Freaky Tales” (2024) is a movie that feels entirely unsuited for what cinema looks like in 2025, and it still would have felt antiquated had it not been held from release after its initial debut at the Sundance Film Festival in 2024. Although this anthology of Oakland crime stories takes place in 1987, its style is unquestionably influenced by the wave of 1990s independent films that used sharp dialogue and twisty storylines to engage in pulp sensibilities; the comparisons to be made with “Reservoir Dogs,” “Boyz n the Hood,” and “Trainspotting” are too innumerable to note.

However, the most glaring factor in “Freaky Tales” is how strange it feels as a theatrical experience. While there have been countless prestige miniseries from buzzy streaming services made in the last few years that could have been edited into much stronger films, “Freaky Tales” is the rare example of a narrative that would have been better suited for the small screen.