With over 25 million subscribers in the US, Hulu is one of the largest premium video streaming services. In addition to its many exclusive, current, and classic TV shows, it is also home to thousands of films, some of which are also exclusive to the service. But what are the best movies on Hulu?
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With Hulu permanently lowering its ad-based subscription tier to just $ 5.99 per month, more people are likely to read Hulu’s movie catalog. We’ve selected our 10 best movies on Hulu to stream and enjoy. They are a mix of classic films and newer films.
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The best movies on Hulu
Publisher’s Note: We’ll update this post as movies leave Hulu and others join the service’s movie library.
1. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
This 1982 film remains the best in the Star Trek franchise, which has 13 films. It was the first time the cast on the original Star Trek TV series felt the effect of age, especially William Shatner’s Captain Kirk. It also shows the impact of decisions Kirk made years ago. Khan, the superman who Kirk banished to a planet after the events of the TV episode “Space Seed”, is back with only vengeance on his mind. There are great space battles as Kirk and the crew of the Starship Enterprise fight Khan and his group of followers. It also has one of the best and saddest endings in science fiction film history. It’s one of the best movies on Hulu.
2. The hut in the forest
Bad horror films contain obvious stereotypes. In this 2011 release, those typical stereotypes (including the title of the film) are turned 180 degrees. The result is a movie that is scary, funny, and full of unexpected twists and turns. Let’s just say that five college students who think they are going to a “cabin in the woods” will encounter more than just people waiting to kill them.
3. Akira
Japanese anime became a huge part of American culture from the 1990s. Part of the reason for this was the release of this incredible 1988 science fiction film based on the best-selling Japanese manga comic of the same name by Katsuhiro Otomo. Akira is set in a future version of Tokyo in 2019 and still has some incredible imagery even when viewed in today’s CGI animation films. It has some powerful images that won’t leave your head anytime soon, thanks in part to the movie’s main character, Tetsuo, who has to grapple with his new and powerful psychic abilities. In Hulu, you can choose to watch Akira with subtitles and original Japanese audio or in an English dubbed version. Not only is it one of the best movies on Hulu, it’s also the best anime movie on Hulu.
4. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
If you have kids, chances are they’re fans of the How To Train Your Dragon series of films. Hulu now has the third and supposedly last movie in the series available to stream. The 2019 film stars Toothless, the main dragon character in the series, and finds out what his partner could be, a white dragon named Light Fury. In the meantime, toothless and friend Hiccup has to find the “hidden world” in which he can finally bring the remaining dragons to safety. This film retains the humor, heart and spectacular graphics of the first two films in the series.
5. Parasite
The 2019 Oscar winner for Best Picture is now available to streamed on Hulu. It is one of the most controversial winners of the Oscar for Best Picture, largely because it is the first foreign language film to receive this award. South Korean director Bong Joon-ho, along with co-writer Han Jin-won, also won the Oscar for best director for this film and best screenplay. The film takes a unique look at the chasm between certain people as a poor family tries to join the life of a rich family. It’s definitely one of the best movies on Hulu.
6. Shirley
Here’s a new and intelligent drama film from 2020. It plays Elizabeth Moss, who also starred on Hulu’s biggest original TV show, The Handmaid’s Tale. In this film, she plays the real-life writer Shirley Jackson (The Lottery, The Haunted Hill House). However, the film Shirley is a fictional portrayal of a young couple and how they come to live with Jackson and her husband Stanley Hyman. The couple soon begins to interact more with Shirley and her husband as Shirley begins writing a new novel based in part on their new members in the house. Moss is the reason to see this movie because she does a great job as Jackson that is haunted by others as well as her own personality.
7. Sorry to bother you
This 2018 dark comedy comes from rapper Boots Riley, who made his stellar debut as a film writer and director. Lakeith Stanfield plays a black man who pays the bills as a telemarketer. He discovered that he can be more successful with his “white voice”. Riley uses his film at first to make a few points about racial relationships, but later he and the film go in an entirely different direction that we are not going to reveal here. It’s fun, thought-provoking, and luckily, it’s entertaining too. It’s a no-brainer being one of the best movies on Hulu.
8. Mission Impossible: Fallout
The spy-action film franchise Mission Impossible (based on the 1960s TV show) has had its ups and downs in terms of quality, but the release of the sixth MI film in 2018 may well be the best film in the series yet . Tom Cruise plays the IMF secret agent Ethan Hunt again, who in this mission (which he of course accepts) has to retrieve three plutonium cores that he and his team have lost. However, as with all MI films, there are constant double and triple crosses, as well as many other surprises for Hunt and his team.
Henry Cavill makes us (almost) forget he was Superman when he plays a CIA agent sent to oversee Hunt’s team. Writer and director Christopher McQuarrie interests us with a variety of action set pieces including a HALO jump, a Paris chase, and one of the best bathroom fights we’ve ever seen. Oh, and Cruise actually flies a helicopter for the final sequence of the film. Like an actor in real life. It is certainly one of the best movies on Hulu.
9. The terminator
One of the best movies on Hulu is a thrilling ride from start to finish. Arnold Schwarzenegger had his true breakout role, playing a cyborg from the future in which an evil AI has destroyed almost all of humanity. However, the Human Resistance managed to win the final battle only to find that the AI had sent the Terminator back in time in a final attempt to change history. The Terminator is programmed to kill the mother of human resistance in Los Angeles in 1984. Will he succeed or will a lone human warrior who was also sent from the future stop him?
10. Pagans
The 1980s were full of teen comedies and dramas that ended well. Heathers is not one of those films. This 1988 film, directed by Daniel Waters, was the exact opposite of films made by John Hughes and others during that decade. Winona Ryder’s Veronica seeks to defeat an influential group of students called the Heathers. Things get out of hand very quickly, thanks in part to the efforts of JD, the psychotic student with a Jack Nicholson imitation perfectly played by Christian Slater. That dark satire of high school and teenage life is still relevant in social media culture today, not to mention one of the best movies on Hulu.
Other Hulu coverage
Didn’t find anything you like on this list? Don’t worry, there are plenty of other great shows and movies to watch on Hulu.
