Hulu has so many enjoyable and award-winning films to choose from that people can easily miss some terrific pictures that are just waiting there to be selected on their next movie night. Even if such films received some high praise from critics and audiences, casual viewers still might not have given them enough love or attention on streaming.
They may not be to everyone’s liking, but these pictures at least warrant a single viewing (even with ads). Since summer is still far from over, bored audiences with time to spare should consider something new and check out these three underrated movies on Hulu.
Triangle of Sadness (2022)
Director Ruben Östlund’s latest masterpiece received plenty of acclaim in 2022, winning the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and getting nominated for Best Picture at this year’s Oscars. Still, outside of hardcore movie fans, the general populace may not even know it exists. This excellent black comedy follows a couple of influencers who go on a lavish yacht filled with other wealthy and dim-witted passengers. From there, everyone gets terrible food poisoning, the ship floods with human waste, and most of them are left stranded on a deserted island.
As this group of unlikely survivors forms a new civilization together, Triangle of Sadness turns into a wild and scathing satire that hilariously flips the script on society and deconstructs gender and class relations. But it’s Dolly de Leon’s Abigail who steals the show as she goes from an overlooked maid to the group’s de facto leader in this bizarre oceanic odyssey.
Crimes of the Future (2022)
In a future where humanity has evolved to no longer feel pain or get sick, a performance artist who conducts public surgeries on himself discovers a conspiracy surrounding his ability to grow new organs and a boy who can eat and digest plastic.
Crimes of the Future is a strange and unsettling vision of Earth’s future from director David Cronenberg, and the gruesome body horror proved too much for mainstream audiences, leaving a massive pit at the box office and many viewers’ stomachs. But if viewers have the belly to endure such disturbing visuals, they will be treated to an inventive sci-fi drama that makes them think about how humanity and technology adapt to a shifting and declining world.
Nightmare Alley (2021)
In this remake directed by Guillermo del Toro, a wayward man with a shady past gets a job at a carnival, where he learns what he can to deceive his audience and profit from his lies as a fake psychic. Even though this picture had A-list leads and was nominated for four Oscars, it failed to make back its $60 million budget and was pretty much glossed over in 2021.
Del Toro is known for making monster movies like Pan’s Labyrinth and The Shape of Water, so this grounded 150-minute thriller may put off fans of his work. Nevertheless, Nightmare Alley is still a mesmerizing and well-acted portrait of man’s rise and fall due to his own greed and arrogance. Tthe film’s tragic ending is guaranteed to haunt audiences more than any other monster del Toro has created.