Best Thrillers on Hulu Right Now (October 2023)
Trend Indexing: When it comes to genres, no two film genres are harder to tell apart than horror and thriller. Their shared reliance on tension to tantalize and titillate, punctuated by moments of violence or terror, make them more difficult to delineate. Thrillers often play around within three categories: man on the run, man on the hunt, or mystery. They’re exciting and stimulating without being too extreme or reliant on fright as a tool for emotional manipulation. There are several subgenres that are encompassed under the “thriller” umbrella, and it often has a lot of crossovers with action, horror, and science-fiction. We combed through Hulu’s current selection to curate a collection of the best thrillers on Hulu right now.
Deep Water (2022)
Image via Hulu
Run Time: 1 hr 55 min | Director: Adrian Lyne
Cast: Ben Affleck, Ana de Armas, Tracy Letts
One of the most talked-about films to come out this year, Deep Water reunites former real-life couple Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas to play the fictional couple Vic and Melinda in an erotic thriller that proves to be quite a wild ride. Helping this along is that the film is helmed by one of the best directors of the genre, Adrian Lyne, who makes a return in a way only he could after a nearly two-decade hiatus. The story is that Vic has been growing a bit upset that his wife Melinda is sleeping with other men. Their tumultuous relationship is something that seems like it may be an agreed-upon open relationship though soon becomes something more sinister. This is because there is a growing suspicion from those closest to the couple that Vic may be seeking revenge on all these men. Defined by a particularly terrifying turn by Affleck, there is still much eccentricity and dark absurdity to be found in Deep Water though that makes it all the more fun the longer it goes on. It reaches some unexpected heights of drama and suspense, pushing the limits of logic in an unhinged journey that defies all preconceived notions you may have of it. – Chase Hutchinson
No One Will Save You (2023)
Image via Hulu
Run Time: 1 hr 33 min | Director: Brian Duffield
Cast: Kaitlyn Dever, Elizabeth Kaluev, Zack Duhame
Famous for having only five words of dialogue throughout its run time, No One Will Save You follows Kaitlyn Dever’s Brynn, who, after discovering that an alien has entered her home, must fight both it and her own mental demons to try and rid the other-worldly being from her safe space. Described as a mix between Signs and Home Alone, No One Will Save You is a masterpiece in show-don’t-tell filmmaking, with Dever excelling in the titular role. Aaron Morton’s cinematography fills in the speechless gaps as a methodical first act spirals into an action-packed finale. Tense and thrilling, No One Will Save You is a unique viewing experience. – Jake Hodges
How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2022)
Image via Neon
Run Time: 1 hr 44 min | Director: Daniel Goldhaber
Cast: Ariela Barer, Kristine Froseth, Lukas Gage
Based on Andreas Malm’s book of the same name, How to Blow Up a Pipeline follows eight central characters as they plot to, as the title suggests, blow up a pipeline in the name of environmental activism. Pulling no punches in its attempts to tackle controversial subjects, How to Blow Up a Pipeline boasts a cast more than strong enough to match the demanding nature of the story, including the likes of Lukas Gage and Ariela Barer, with the latter also co-writing. Oozing tension in every beat, this film is just as much of a wide-lensed propaganda movie as it is an introspective character piece, with flashbacks allowing viewers a peak into the lives that brought the characters to this moment. Debuting at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, How to Blow Up a Pipeline received rightful critical acclaim for using its platform to drive clear messages that are more relevant today than they have ever been. – Jake Hodges.
God’s Country (2022)
Run Time: 1 hr 42 min | Director: Julian Higgins
Cast: Thandiwe Newton, Joris Jarsky, Jefferson White, Jeremy Bobb
Thandiwe Newton (Westworld) stars in God’s Country, a gripping drama from writer-director Julian Higgins. In God’s Country, Newton plays a college professor facing a tense confrontation with two hunters after she finds them trespassing by her home. Co-starring Joris Jarsky and Jefferson White, along with Jeremy Bobb, God’s Country is a heart-pumping slow-burn worth every startling, tension-filled second. God’s Country plays with the modern Western genre, leaning eagerly towards suspense thriller, as seen in Higgins’ direction, which captures the riveting escalation of conflict with expert timing, showcasing the rich emotional foundation for the staggering story. – Yael Tygiel
The Ritual Killer (2023)
Image via Screen Media
Run Time: 1 hr 32 min | Director: George Gallo
Cast: Morgan Freeman, Cole Hauser, Vernon Davis
Morgan Freeman returns to the murder mystery genre with The Ritual Killer, a fascinating puzzle from director George Gallo. In The Ritual Killer, Freeman plays an anthropologist professor of African Studies who, while attempting to keep his own unspeakable secret hidden, is lured into assisting an unstable police detective (Cole Hauser) in hunting a vicious serial killer. The Ritual Killer unfolds a gruesome enigma, featuring a deep exploration of an ancient belief centered on black magic, wrapped in a thrilling global chase to protect the innocent and stop a murderer. With an emphasis on mystery and a hint of horror, The Ritual Killer is ideal for audiences of Freeman’s Alex Cross days. – Yael Tygiel
Clock (2023)
Image via Hulu
Run Time: 1 hr 31 min | Genre: Sci-Fi Horror | Director: Alexis Jacknow
Cast: Dianna Agron, Melora Hardin, Saul Rubinek, Isabelle Du
Filmmaker Alexis Jacknow’s feature-length debut Clock is a sharp horror film that cleverly weaves through genres, blending science-fiction and suspense through every moment. Written and directed by Jacknow, Clock is a merciless analysis of bodily autonomy told through a brilliant story. Starring Dianna Agron (I Am Number Four) as Ella, Clock follows the millennial woman as her decision to not produce children is questioned not only by society and her father, played by Saul Rubinek (Hunters), but also the mysterious clinic determined to cure her. Co-starring Melora Hardin (The Bold Type), Clock could not be more timely and relevant. – Yael Tygiel
Last Survivors (2021)
Image via Vertical Entertainment
Run Time: 1 hr 38 min | Director: Drew Mylrea
Cast: Drew Van Acker, Alicia Silverstone, Stephen Moyer
Drew Mylrea directs Last Survivors from Josh Janowicz’s script about a post-apocalyptic world. Set in a time where only a few people remain alive on the planet, Last Survivors has a small but undeniably talented cast. Starring Stephen Moyer (The Gifted) and Drew Van Acker (Pretty Little Liars) as a father-son duo who survived outside the decaying cities by escaping to a self-sufficient utopia they built in the wilderness, Last Survivors dives into themes of human connection and sacrifice. Featuring an unexpectedly touching performance from Alicia Silverstone (The Baby-Sitters Club), Last Survivors is a thrilling drama worth exploring. – Yael Tygiel
Stars at Noon (2022)
Run Time: 2 hrs 15 min | Director: Claire Denis
Cast: Margaret Qualley, Joe Alwyn, Danny Ramirez, Benny Safdie, John C. Reilly
A riveting mystery masterpiece from critically acclaimed director Claire Denis, Stars at Noon is an intriguing erotic thriller starring Margaret Qualley (Fosse/Verdon) in an intoxicating performance as a young American journalist who finds herself stranded in Nicaragua. Co-starring Joe Alwyn (Catherine Called Birdy) as a charming and enigmatic Englishman, and possibly the journalist’s best chance at escape, Stars at Noon wraps up a fascinating plot under layers of alluring romance and torrid affairs. Based on Denis Johnson’s novel with a screenplay from Denis and Andrew Litvack, Stars at Noon is a stunning tale that makes it hard to look away. – Yael Tygiel
Gone in the Night (2022)
Image via Vertical Entertainment
Run Time: 1 hr 30 min | Director: Eli Horowitz
Cast: Winona Ryder, Dermot Mulroney, John Gallagher Jr., Owen Teague
Directed by Eli Horowitz (Homecoming), Gone in the Night is an intense film starring Winona Ryder as a woman named Kath (Stranger Things) who retreats to a remote cabin in the woods with her boyfriend Max (John Gallagher Jr.). Things get strange, however, when they realize the cabin is already being occupied by another couple. (Getting Barbarian vibes?) They decide to share the space for the night, but when Kath wakes up, Max — as well as the other young woman — are nowhere to be found, sending her on a mysterious investigation filled with twists and turns. – Taylor Gates
Private Property (2022)
Image via Hulu
Run Time: 1 hr 27 min | Director: Chadd Harbold
Cast: Ashley Benson, Shiloh Fernandez
Listen: if you’re looking for an Oscar-worthy film, you’re not going to find it in Private Property. But if you want a fun, tense tale with some soapiness and steam, this is the perfect watch. The film stars Ashley Benson, best known for Pretty Little Liars, as Kathryn – an aspiring actress and bored housewife who begins an affair with her gardener Ben (Shiloh Fernandez). However, it quickly becomes evident that not everything is as it seems when it comes to him. Based on the 1960s film of the same name, this 2022 remake updates the tale of danger and deception. – Taylor Gates
Mother/Android (2021)
Image via Hulu
Run Time: 1 hr 50 min | Director: Mattson Tomlin
Cast: Chloë Grace Moretz, Algee Smith, Raúl Castillo
From writer/director Mattson Tomlin, Mother/Android broaches discussions of humanity and technology in a fascinating science-fiction adventure starring the incomparable Chloë Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass). Moretz’s phenomenal performance as a pregnant young woman attempting to reach safety after an android uprising has wiped out humanity is surprisingly believable, as Tomlin lays a satisfying foundation full of authenticity. Crossing vast landscapes, Mother/Android elicits suspense with unexpected and unsettling twists, creating a captivating story with heart-pumping action. – Yael Tygiel
Pig (2021)
Image via Neon
Run Time: 1 hr 32 min | Director: Michael Sarnoski
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Alex Wolff, Adam Arkin
A film that is as engrossing and emotional as it is unexpected, Pig is Nicolas Cage at his absolute best. He plays the reclusive Rob, a truffle hunter living in the wilderness outside Portland with his beloved pig. He is still grappling with a profound loss and has isolated himself from ever having to feel pain again as a result. When pain comes to his front door and his pig is abducted, he will have to go into the big city to try to get it back. This sounds like it could be silly, but it is actually a sharply written story that becomes a more somber reflection on grief. The debut film from Michael Sarnoski, it sneaks up on you in all aspects of its construction. Everything from its delicate and enveloping score to its richly shot setting feels so beautiful that it is impossible to shake from your memory once you’ve seen it. – Chase Hutchinson
Death on the Nile (2021)
Run Time: 2 hr 7 min | Director: Kenneth Branagh
Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Letita Wright, Rose Leslie, Annette Bening, Russell Brand
Kenneth Branagh’s second Agatha Christie adaptation is much stronger than Murder on the Orient Express. Branagh expands the character of Hercule Poirot beyond a caricature, as the film explores his backstory of fighting in World War I. If Murder on the Orient Express fantasized about luxury, while Death on the Nile revels in its depravity. Each of the suspects is morally detestable in their own way. Branagh balances Poirot’s playful energy with the intensity of the situation; even though the film is primarily set on one luxury cruise, there are a plethora of gorgeously rendered locations. Hopefully, it won’t be the last in this Poirot series. -Liam Gaughan
47 Meters Down (2017)
Image via Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures
Run Time: 1 hr 29 min | Director: Johannes Roberts
Cast: Mandy Moore, Claire Holt, Matthew Modine, Chris Johnson, Yani Gellman, and Santiago Segura
In the incredibly intense 47 Meters Down, Lisa (Mandy Moore) and Kate (Claire Holt) are vacationing in Mexico when they decide to follow through on a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Unfortunately, their trip under the sea becomes a little too real when their cage falls to the bottom of the ocean, a shark circling them as their oxygen slowly runs out. Stranded, alone, and terrified, the sisters are forced to work together to try and find a way out, but as one can expect, nothing goes as planned. Will they escape before their oxygen runs out? Will the sharks attack them before they can even reach the surface, considering they must wait near it so they don’t get decompression sickness? Both Moore and Holt (but especially the former) shine in this exciting, scary, and haunting underwater adventure. – Jay Snow
Fresh (2022)
Image via Hulu
Run Time: 1 hr 57 min | Director: Mimi Cave
Cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Sebastian Stan, Jojo T. Gibbs, Dayo Okeniyi, Charlotte Le Bon
Love never tasted quite like this before. Fresh puts a bloody spin on modern dating and follows Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones), a woman who’s tired of going on bad dates and just wants to meet the right guy. While shopping in the grocery store, she meets Steve (Sebastian Stan), a good-looking, single, and charismatic fellow who tries his hand at flirting with Noa. The two hit it off rather quickly and go on a romantic weekend getaway. Things take a dark turn, however, when Noa learns that the man of her dreams isn’t at all what he advertised, and that every second with him is a second closer to death. Crippled by fear and hopelessness, Noa must do all she can to escape her nightmarish situation. -Emily Bernard
Nightmare Alley (2021)
Run Time: 2 hr 30 min | Director: Guillermo del Toro
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Rooney Mara
Step right up, boys and girls! Based on the 1946 novel of the same name by William Lindsay Gresham, Nightmare Alley is a beautifully crafted neo-noir film from visual director Guillermo del Toro that tackles heavy subjects such as fear, insecurity, greed, and identity through the lens of its many misfit characters. Bradley Cooper leads the pack as Stanton Carlisle, a lowly, troubled carnival worker hoping to achieve his dreams of becoming a performative and world-renowned psychic. As he works his way up the carnival hierarchy, he gets to know the other outcasts in the industry, including clairvoyant Madame Zeena (Toni Collette), owner Clem (Willem Dafoe), and performer Molly (Rooney Mara). When a stubborn psychologist Dr. Lilith Ritter (Cate Blanchett) tries to expose him as a fraud, Stanton is forced to come up with an elaborate plan to keep his skin in the game. — Emily Bernard
Titane (2021)
Image via NEON
Run Time: 1 hr 48 min | Director: Julia Ducournau
Cast: Vincent Lindon, Agathe Rousselle, Garance Marillier, Laïs Salameh
It’s not a figure of speech to say that Titane is like nothing you’ve ever seen, and that it’s impossible to come out indifferent from it. The film follows a young woman who must disguise as a man to evade the police after committing a crime. And while that sounds like a pretty straightforward plot, Titane is all but clichê. With a single movie, French filmmaker Julia Ducournau was able to discuss the social construction of genre identities, the subculture of car lovers, the possibilities of humans to modify their own body, and the family love that’s not tied by genes. Oh, and there’s also enough homoerotic energy in Titane to make any straight man uncomfortable and aroused at the same time. Plus, the body horror involving a woman getting pregnant by a car will probably scar your mind for life. That’s just how unique Titane really is. — Marco Vito Oddo
Shirley (2020)
.jpg)
Run Time: 1 hr 47 min | Director: Josephine Decker
Cast: Elisabeth Moss, Odessa Young, Michael Stuhlbarg
A film that shatters the limitations of the conventional biopic with a sense of grace and terror, Josephine Decker’s magnificent Shirley is one of the most interesting looks at a historic figure you’ll ever get the chance to see. It stars a formidable and fearsome Elisabeth Moss as the acclaimed author Shirley Jackson as she struggles with writing while taking on a new pair of tenants. Eschewing the typical narrative beats you’d expect from this type of story, the film settles into something both serene and strange with every passing scene. Full of betrayal and infidelity, it brings the troubled historic figure to life in a way no other story has nor ever will. It finds a real sense of emotional depth that is intermixed with more impressionistic sequences that lodge themselves in your mind. It all serves as a wonderful reminder that Decker remains one of the most unique directors working today. – Chase Hutchinson
No Exit (2022)
Run Time: 1 hr 35 min | Director: Damien Power
Cast: Havana Rose Liu, Danny Ramirez, David Rysdahl, Mila Harris, Dennis Haysbert, Dale Dickey
No Exit follows a group of five strangers as they wait out a blizzard in a rural mountain visitor’s center. Darby (Havana Rose Liu) is a recovering addict who sneaks out of rehab to visit her dying mother. Ed (Dennis Haysbert) and Sandi (Dale Dickey) are a married couple on their way to Reno for a vacation. Lars (David Rsydahl) is a quiet loner who gets jumpy when Darby tries to get to know everyone. Ash (Danny Ramirez) is sleeping when Darby first arrives but later reveals that he’s visiting his parents in Denver. Things escalate when Darby discovers a child in the back of a van in the parking lot while trying to find cell service. Uncertain who the van belongs to, Darby has to work carefully to find out who she can trust and how she can rescue Jay (Mila Harris) before the storm clears in the morning. The tension in No Exit starts building as soon as Darby arrives at the rest stop and doesn’t break until the very end. Despite its small cast of characters and their seemingly clear-cut characteristics, No Exit is able to pull off a whodunnit-style mystery full of twists that will keep you on edge. – Brynna Arens
Run (2020)
Image via Hulu
Run Time: 1 hr 30 min | Director: Aneesh Chaganty
Cast: Sarah Paulson, Kiera Allen, Sara Sohn
A mother-daughter bond like no other. The mysterious thriller Run follows the routine-oriented life of homeschooled high school senior Chloe Sherman (Kiera Allen) who is eager to venture off to college and be on her own for the first time. Due to complications at a young age, Chloe uses a wheelchair and suffers from asthma. Her protective mother Diane (Sarah Paulson) has tended to her every need since birth and keeps a tight academic and medicine schedule. The more Chloe starts to think of life beyond the walls of her home, however, the more she suspects that her mother might be doing her more harm than good. Run, don’t walk, to Hulu and watch the eerie events unfold. -Emily Bernard
