of The Black Ninja's theme.
      • Todd, along with Paw Dugan and The Nostalgia Chick's friends Elisa (who along with Paw even pops up into frame to scream "CAMEO!") and Nella appear in her crossover with the Chick.
    • Linkara appears to give background on Nick Fury.
    • Phelous (as Shredder) sings "I'll Be Home For Christmas" in its entirety. He carries a tune better than the entire TMNT Chistmas special.
  • Canada, Eh?: While reviewing Teen Sorcery after hearing Michael's pronunciation of "sorry". Lupa, dressed in winter wear, says "I'm definitely not Canadian."
  • Canis Latinicus: In proper Latin, her name should be "Lupa Obscura".
  • Cannot Tell a Joke: Radu needs to work on his material.

"A horse walks into a bar, and the bartender is like, "'Ey, horse, get out of my bar!" And the horse is like, "Neigh", 'cause it's a horse. (beat) And the bartender's like, "I throw you out." (falls silent)

Lupa: You couldn't jam a few Christmas lights into a shoe box or something? You had to CGI the controls?

  • Covers Always Lie:
    • She mentions how the man on the cover of Vampire Assassin is not in the movie, nor is the scene depicted on the cover of 13 seconds.
    • She says that the cover of Teen Sorcery, instead of making you think the movie will be better than it is, makes it look terrible in a different way.
    • She also notes that the vampire-y looking fellow on the cover of Blood Red Moon is nowhere in the film.
  • Creator Thumbprint:
    • Oh, she looooooooves Cynthia Rothrock.
    • Werewolves. Which is fitting, considering the whole Lupa part of her name.
    • Kate Hodge of She Wolf of London "fame". And after Lupa gets through her filmography, poor Kate will wish she had stayed anonymous.

"Was she in this? Whoopsie!"

Lupa: So yeah, much to my surprise the bumbling lumber workers lose!

Slovak: I decided to kill her. Decided to take her life.
Lupa:' Yeah, that'll be what killing her meant.

    • Lupa invoked this herself while pointing out a before-they-were-famous Hillary Swank in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She's won Academy Awards and Oscars!
    • In her review of Howling VII she refers to two characters as Inspector Detective and Father Priest.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: She lampshades the absurdity of this trope in Razor Sharpe.

Lupa: So you're jealous of another martial artist who is working on a movie with you and might be slightly better. So you frame him for murder and hire an army of guys to battle him? Don't you think you're over-reacting just a little bit?

Lupa: WHAT? Tony gets a car explosion and Cynthia Rothrock gets thrown off a truck? Bullshit! [double take] He's still alive? Double bullshit!"

Welshy: Oh my god! She got another one. Film Brain now is in love with Obscurus Lupa.

    • Her crossover review of Simon Sez with The Critic added 90's Kid

90's Kid: Hey can I do the crossover with you guys?
Nostalgia Critic: No!
90's Kid: But I wrote a script. Here i'll read it to you: 90's Kid and Lupa make out. No wait, that's my fanfiction. Oh here it is! 90's Kid and Lupa make out!

    • The Blockbuster Buster's Nerdlinger faints everytime a poster of Lupa pops up. Even ERod uses this to make Nerdlinger stop interrupting.

ERod: I wonder why only nerdy goobers are attracted to this girl.

  • Dude, Not Funny: Her in-universe reaction to Johnny laughing at Mark's story in The Room about a woman ending up in a hospital.

Lupa: Is that really a laughing moment?

Lupa: RAPE IS NOT FUNNY!

Lupa: I don't know how he can go from hysterical screaming to naive forgiveness without changing his facial expression, but somehow, Tommy Wiseau manages to do it.

    • She remarks that Ron Hall, the actor/director/writer of Vampire Assassin, has one facial expression.

Character: I know that look.
Lupa: It's like every other look you've given, cold and emotionless.

  • Dyeing for Your Art: Lupa is a natural blonde, but has had red hair for the majority of her series. When she released her commentary for Undefeatable, her first video review, she explained that she has been changing her hair color regularly for most of her life, and that her first few videos (Including Undefeatable) caught her at a rare moment when she had returned to her natural color.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Invoked.
    • She says that the woman in Zombie Nation who inexplicably delivers a Cluster F-Bomb because Joe Singer refuses to sell her a sofa is her favorite character in the film.
    • She also remarks the father figure in Vampire Assassin is the best actor, and is annoyed he only has two scenes. (And with good reason: He's Dolemite!!)
    • In the same movie she says the random guy in the police line up who helps the hero out is a better protagonist and fighter than the lead and wishes he was the hero instead.
    • In The Howling VII she's far, far more enamored with one of the townsfolk named Pappy than she is with any of the main characters.
  • Everyone Is Related: Fresh off the revaluation that the Police Chief is the father of Undefeatable's male leads (at least according to Godfrey Ho's Chinese dub), Ed Glaser pops up to reveal that he's Lupa's long-lost brother.

Ed: Hehe, what a schmuck.

  • Everything's Better with Dinosaurs: She admits that, for all the insanity of the episode "Cyberwoman" from Torchwood, a cyborg woman fighting a pterodactyl is pretty cool.
  • Every Car Is a Pinto: She notices during Lady Dragon 2 in the car chase scene Diego's car explodes twice and he still survives.
  • "Everybody Laughs" Ending: Lupa splices in clips of various Laughing Mad sequences (including Bruce Campbell!) to make light of how little sense Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3's ending makes.
    • Undefeatable has one. What bugs Lupa is that it happens when the group of characters are at the grave of the heroine's dead sister.
    • Shark Attack 3 had a standard laughing ending, prompting Lupa to start playing "Believe It Or Not" over the credits.
  • Eyepatch of Power: Worn while reviewing Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD. When in Rome...
  • Face Palm: Lou Ferrigno stumbling around sleepily, lying down, and then being held up by a gun-toting frog. Who goes RIBBIT. (cut to Lupa burying her face in her hands)
  • Fan Disservice: Her opinion on a mud wrestling scene in Lady Dragon "I'm glad you picked the most unattractive people for that."
    • Seems to have this reaction to most nudity and sex in the movies she reviews, actually.
  • Fan Service:
    • Lupa strips down to a sports bra for her battle with Angry Joe at the end of her series of Phantasm reviews.
  • Fate Worse Than Death: Lupa traps Angry Joe in Gerry.
  • Fauxshadow: Points out in The Howling reboot once lines have been revealed as fauxshadowing, there needs to be another reason why the characters would have said them.
  • Fiery Redhead
  • Fight Scene Failure: In-universe.
    • Another issue she has with Razor Sharpe, particularly as it was made to show off the star's fighting abilities. It gets to the point where Lupa declares she can choreograph a better fight scene, we then cut to her and her friends fighting with toy guns set to Ghost Love Score.
    • She also points out in Undefeatable that several kicks and punches obviously don't make contact.
    • During the poorly staged fights in Blood Red Moon she takes to singing "fail" to the tune of eine kleine nachtmusik.
  • Film Felons: She was thoroughly unimpressed by the application of this trope in Razor Sharpe, pointing out that Sharpe should really have been more suspicious of the fact that the "film" he was in lacked a script, rehearsals and really almost everything you need to make a film.
  • Flat What: Does one in the "Fatal Deviation" review, when confronted with a naked, cowboy-hat wearing man, taking a bath outside. She has no comprehension of who he is or why he is in the movie.
  • Follow the Leader:
    • Remarks that Teen Sorcery is an attempt to ride on the coat-tails of The Craft, but instead of tackling issues like corruption and abuse of power, they decided to make it kid friendly.
    • Points out that Vampire Assassin is so much of a Blade rip-off even the poster is a knock off of the one for Blade 2.
  • Foreshadowing: Is annoyed by it frequently happening in The Fly II.
  • Forgotten Fallen Friend: Billy, Jake's partner of eight years in Stakes, is forgotten about pretty quickly.
  • For the Evulz: The only reason she can think of why the Corrupt Hick in China O Brien keeps a woman tied to a bed.
  • Formally-Named Pet: The Heteronormative Crusader's pet cat in Ben & Arthur. "Did you here that, Mr. McFluffycross? He wants to go to college!"
  • Freudian Excuse: Notices this in both Undefeatable and Zombie Nation to which she remarks, "Not another antagonist with mommy issues."
  • Funny Background Event: The "cat salute" in the Blood Red Moon review
  • Gag Dub: Trailer Dubs and where she redubs the voices and sound effects of the trailers for obscure b-movies. Later followed by Commercial Dubs.
  • Genki Girl: Lupa seems to love dearly every bad movie she reviews.
    • Exaggerated in the Honor and Glory review, to contrast with The Nostalgia Chick.
    • The exception comes for the movies she really tears into, like 13 Seconds and Pocket Ninjas.
  • Gibberish of Love: Todd in the Shadows screws up yet another attempt to ask her out in her Honor and Glory review with The Nostalgia Chick.
  • Girly Run: "If your villain runs like a sissy, you probably need a casting change."
  • Good Times Montage: Lupa shares some girl bonding time with Cythia Rothrock—sort of. Actually, she spends the montage chatting and prancing around with a bunch of Rothrock DVDs. (A Seagal film somehow slips into the pile, but Lupa throws it away.)
  • Gosh Darn It to Heck: "Oh, horse hooey!"
  • Gray Rain of Depression: Used in Lady Dragon.

Lupa: Hey look, dramatically convenient rain.

  • Ha Ha Ha No: Her reaction to Pocket Ninja's attempts at 'humor'. Before long, Lupa's chuckles have devolved into sobs.

"HAHAHAHA go fuck yourself."

  • Hard Work Montage: Upon hearing China O Brien will be running for sheriff Lupa declares "You know what that means. A hardcore campaigning montage!"
  • Heh Heh, You Said "X": The American Ninja sequels, starting with #2! "Heh, number two."
  • Heroic BSOD: During the American Ninja reviews, Lupa makes a running gag of dubbing humerous music over the fight scenes. American Ninja 4 however is so bad that the last fight scene is accompanied by, rather than music, Lupa sobbing.
  • Hey, That's My Line!: Lupa mimicking Oan's "Huzzah!"

Oan: Only I get to say "huzzah."

Lupa: That's got to be the most humiliating thing. You spend your whole life training to be a ninja and what do they hire you for? To hold the flag.

Sally: I'm studying for my second phD.
Lupa: Hoo hoo, it's still funny.

Lupa: Yeah, because if you tint everything blue makes it night time. Clearly.

[[[Flashback Cut]] to Lupa sobbing with a mouthful of chips]
Lupa: ANNNNNGELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!

    • She does a list of "The Top 10 Hottest Animated Dogs", but acts sickened at people who find the mice from The Great Mouse Detective to be attractive.

"Eww! You actually thought that? No, it's the fucking dog you weirdo. I can't even ... I'm scared to continue with this list now; I feel like a bunch of perverts are watching."

    • Radu scoffs at Super Christian for still living with his mother, only to be shouted at by his own "mommy" (also the show's producer).
    • He then complains about the sequel, which shows the first Super Christian playing on a film projector. "They're riffing they're own movie? Who the hell does that?" (cut to Radu watching Subspecies)

"The Bloodstone is mine!" (SPLORK!)
Radu: Hah! Stefan, what an idiot! Heh heh! That is classic Radu.


I-P

  • I Know Karate: The number of people in Undefeatable that turn out to know martial arts leads Lupa to declare she would not be surprised if it turned out a kid in a grocery store scene turned out to know karate too.
  • I Remember It Like It Was Yesterday: She begins her tenth episode saying it feels like only four months ago when she started. This is followed by a montage of her previous reviews. Subverted when Apollo Z Hack phones to point out ten episodes is not a big achievement, particularly when The Nostalgia Critic did a hundred episodes.
  • Ice Cream Koan: She was extremely confused by the bizarre ramblings about "fate and destiny" delivered by the villain of Vampire Assassin.

Slovak: Fate and destiny are but two sides of a worthless coin that should be given to a baker on skid row!
Lupa: WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?

Lupa: Like, thirty automatic guns can't hit one person?

    • During one gun fight in Angel of Fury she gets annoyed and snaps "Somebody get hit!"
    • Averted in Hard to Kill, "Unfortunately for Storm the dirty cops hired the only lackies who could aim."
    • Also used in China O'Brien, where a stream of bullets hits just one person offscreen.

Lupa: Her election party, however, is interrupted by a shooter who really hates party decorations and pickle jars. Maybe it would help if he aimed at the people.

  • Infant Immortality:
    • Played straight in Witchery much to her annoyance.
    • Averted in Angel of Fury but done in such a narmtastic way she giggles nonstop.
  • Inferred Holocaust: Vampegeddon has its heroine, Liz, get possessed by the ghost of the (male) vampire hunter Longshank. At the end of the film, she's still being possessed, and it's implied it's a permanent effect.

Lupa: Haha! I guess Liz has faded out of existence, then.

  • Insult to Rocks: She says that The Room is this generation's Troll 2, but that would be a disservice to Troll 2.
    • On that note, Ben & Arthur is viewed by some as the gay counterpart to The Room. "But at least The Room was filmed decently."
  • Ironic Echo: She spots this trope a mile off in Lady Dragon.

Lupa: I hope he doesn't betray her predictably later on and she repeats that line back to him thus making it ironic. he does.

  • Ironic Hell: Angry Joe blows up Lupa's car, exiling her to Reviewer Limbo.
    • She later gets revenge by trapping him in Gerry.
  • It Got Worse: "Augh!! Splinter's worse! SPLINTER'S WOOOOORSE!"
  • It Will Never Catch On: "But whoever heard of a musical set in high school being a success? Am I right?"
  • Just a Stupid Accent: Shark Attack 3 is set Mexico "where everyone speaks English, but with a slight accent".
  • Jump Cut:
    • She mocks the number of times this is used in Lady Dragon.
    • She also does this herself in her review of Undefeatable.
  • Kaleidoscope Hair: The commentary for Undefeatable explained that she had been changing her hair color regularly for most of her life, and that her first few videos (including Undefeatable) caught her at a rare moment when she had returned to her natural color.
  • If You Know What I Mean: Corey Haim teaching a girl how to drive stick. "It's kinda like this, it's in an' out, in and..."

Lupa: (In case you missed the double entendre, the stick is his penis.)

Lupa: It doesn't have to make sense! It's a Cynthia Rothrock movie.

    • The Rule of Rothrock also applies to Fast Getaway 2. Do clothes washers explode in real life?
  • Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: While girlier than The Nostalgia Chick who also has this dynamic with the Critic, she's the masculine girl to Critic's feminine boy in both Suburban Knights and their crossover.
  • Massive Multiplayer Crossover: A Day In The Life of Tommy Wiseau has multiple contributors from TGWTG (Doug Walker, The Cinema Snob, Phelous, Linkara and Todd in the Shadows) appearing as multiple versions of Tommy Wiseau. (Todd just imitates him... while everyone else has a Wiseau wig!)
  • Meaningful Name:
    • Lupa's name is an aversion, as she explained that her name does not mean she only does obscure movies, it is Latin for "Dark She-Wolf" (Explanation here. Basically, her name should've been obscura lupa). It is rather unfortunate, though, that lupa was also Latin slang for "prostitute".
    • She sarcastically goes "subtle movie" during her Teen Sorcery review when we find out the love interest's surname is Charming.
  • Meganekko: Lupa sports glasses in her Hell Comes to Frogtown video. Muy bien.
  • Men Are Uncultured: Inverted in her crossover review of Hamlet the Vampire Slayer with Oancitizen. She's excited about the vampire drama and poop jokes while Kyle panics over what's been done to Shakespeare.
  • Metaphorgotten: Use when describing the plot of The Black Ninja: "The plot goes like so: it's Daredevil, but he isn't blind, and doesn't have superpowers. Yep. That's it."
  • Milking the Giant Cow: "Yes! Yes!! Robo Vampire LIIIIIIIIIIVES!"
  • Moment Killer: Qualifies even if it's not a romantic moment. Lupa and Film Brain decide to part ways when after the review is finished Todd in the Shadows emerges from the bed behind them.
    • In another non-romantic moment, Lupa the Nostalgia Chick are friendly after watching Hope And Glory together, until Todd appears and Lupa's stinging rejection of him causes the Chick to attack her.
  • Mook Chivalry:
    • Points out that in one fight scene in China O'Brien, the Mooks are kind enough to fight Richard Norton's character one at a time.
    • In the Fatal Deviation review she explains, naming the trope, that the bar parons need to remember their manners and attack one at a time.
  • My Friends and Zoidberg: The credits to her crossover review with the Nostalgia Chick include "Special thanks to Nella, Elisa and Paw. (Oh, and Todd in the Shadows, whatever)."
  • Name McAdjective: Refers to characters in Witchery as Whorey McArchitect and Captain McMustardstain.
    • She calls one of the astronauts from Alien Apocalypse Whiny McWhinypants
    • Fatal Deviation's hero, Jimmy Bennett (played by James Bennett), might have benefited from a more creative name. Like "Paddy McLightning", or 'Fisticuffs McHoulahan".
    • British McBrittyton, whom you might remember from Eastenders.

"But before that, he had Desire!"

  • Narm Charm: Often invoked, as she'll conclude that a film had nonsensical writing, laughable effects and silly acting, which is exactly why it's so entertaining.
  • Nightmare Fuel: Lupa and Iron Liz's in-universe reaction to the "children's" movie Gooby.
  • Non-Actor Vehicle: Gymkata is such a film which prompts Lupa to state, "Just because you're an athlete doesn't mean you're an actor."
    • She's reviewed a slew of these, including City Dragon, Razor Sharpe and Vampire Assassin. Cynthia Rothrock started out this way too, but has at least made a career out of it.
  • Not Even Bothering with the Accent: "Oh ho Richard Norton, we meet again. You're not going to try to pull off an American accent? Not even just a little? You're just the random Australian guy again?"
  • "Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: She stresses that yes, a setting that is clearly a warehouse is meant to be a police station in Zombie Nation.
    • Yes, the father from Bloody Mary Killer is infamous fim producer Godfrey Ho.
  • Obligatory Joke:

"I'm sorry, it was low-hanging fruit, I had to do it!! I'm nothing but a hack!!"

  • Off-the-Shelf FX: Much to Lupa's disbelief, a Game Cube is used as a prop in a science lab in X-treme Fighter. Even worse, the virtual reality helmet is a bicycle helmet with Christmas lights on it. This prompts her to apologize to Stakes for making fun of their CGI.
    • Also, in Hercules in New York Film Brain points out the crystal ball is "the clearest fish bowl the props crew could find".
  • Obviously Evil:The corporate execs in Shark Attack 3 "Buh, ha ha, it's great being evil money grabbing douchebags!"
    • Jokes about this with one character from Angel of Fury.

Lupa: I'm squirrely and greasy, why don't you trust me?

Lupa: Come on, the mullet alone should have tipped you off lady.


Q-Z

(Lupa as) Mook: I only have one week till retirement! [Gets shot] Oh, the irony!

"I got the results of the test back, I definitely just pooped myself."

    • Almost every time slow-motion is used in a film, she begins to speak in slow motion as well.
    • She adds the montage song from Lady Dragon whenever there is, well, a montage. She does not seem very fond of it ("I got the courage to FAH-EEET!").
    • "...Da (villain)!" *ominous music sting* *extreme zoom-in* (Misaimed on the side of her mouth.)
    • "There won't be another ____ for months."
    • As noted, the *extreme zoom-in* with a blaring music sting is also used specifically for bad ie: obvious plot twists; two in succession in her latest review - a crossover with The Cinema Snob prompted him to Lampshade Hanging appropriately -

Snob: What the fuck was that?!

Jack: Brad! Brad!
Lupa: Brad! Brad! Do you hear me Brad? Brad! Your name is Brad!

  • Self-Deprecation:
    • She remarks Pterodactyl is as stupid as someone bitching about the continuity in a film then getting the facts wrong themselves. She then looks away sheepishly.
    • During the opening moments of Razor Sharpe Lupa apologizes, thinking she put in one of her old theatre tapes by accident.
    • In her intro to her review of one of the later Cynthia Rothrock movies she showed a clip of her review of Lady Dragon and then remarks that it needed work.
  • Sexophone: Pointed out in her Hard To Kill review: "CUE SEXY SAXOPHONE MUSIC". Later it is played again, and Lupa questions why it is being used there - when the main character is being told that a nurse has been killed.
  • Shaped Like Itself: While talking about her experience at MAGfest.

Lupa: The ironic thing about going to a gaming convention when you are not a gamer is going to a gaming convention when you are not a gamer.

    • During her Teen Sorcery review:

Lupa: Wow, this movie has all the wit and charm of something without wit and charm.

    • A running gag in Desire, which bills itself as an 'erotic thriller'.

"This scene is erotically thrilling!"

  • Shout-Out: Now has its own page.
  • Slasher Smile: It can get just a tad creepy sometimes.
  • Slow No: Her reaction to Sleepy Hollow High's "Fuck You" ending. All Just a Dream? Lupa is disappoint.
  • Smash Cut: "Oh yeah, I almost forgot the one lyric of The Black Ninja's theme song. *scoffs* I'd like to meet the genius who came up with that."

Todd in the Shadows: [scribbles lyrics] This movie's gonna make me!

  • Smurfing: The squiddly-doos. (The Hidden 2)

"It's a perfect time for the squiddly-doos to attackiddly-doo!"

Lupa: I hope nothing bad happens like you getting gunned down, that would be the worst time for that to happen. Nooo, you're dying in my arms dramatically!

  • Something Completely Different: She did a series of three Manic Episode videos as a recap of the series She Wolf of London, with her going into details of what she liked and did not like about the series as a whole. After that she did a video detailing the Top 10 moments of Tales of the Gold Monkey.
  • Soundtrack Dissonance: She is really good at putting rather hilarious soundtracks to scenes in some of the movies she reviews.
    • For Vampire Assassin, she played the "Sad Walking Away Music" from the old Incredible Hulk show when "Vampire Hulk" gets staked.
    • For Razor Sharpe she dubs the Pina Colada song over the final fight sequence
    • Although she is puzzled during Zombie nation in scenes of the zombies mutilating people the soundtrack is upbeat, europop music.
    • She remarks the underwater fight scene in Lady Dragon appears to be set to elevator music, and in the sequel she states maybe they should not have used synthesizer trumpets during a fight scene.
    • She notes that Fatal Deviation has this throughout the film... and then proceeds to add hilariously inappropriate music anyway.

Lupa: Yeah... James Benett apparently thought that pop songs are what gets the blood boiling for us action fans. Get used to this hilariously inappropriate soundtrack.

    • In The Fly II, Martinfly breaking into a company and killing people in gross ways is accompanied by R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly".
    • Her Radu Reviews show uses I'm walking on sunshine as theme music, set to all the gory deaths (including by sunlight) the vampire Radu suffered in his movie series.
  • Special Effects Evolution: Lupa's death by car bomb. The 'explosion' varies in cheesiness between each video.
  • Special Effect Failure: In-universe.
    • In Shark Attack 3: Megalodon the footage of the shark attacking people is so bad it prompts her to laugh out loud, particularly as they keep recycling the same shot.
    • The puppet work in Pterodactyl, to the point she inserts the footage into the title sequence of Dinosaurs
    • In Vampire Assassin she quips, "You know things are great when you open on a photostill."
    • More like Prop Failure, but in Razor Sharpe, she points out that the hero's girlfriend's gravestone moves when he puts his hand on it. And also that it has someone else's name on it.
    • Birdemic. See that page for an explanation.
  • Spider Sense: "My Bad Movie Sense is tingling."
  • Split Screen: Lupa's reaction shots.
  • Spoof Aesop: "Personally, I'm of the mindset that anyone who claims to able to smell your lack of underwear should be avoided at all costs, serial killer or no."
    • Radu Reviews a movie about traffic safety. "These animations and musical numbers help me remember these easy steps! Now I, too, can murder people on the highway!"
  • Squick: Invoked.
    • Like many, she was horrified by the shot of Tommy Wiseau's naked ass in The Room
    • She's squicked by the awkward sex scene in Razor Sharpe
    • She's grossed out in X-treme Fighter that the computer programme designed by Jack's father begins hitting on him.

Lupa: What is this, Flowers in the attic?

    • She finds it a little creepy that Cynthia Rothrock's character in Angel of Fury befriending a girl named Sarah. She cut to a picture of Chris Hansen saying "Ok boys I'm going in." Complete with a caption saying Paedo Hunt.
  • Stalking Is Love: Blood Red Moon being a Twilight knock-off features this.

Lupa: At least Edward Cullen stood more than six feet away when he was stalking someone.

Jonathan: Morning princess.
Lupa: Ready for some forced sexual tension?

    • Something similar occurs between Justin Sharpe and Diana in Razor Sharpe.

Lupa: OK, I guess we don't need any lead up for this. Or chemistry.

...I am five minutes closer to death now.

  • Stylistic Suck:
    • In Pterodactyl, Lupa replaces the previous episode's song with a "crappy montage" set to I'll Tumble 4 Ya.
    • Her Lady Dragon 2 review climaxes with a stylistically sucky montage of her goofing around with her Cynthia Rothrock movie collection set to Wake me up before you go go
    • She finishes her Teen Sorcery review with some bad dancing set to the song played at the big dance at the end of the film.
  • Suspiciously Specific Denial: "So, like, I'm totally not doing anything illegal, 'specially if I found a puppy one time, and maybe things got out of hand, and I had this whole lawsuit going on, but, I mean, nothing really happened, and I paid for the cab, so like, what's the problem?"
  • Take That: On Peterodactyl she says it stars Coolio "So you know the star power is abundant in this one."
    • She remarks Tommy Wiseau is "Like the French Borat if he didn't realise he was the French Borat."
    • On hearing that the wooden child character in Witchery's name is Tommy she observes that at last they knew Tommy Wiseau's origins.
    • You might remember Vincent Kartheiser as Sean from Alaska ("Aww!") and Connor from Angel ("Aww.")
    • During Witchery, which stars David Hasselhoff, Lupa uses footage from the infamous drunken burger eating video.
    • Regarding Ulli Lommel, the director of Zombie Nation Lupa quips he is like Uwe Boll except Uwe Boll has funding.

Lupa: I'm shitting you not, folks, I've found a director worse than Uwe Boll.

    • There have been several shots aimed at the movie Gerry, which Lupa claims to be the worst film she has ever seen.
    • When Lupa's saddened she has not done as many episodes as The Nostalgia Critic, Apollo Z Hack says at least Lupa did not come up with Melvin brother of the joker.
    • As Dawn begins her first day of school in Teen Sorcery Lupa gives a narration mocking Twilight. "It's not easy being pretty and liked by everyone."
    • Radu's critique of Jurassic Park. "It was a movie directed by Steven Springsteen, who has a band I think. It was adapted from the book Great Expectations, which was written a shit-load of a long time ago. Together with the help of Colonel Sanders, Merlin, The Fly, some children, and some boobs must fight the dinosaurs, but in the end the dinosaurs win out. It was pretty cool. ...This was followed by one sequel and one piece of horseshit. End report."
  • Tempting Fate: Lupa was so enthused about the frog band in Return to Frog Town that the universe snapped back at her with the frog lounge singers.
  • That Poor Cat: "Checkers! You're a zombie!!"
  • The Dog Was the Mastermind: The final reveal of the killer in Desire, which Lupa considers pretty far-fetched.
  • This Is for Emphasis, Bitch: "EAT Product Placement, BITCH!"
  • Title Drop: A Running Gag in the Fast Getaway reviews.
    • The Howling. *extreme zoom-in*
      • And for the last one:

 Lupa: The Howling! (Beat}) Eight!*extreme zoom-in*

    • Blood Red Moon starts, aptly-enough, on a blood-red moon. "More like Pepto-Bismol moon."
  • To Make a Long Story Short: Howling 8, tl:dr edition:

 Lupa: WHY?!

  • Toilet Humour: During a death scene in Vampire Assassin, Lupa substitutes fart sounds for the hero's Inelegant Blubbering.
    • Slips in an impromptu fart joke after she finds herself lavishing too much praise on Cursed 2005. "We can't have that."
    • In Honor and Glory, Lupa and Nostaligia Chick fart out the theme to Beverly Hills Cop.

 NChick: What did we eat?

    • In the Kickassia commentary she did with Linkara, Phelous, and Nash, she mentioned her desire to dub fart noises into Spoony's Insano transformation sequence.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Girly Girl to the Nostalgia Chick's Tomboy.
    • Although their reviewing choices are reversed. Especially Lupa's love for schlocky action movies is not what you'd call Girly.
  • Too Dumb to Live: The Designated Heroes from Magic Island, who she notes would realistically die quite quickly into their buccaneering career.

 Good plan, Morgan, just jumping in there when you're outnumbered and they have a gun. How are you alive?!

  • Too Happy to Live: Has a meter running in Angel of Fury to measure the amount of badness that will happen to the main character in proportion to how happy they are at the moment.
  • Totally Radical: She jokes that X-treme Fighter was named this due to a mistaken belief it was 1994, not 2004.
    • "He's the hippest happenin' hotcat, yo! [beat] That's...uh...th-that's what they say nowadays, right? (Rage and Honor)
  • Training Montage: During a montage in Razor Sharpe the review cuts to Lupa doing one which ends with her passing out after one sit up.
    • Lupa does one in preparation for her Lady Dragon 2 review, set to the music from the first Lady Dragon. We see her exercise her thumb via a DVD remote, box a guy with a sign reading "RICHARD NORTON" taped to his chest, and bench-press her cat.
  • Troperiffic: Being a show about critical deconstruction of B-movies, this is pretty much unavoidable.
  • Unfortunate Implications: During Alien Apocalypse she says "there's nothing wrong with the only black character in the film being a slave."
  • Unfortunate Names: "Ah yes, the newest production from Rapi Films."
  • Unnecessary Combat Roll: Crops up in Gymkata.

 Lupa: Did you see how that flip helped me to bludgeon you with the box more efficiently?

 Lupa: (as Watson) I'm not sure where I'm from exactly, but I love to overact.

  • What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: In keeping with the site-wide Running Gag, she tends to play "Ghost Love Score" whenever she deems it necessary, such as a fight scene in Vampire Assassin where a secondary character who never even gets a name punches out a vampire while dragging the unconscious protagonist with the other hand.
  • Wire Fu: After a lackluster example in Xtreme Fighter she comments "just because you have wirework available doesn't mean you should use it."
  • Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him:
    • When reviewing the Phantasm movies, Lupa wonders why the Tall Man does not just kill Reggie.

 Tall Man: Small man, your end approaches but not yet.
Lupa: Why? Why can't you kill him now? How do you know when his time is? Are you psychic now? You can't make up powers all willie nillie.

    • Lupa is baffled during Hard to Kill when the villain's henchmen wait until Storm comes out of a seven year coma before trying to kill him again, instead of finishing him off when he was vulnerable.
    • Likewise in Magic Island, she questions why Blackbeard didn't just kill Jack and Lily after getting the treasure map from them.
  • WTH Costuming Department: In-universe, upon seeing one of Cynthia Rothrock's outfits in Lady Dragon 2 Lupa asks if she raided Madonna's wardrobe.

 Lupa: It's girl pow- what the hell is she wearing?

  • Worst Whatever Ever: Gotta Get a Gift For Splinter. The worst Christmas song—nay, the worst song ever.
  • X Meets Y: Describes the masks worn by the villains of Lady Dragon 2 as a cross between Doctor Doom and Jason Voorhees. "You know, stupid."
  • You Keep Using That Word:
    • She remarks that despite the film being called Pterodactyl, the creatures featured are in fact pteranodons, which are not dinosaurs.
    • The word 'karma' gets used a lot in Lady Dragon in a way that does not mean what the film-makers seem to think.
    • The villain in Vampire Assassin keeps muttering about "fate or destiny" as if they were not synonyms.
  • Younger Than They Look: In her Undefeatable commentary, she says that she looks about 30 in it, but was actually 19 at the time of the video, and is 21 at the time of the commentary.
  • Your Mind Makes It Real: She is confused when this trope shows up in X-treme fighter.

 Lupa: You realise that's not how virtual reality works, right?

 DA HOWLING. [zoom]

  1. ↑ Radu Reviews
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