Our list of the best movies on Hulu combines some all-time classics with more recent – but equally excellent – movies. Now in the UK as well as the US, Hulu has an impressive library of titles to choose from when it comes to movie night.
On this page you'll find our picks of some of the most exciting and interesting films that are all available to watch on what is easily one the best streaming services. There's recent hits like Steven Soderbergh's eerie ghost story Presence and all-time classics like Christopher Nolan's Inception. We've also added a Pick of the Month – this time around we've chosen Nicolas Cage's wild and weird new thriller, The Surfer.
Pick of the month
The Surfer
Year: 2024
Director: Lorcan Finnegan
Available: US
A new Nicolas Cage movie is always cause for celebration, but even more if it's as fun and unhinged as The Surfer. The film, which was recently added to Hulu, sees Cage fighting with some local surfers in Australia because they don't let him surf in peace. How dare they! It's directed by Lorcan Finnegan, who blew us away with the psychological thriller Vivarium back in 2019.
The film starts when Cage's protagonist returns to the idyllic beach of his childhood to surf with his son, but his peaceful vacation is ruined by the locals' mantra: "Don't live here, don't surf here." Humiliated and angry, he "decides to remain at the beach, declaring war against those in control of the bay," reads the official synopsis, "But as the conflict escalates, the stakes spin wildly out of control, taking him to the edge of his sanity."
Here's where you can keep track of the most exciting upcoming movies.
The 10 best Hulu movies
10. Presence
Year: 2024
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Available: US
Steven Soderbergh's innovative supernatural thriller is coming to Hulu on June 3. A haunted house story with a difference, Presence is told entirely from the spirit's point of view. Taking place within a recently renovated house, the ghost observes a new family – Lucy Liu's Rebekah, Chris Sullivan's Chris, and their kids, Tyler (Eddy Maday), and Chloe (Callina Liang) – move in. When Tyler's new friend Ryan (West Mulholland) becomes a regular visitor, however, the "presence" starts to become more active...
Shot in secret during 2023, Presence offers a fresh take on one of the oldest storytelling traditions. Soderbergh puts us in the position of the spirit, silently watching a family that is slowly falling apart. Meditative and moving as well as occasionally genuinely eerie, this is a true one-off.
9. Prey
Year: 2022
Director: Dan Trachtenberg
Available: US/UK
There's a diabolical simplicity to the pitch behind Prey, the latest entry in the Predator franchise: What if a Predator hunted in a different period in history? Instead of having a Predator go up against the deadliest, Schwarzenegger-esque modern warrior with all the guns and ammo that entails, Prey is set in the Great Plains in the early 1700s. Amber Midthunder plays Naru, a Comanche woman whose desire to be a warrior instead of a healer, as her tribe would have her be, is tested to the extreme when an alien hunter searches for its quarry where the buffalo roam.
Prey is a fun, refreshing change of pace for Predator, and it will have you wondering why there aren't more movies like this. Have a Predator fight samurai, or gladiators, or pirates, or have a Predator square off against a battalion of Allied forces in World War II. The possibilities that Prey unlocked should be endless.
Read our Prey review for more insights ahead of Predator: Badlands.
8. BlackBerry
Year: 2023
Director: Matt Johnson
Available: US
For whatever reason, there was a glut of movies in 2023 that dramatized how certain products — like Air Jordans, Tetris, and Flamin' Hot Cheetos — were created. But, by far the best movie to emerge from this trend focuses on the rise and fall of the once-ubiquitous BlackBerry mobile phone that dominated the '00s until the iPhone ate its lunch.
Starring Jay Baruchel and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Glenn Howerton as a geek and a ruthless businessman who forge a partnership as successful as it is tenuous, BlackBerry stands out from the crowd in its willingness to show the dark lows of capitalism in addition to its highs. It's a smart, insightful, and bleakly comedic look at tech and commerce.
Dive into one of the best drama movies around with our BlackBerry review.
7. The Host
Year: 2006
Director: Bong Joon-Ho
Available: US
Parasite director Bong Joon-Ho made a creature feature in his own distinct way with 2006's The Host, which follows a Seoul family as they try to rescue a young family member who has been taken by a grotesque monster that emerged from the river and started wreaking havoc.
As with almost all of Director Bong's films, The Host blends comedy with darkness, dealing with some heavy themes involving class, bureaucracy, environmentalism, and more. The monster, some sort of mutated tadpole-like creature, is like nothing else you'll see on the screen, as is the unforgettable scene where it first comes ashore in broad daylight — totally throwing away the typical Jaws-style playbook of keeping the monster hidden. This is one of the best monster movies released in the 2000s and is well worth your time.
For more insights read our The Host review to find out more on this gem.
6. Late Night with the Devil
Year: 2023
Director: Colin Cairnes and Cameron Cairnes
Available: US
This recent horror is a terrific showcase for its star, David Dastmalchian. He plays Jack Delroy, the host of a late night talk show called Night Owls. Still grieving the death of his wife Madeleine, Delroy returns to work. It's Halloween, and the show is about to air a paranormal special. His guests for the show include parapsychologist Dr June Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon), who brings her latest study, 13-year-old Lilly D'Abo (Ingrid Torelli), who is said to be possessed by a demon.
Late Night with the Devil is a huge amount of fun, moving from a kitschy, camp tone to some genuinely unnerving scares. Dastmalchian excels as Jack Delroy, making the character both arrogant and sympathetic. Witty and original, this is a great modern horror movie.
5. Sisu
Year: 2022
Director: Jalmari Helander
Available: US
With the sequel Sisu: Road to Revenge heading to cinemas this year, you should catch up with the first movie, which delivers an incredibly satisfying blend of gory violence, epic action, and infectious spirit. This critically-acclaimed Finnish film is perfect for John Wick fans, with Jorma Tommila's Aatami quickly becoming one of the most memorable action heroes of our century.
Set during the last days of World War II, the film follows a solitary prospector who crosses paths with Nazis who steal the gold he had found. However, he is not some helpless man, but actually a legendary ex-commando who is more than ready to face them. "No matter what the Nazis throw at him," reads the synopsis, "the one-man death squad will go to outrageous lengths to get his gold back – even if it means killing every last Nazi in his path."
Get your blood pumping with our list of the best action movies on Netflix next.
4. Inception
Year: 2010
Director: Christopher Nolan
Available: US
Is Inception Chris Nolan's finest film? As much as we love the Dark Knight trilogy, this cerebral sci-fi action flick remains a fantastic one-off. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Dom Cobb, a professional thief who uses technology to infiltrate the dreams of others and steal valuable information. His latest client is Ken Watanabe's businessman Saito, who hires Cobb to implant an idea in the mind of a competitor's playboy son: to dissolve his father's company.
Cue a surreal reverse heist as Cobb (who is grappling with a tragedy in his past) and his team tumble through different layers of dreams within dreams. It's heady stuff, but Nolan remembers to have fun, too. A snowbound assault on a mountain fortress is straight out of Bond, while Tom Hardy's Eames brings some welcome levity.
Want an in-depth look at this flick? Read our Inception review.
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel
Year: 2014
Director: Wes Anderson
Available: UK
Wes Anderson's movies can be an acquired taste – we love them, but will admit that they're not for everyone. Well, this is the one to show the Anderson-sceptics in your life. Set in the fictional European nation of Zubrowka in the 1930s, it follows Zero (Tony Revolori), an orphan who becomes employed as a lobby boy at the lavish Grand Budapest Hotel. There he is trained by Ralph Fiennes' fussy concierge, Monsieur Gustave H. The two quickly get embroiled in a caper related to a recently deceased woman's fortune and her grasping, dangerous family.
Grand Budapest is Anderson at his most accessible and arguably his best. Alongside the gags – which come thick and fast – there's also a darker edge, the film's between-the-wars setting imbuing it with a rich seam of melancholy. Monsieur Gustave, meanwhile, feels like the character that Fiennes was born to play. He is immaculate.
2. Anora
Year: 2024
Director: Sean Baker
Available: US
The year's big winner at this year's Oscars was this heartbreaking, hilarious comedy-drama from director Sean Baker. Mikey Madison gives an outstanding performance as Ani, an American sex worker who ends up falling for Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), the playboy son of a Russian oligarch. The two marry and look set for a happy life together, but Vanya's parents are far from pleased with the arrangement...
Anora starts out like a twisted fairytale, but quickly morphs into a tragic nightmare. Vanya's parents send a squad of goons to forcibly annul the marriage, leading to a stomach-knotting home invasion sequence and an unexpected tour of nocturnal New York. Despite all of this, it remains a genuinely funny film even as it arrives at its touching, painful, yet entirely believable conclusion.
Find out what we made of this year's Best Picture winner in our full Anora review.
1. Alien
Year: 1979
Director: Ridley Scott
Available: US/UK
A chest buster exploding out of Kane is one of the best and most gory scenes in film history, so it's only fitting that it's attached to one of the best horror movies ever made. When the seven-member crew of a commercial spaceship encounters a strange, parasitic alien killer, they're picked off one by one until only one of the great cinema heroines, Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley, remains.
Ridley Scott's sci-fi horror masterpiece has spawned an entire franchise (the second installment, James Cameron's action flick Aliens, is also streaming on Hulu, and it’s also a must-watch). Because of how successful Alien has become, it can be a bit easy to take the Xenomorph for granted. Try to forget everything you know about Alien before seeing the movie. It's best to try and be like the audiences in 1979 who had never seen, let alone imagined, a creature like the one H. R. Giger designed.
If you want more Xenomorphs in your life, you can read our guide on how to watch all the Alien movies in order.
For more streaming picks head over to your lists of the best movies on Disney Plus, the best movies on Amazon Prime and the best movies on Netflix. We also have a handy guide breaking down all the new movies on the horizon if you want fresh releases.
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