The best thriller movies on Hulu showcase the wide selection of movies that will leave viewers on the edge of their seats. Hulu remains one of the most popular streaming services around, and while they are always developing new original content, they also have a vast and impressive library of existing movies, including old classics and new favorites. For those looking for some great chills and excitement from their next movie-watching, the best thriller movies on Hulu will do the job.
A great thriller grabs the audience’s attention and does not let go until the credits roll, but the genre can feature a wide variety of options. Hulu’s collection of thrillers is a perfect example of this as they range from dark serial killer stories to exciting legal thrillers and even some with a comedic edge. With stars like Brad Pitt, Will Smith, and Nicolas Cage appearing and directors like David Fincher and Alfred Hitchcock at the helm, the best thriller movies on Hulu provide some intense viewing options.
10 The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)
While the Netflix series The Lincoln Lawyer has become popular in its own right, the first adaptation of Michael Connelly’s novel was this 2011 legal thriller starring Matthew McConaughey. The Lincoln Lawyer follows hotshot defense attorney Mick Haller who operates his business out of his towncar. However, while defending an affluent young man accused of murder, Haller begins to see connections to an older case that still haunts him.
The movie helped to kick off McConaughey’s comeback as he excels as the morally dubious lawyer who is not above representing questionable clients, but takes a stand when he has to. The gripping race against time as Haller finds himself drawn into a dangerous game makes for an exhilarating story while the movie features a stellar supporting cast that includes Bryan Cranston, Michael Peña, and Marisa Tomei.
9 Enemy Of The State (1998)
The late great Tony Scott crafted this fast-paced and star-studded thriller that harkens back to the conspiracy thrillers of the 1970s. Will Smith stars as a lawyer and family man who is unknowingly passed some sensitive material that makes him the target of a rogue spy operation trying to cover their tracks. Gene Hackman plays a mysterious former spy who reluctantly comes to his aid.
Scott is a master of creating a pulse-pounding and relentless pace in his movies as Enemy of the State crafts a disturbing look at a modern world in which no one can hide. Stepping away from his usual action hero mode from the 1990s and gives a solid performance as an everyman pulled into a situation where he is constantly out of his element and running scared.
8 How To Blow Up A Pipeline (2023)
One of the more recent thrillers on Hulu is already one of the best. How to Blow Up a Pipeline is inspired by a true story and follows a group of environmental activists who stage a plot to destroy an oil pipeline. The movie plays out like a grounded and very human heist movie with the same genre elements like the team dynamics and mission planning.
For a smaller budget movie, How to Blow Up a Pipeline is very effective at keeping the audience on the edge of their seats with an entertaining story with a powerful message at its center. Though it is overshadowed by a number of bigger titles this fall, it remains one of the best movies of the year and a recent indie standout that more people can now check out on Hulu.
7 Phone Booth (2002)
One of Colin Farrell’s first Hollywood starring roles proved he was a leading man as he put on a virtual one-man show in the electric thriller Phone Booth. Farrell plays Stu Shepard, a self-centered and mean-spirited publicist who answers a ringing phone in a phone booth and is told by the voice on the other end that he will be shot if he hangs up. The unseen caller then puts Stu through the wringer, making him face the mistakes of his life.
Isolated thrillers are a great subgenre of movies and director Joel Schumacher does a great job of making the small setting feel alive and exciting. It is a brisk movie that moves fast without having to create unbelievable or silly scenarios to drag out the story longer. Farrell is excellent in the complex lead role while Kiefer Sutherland provides appropriate menace as the voice on the other end of the line.
6 Pig (2021)
Nicolas Cage began his amazing comeback with one of the most unexpected movies in recent years. Pig stars Cage as a man living an isolated life in the forest with his truffle-hunting pig. When the pig is taken from him, he goes on a journey into the dark underbelly of Portland’s food scene where his past boils to the surface and is forced to face his pain as he looks for his beloved pig.
The movie might sound like some strange parody of John Wick, but Pig works so well because of how earnestly the movie and the actors treat the material. Cage gives a brilliant reserved performance that is intense and heartbreaking. Yet the movie is able to balance the themes of loss and passion with a foreboding sense of danger that gives it a sense of urgency.
5 The Menu (2022)
Another food-based thriller is one of the best movies on Hulu right now. The Menu is a strange and fascinating comedic thriller that stars Anya Taylor Joy as a young woman who is invited along to an exclusive restaurant with a very select group of people where they are treated to a night of great food by a celebrated chef, played by Ralph Fiennes. However, as the night goes on, it becomes clear that the chef has darker plans in mind than simply feeding his guests.
The Menu‘s unique dishes bring the audience deeper into the disturbing mind games at work while the movie still provides a laugh with its satire of high society. The whole cast is excellent with Hong Chau as a true standout as the loyal yet fierce sous chef.
4 Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007)
Acclaimed director Sidney Lumet sadly died after making Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, but it is a terrific movie to end his incredible career on. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke star as two brothers struggling with their own messy lives who decide to make a small fortune by planning a robbery of their mother and father’s jewelry store. Of course, the supposed perfect crime goes horribly wrong.
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead is a Shakespearean crime thriller with so many dark twists and flawed characters that feels like a throwback to Lumet’s best movies of the 70s era. The cast is an embarrassment of riches with Hoffman and Hawke giving powerful performances joined by the likes of Marisa Tomei, Michael Shannon, and Albert Finney.
3 Hell Or High Water (2016)
Like How to Blow Up a Pipeline, Hell or High Water is a heist thriller with commentary on modern American society. Chris Pine and Ben Foster play two desperate brothers who go on a multi-state crime spree, robbing banks with a bigger plan in their mind. Jeff Bridges gives another powerful performance as the aging lawman on their trail.
Writer Taylor Sheridan has gone on to helm his own projects, but his voice comes through clearly in the clean and clever script. The movie carries its neo-Western tone while examining the struggles of middle America. It makes for a much more complex cops-and-robbers thriller where the audience is torn about who they are rooting for in the midst of the grounded yet daring heist sequences.
2 Psycho (1960)
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Alfred Hitchcock makes thrillers perhaps better than any other filmmaker and there are many who would suggest that Psycho is his greatest movie of all time. It introduced the world to Norman Bates, one of the most chilling movie characters of all time played to eerie perfection by Anthony Perkins. It is the story of a woman on the run who makes the mistake of stopping in at the Bates Motel and being dragged into Norman’s twisted world.
Psycho‘s twists remain iconic after all these years with it being one of the earlier movies that really took audiences by surprise with the unexpected plot developments. Hitchcock masterfully constructs bone-chilling sequences from the iconic shower sequence to the infamous final twist while pushing the envelope with this era of the cinema at the time.
1 Se7en (1995)
David Fincher has tackled thrillers about serial killers many times in his career, but perhaps never as effectively as with Se7en. The detective story stars Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt as two cops investigating a series of grisly and purposeful murders shaped around the Seven Deadly Sins. As they follow the trail of bodies, the killer plans their horrific final plan.
The dark and disturbing script by Andrew Kevin Walker and Fincher’s precise direction builds an inescapable sense of dread and cynicism that gets more overpowering as the movie continues. This all leads up to Se7en‘s unforgettable ending which remains one of the most infamous movie twists and leaves the audience with an experience they will not soon forget.
