22 Hidden Gems On Hulu
One of the "OGs" of the streaming game, Hulu has offered a consistently strong selection of movies in their archive.
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From independent delights to lesser-known flicks from yesteryear, there's plenty to discover on Hulu with some light digging, and with that in mind, I've assembled 22 hidden gems on Hulu to cue up sooner rather than later.
1.Trespassers
Angela Trimbur, Fairuza Balk and Janel Parrish headline visionary filmmaker Orson Oblowitz's unsettling 2018 home invasion suspense-thriller.
2.The Day Shall Come
From British provocateur, Chris Morris, The Day Shall Come follows a relatively harmless religious commune (headed by A Journal for Jordan's Marchánt Davis and Peacemaker's Danielle Brooks) that is unwittingly manipulated by desperate FBI agents (Anna Kendrick and Denis O'Hare) to partake in an increasingly wayward arms trafficking sting.
3.Peggy Sue Got Married
One of the more underrated films from the oeuvre of Francis Ford Coppola, this fantastical comedy-drama surrounds the titular character (Kathleen Turner) as she is seemingly transported from her 25-year high school reunion to her senior year of high school in 1960, now with the benefit of foresight to potentially change her fate.
4.Carnage Park
Directed by up-and-coming genre filmmaker, Mickey Keating, this intense thriller follows the hostage of a heist-gone-wrong (The Last Exorcism's Ashley Bell) who incidentally winds up on the barren compound of a bloodthirsty sniper (The Innkeepers' Pat Healy).
5.The Final Member
This hysterical, gonzo documentary covers the journey of the curator of the world's only penis museum as he attempts to complete his collection thanks to an eccentric human donor.
6.Tesla
Ethan Hawke stars as Nikolai Tesla in Michael Almereyda's unconventional and stylish biopic about the electricity pioneer which sadly flew under the radar during its initial release during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
7.Possessor: Uncut
Brandon Cronenberg's gruesome and surreal sci-fi film about body-switching assassins may be too extreme for some, but it's more than enough evidence to suggest the budding filmmaker is certainly capable of living up to his father's esteemed legacy in the genre.
8.You Cannot Kill David Arquette
Equal parts inspiring and heartbreaking, this must-see documentary follows actor David Arquette as he settles his unfinished business in the world of professional wrestling, including participating in a bloody deathmatch that nearly ends in tragedy.
9.Small Engine Repair
Adapted from writer/director/star John Pollono's acclaimed stage play of the same name, Small Engine Repair follows a trio of longtime friends (Pollono, Shea Whigham, and Jon Bernthal) who learn that a surprise party at their remote auto repair shop hides a darker ulterior motive.
10.Mass
In Fran Kranz's 2021 film that hits extremely close to home due to recent events, two pairs of grieving parents have a difficult private discussion six years after an unspeakable tragedy changed their lives forever.
11.Swan Song
Udo Kier shines in Todd Stephen's poignant and often hilarious film as a flamboyant ex-hairdresser who leaves his private care facility after he is requested to style the hair of his recently departed client's corpse for her funeral.
12.Greener Grass
This demented dark comedy from the minds of stars Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe follows a pair of housewives in a bizarre suburban nightmare that includes baby trading, cross-species shapeshifting, spontaneous kidnappings, and a community perpetually on the edge of emotional collapse.
13.Memories of Murder
The second film from Oscar-winning Parasite filmmaker Bong Joon-ho, Memories of Murder is a breathtaking crime procedural based on the true story of Korea's first confirmed serial killings between 1986 and 1991.
14.Suburban Gothic
Richard Bates Jr.'s sardonic horror-comedy follows a recent college graduate (Matthew Gray Gubler) who returns to his childhood home only to discover a paranormal mystery alongside a former high school classmate (Kat Dennings).
15.Southbound
This eerie anthology from the producers of V/H/S presents multiple interconnected scary stories about people who find themselves haunted by much more than their respective pasts.
16.The Beta Test
After shaking up the independent film scene with Thunder Road and The Wolf of Snow Hollow, co-director/actor Jim Cummings teams with PJ McCabe to craft his most biting and provocative film yet, which follows a married Hollywood agent who becomes tempted and obsessed with a seemingly random invitation to an anonymous sexual encounter.
17.Armored
This underrated, ensemble heist thriller from Nimród Antal never quite received its due upon its theatrical release, but has been slowly establishing itself as persevering cult favorite thanks to cable syndication and streaming.
18.Riders of Justice
Starring the patron saint of exceptional underrated movies, Mads Mikkelsen, this oddly humorous thriller from Danish filmmaker Anders Thomas Jensen is unlike anything you might expect from the revenge film subgenre.
19.Luce
Starring Kelvin Harrison Jr., Tim Roth, Naomi Watts, and Octavia Spencer, this intense drama follows a bright high school student who is accused of fostering a potentially sinister side after submitting a controversial paper that draws the ire of an unrelenting teacher and suspicions from his adoptive parents.
20.Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made
One of the most motivational documentaries ever, Raiders! showcases the arduous, decades-spanning road to make a no-budget, shot-for-shot remake of Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark.
21.Cheap Thrills
A pair of old, down-on-their-luck friends (Pat Healy and Ethan Embry) is forced into a sick, yet high-paying, competition game by a rich, sadistic couple (David Koechner and Sara Paxton) in E.L. Katz's brilliant and brutal pitch-black comedy.
22.Brigsby Bear
After abruptly learning that his life has been a lie, a traumatized thirtysomething (SNL's Kyle Mooney) attempts to bring himself closure by producing a climactic movie for his favorite children's show character in this off-beat comedy.
