Film

The Disappearance of Toby Blackwood

A post-pandemic comedy mystery about two friends searching for their vanished conspiracy-theorist buddy. Scrappy and deliberately awkward, it's the kind of low-budget indie that swings for absurdist laughs and doesn't always connect, but commits completely to its weirdness. For people who like their mysteries unsolved and their humour a bit unhinged.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy small-scale mysteries played for laughs, where a half-baked investigation by amateurs runs on awkward banter and the absurd side of internet paranoia.

Skip it if you need a tight plot or a steady escalation, since this one meanders in loose, shaggy detours and its jokes land unevenly across its short running time.

What it asks of you: It runs about an hour and a quarter and stays loose, so it wants patience for scrappy wandering and a willingness to let the lightly comic tone carry you between thin clues.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Inherent Vice2014

A detective story that's less interested in solving anything than in the shaggy, paranoid mood of conspiracy thinking itself. Paul Thomas Anderson's riff on noir is funny, strange, and genuinely unmoored in ways that feel kindred.

But It's deliberately oblique and doesn't resolve neatly. The plot can feel like it's dissolving even as you watch, which frustrates people who want clarity.

Inherent Vice poster

Wet Hot American Summer2001

Low-budget comedy about a specific community that knows exactly what joke it's telling and commits harder than the premise deserves. David Wain's absurdist energy and the cast's willingness to be ridiculous will feel familiar.

But The humour is very much of its era and skews male in ways that haven't aged smoothly. Some jokes land on luck rather than craft.

Wet Hot American Summer poster

The Lobster2015

Yorgos Lanthimos builds a completely internal logic where nothing makes sense but everything is sincere. Like *Toby Blackwood*, it's a film that trusts its own weird rules more than conventional storytelling.

But It's austere and strange in ways that can feel punishing. There's no warmth and very little that reads as 'fun' in the traditional sense.

The Lobster poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Disappearance of Toby Blackwood

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Booth at the End2010

Both are low-budget mystery-comedies built from specific character constraints and weird social situations rather than conventional narrative. They're more interested in tone and character logic than explanation.

A web series from Xander Mobus where a mysterious man at a booth grants wishes—and people arrive to report on completing them. It's built from constraint and strange specificity in ways that feel like genuine kindred indie spirit.

But Each episode is only a few minutes. The limited scope and repetitive structure might feel more like art experiment than story, with very little payoff for plot.

The Booth at the End poster
More like this (8)

Hunt for the Wilderpeople2016

Taika Waititi's film about two misfits on the run has heart alongside the humour—it finds genuine friendship in the absurdity. The tone balance between comedy and actual stakes is masterful.

But It's significantly more polished and confident than a scrappy indie. If you want something that feels as unfinished as Toby Blackwood, this might feel too accomplished.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople poster

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil2010

Subverts horror tropes with two lovable goofs at the centre. It's low-budget but extremely competent, with real chemistry between leads and genuine laughs from turning genre expectations inside out.

But It's played much straighter than indie comedy often is. The horror elements might feel tacked-on if you're looking for pure strangeness.

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil poster

Napoleon Dynamite2004

Jared Hess's debut is the patron saint of awkward indie comedies—deadpan, specific, and weirdly moving about social outsiders. If Toby Blackwood connects, this should too.

But It's become such a touchstone that it's hard to watch fresh. And it's more melancholic than laugh-out-loud funny, which can feel like a long haul.

Napoleon Dynamite poster

What We Do in the Shadows2014

Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement's mockumentary about vampire roommates has the same DIY energy and commitment to specific weirdness. It's a masterclass in mining humour from character detail.

But It's slick enough to have been a hit, which means it's less raw than truly indie work. The comedy is accessible in ways that might feel safer than Toby Blackwood's swings.

What We Do in the Shadows poster

The Death of Dick Long2019

Daniel Scheinert's film about three friends hiding a bizarre secret is darkly funny and genuinely unhinged. It has the same commitment to following weird logic wherever it leads without explaining itself.

But It's aggressively strange and has moments of real darkness mixed with the comedy. The tone whiplash can feel deliberate to the point of alienation.

The Death of Dick Long poster

Safety Not Guaranteed2012

A time-travel romantic comedy about searching for something that might not exist. It's tender and funny in equal measure, with a cast committed to grounding absurdity in real feeling.

But It lands too smoothly and prettily for some tastes. If you want something more rough-edged, this might feel too comfortable in its indie success.

Safety Not Guaranteed poster

A Dark Song2016

Both favour atmospheric oddness over plot clarity. They're mysteries where the real subject is friendship and commitment within absurdity, not solving what happened.

Liam Garrigan's film about a woman and an occultist attempting a dangerous ritual is strange, sincere, and weirdly funny about grief and obsession. It's made for almost nothing and trusts its own internal world completely.

But It's genuinely about pain beneath the weirdness. The tone is haunted rather than comic, and the strangeness serves melancholy, not laughter—which is a very different register than Toby Blackwood's comedy.

A Dark Song poster

Search Party2016

Both centre on the absurdity of searching for someone who might not want to be found, and both are sharp about internet culture and conspiracy thinking as a form of human connection.

Sarah-Violet Bliss, Kate Lyn Sheil, and Adam Pally's series about a woman obsessed with finding a missing person she doesn't know is a darkly surreal comedy about conspiracy thinking, parasocial relationships, and the internet age. It's genuinely unhinged.

But It gets progressively weirder and darker across seasons, eventually abandoning comedy for something closer to genuine horror. The later seasons are experimental in ways that lose some viewers completely.

Search Party poster

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