Brendan Fraser’s The Mummy trilogy, the Hulu Original dark comedy The Drop, and the Neil LaBute comedy-horror film House Of Darkness are just a few of the notable titles premiering on Hulu in January. You’ll also find anniversary presentations of The King Of Comedy, The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, S.W.A.T. and The Triplets Of Belleville. Here are 12 titles streaming on Hulu this month that caught our eye.
Sarah Adina Smith directed The Drop, a dark comedy starring Anna Konkle and Jermaine Fowler as a happily married couple who venture to a tropical resort for their friend’s wedding and to try to get pregnant. When Konkle’s character, Lex, accidentally drops their friend’s baby in front of everyone, all kinds of old wounds reopen as the exotic getaway quickly becomes a stormy situation. The R-rated Hulu Original is produced by Mark and Jay Duplass.
In celebration of the film’s 40th anniversary, Hulu is adding Martin Scorsese’s satirical dark comedy The King Of Comedy to its streaming library in January. Robert De Niro plays a struggling stand-up comic with mental health issues who kidnaps a famous late-night TV host, Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis), to get an opening spot on his show. Sandra Bernhard is hilarious as the mentally disturbed Masha, who is also obsessed with Langford and is down with kidnapping him.
We’re not saying that The League Of Extraordinary Gentleman is a great film, but it’s worth mentioning that the diesel-punk superhero movie is being added to Hulu on its 20th anniversary for one reason: Sean Connery. The late actor plays adventurer-hunter Allan Quatermain and is easily the highlight of this cinematic misfire. The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen is also notable for being Connery’s last live-action performance before his retirement in 2006 and death in 2020.
Brendan Fraser is enjoying a comeback right now for his critically acclaimed performance in The Whale, which is probably why Hulu decided to add the actor’s old-fashioned adventure The Mummy to its library in January. Audiences loved Fraser as adventurer Rick O’Connell, who travels to the ancient Egyptian city of Hamunaptra and accidentally awakens the titular mummy, Imhotep. The sequels, The Mummy Returns and The Mummy: Tomb Of the Dragon Emperor, also drop on Hulu this month if you need more of a Fraser fix.
Ridley Scott’s sci-fi epic Prometheus, starring Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce and Idris Elba, serves as a prequel to 1979’s Alien, which Scott also directed. Although Prometheus bothered some cranky fanboys who wanted straight-up xenomorph action, the visually stunning prequel answers a lot of questions about the race of Engineers behind the aliens designed by H.R. Giger that have been terrifying audiences for decades. Scott is currently producing an upcoming Alien series for FX on Hulu, which is probably why Prometheus is now available to whet appetites for more.
The action-thriller S.W.A.T., starring Colin Farrell, Samuel L. Jackson, LL Cool J, Michelle Rodriguez and Jeremy Renner, is based on the 1975 television series of the same name. The movie received mixed reviews, but fans of any of the aforementioned actors may want to check it out on Hulu in celebration of S.W.A.T.’s 20th anniversary.
This Oscar-nominated animated comedy directed by Sylvain Chomet was praised for its unusual animation style and unique narrative with minimal dialogue. The story about an elderly woman on a quest to rescue her kidnapped grandson is conveyed mostly through pantomime and song. Hulu has added the animated gem to its library in celebration of The Triplets Of Belleville’s 20th anniversary.
Are you missing zombies a little bit now that The Walking Dead has ended its run? Although it has a more comical tone than the dead-serious The Walking Dead TV series, Zombieland, starring Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin, is a post-apocalyptic zom-com that’s worth revisiting or discovering for the first time now that it is on Hulu. Our favorite part is an extended cameo by Bill Murray, who plays an exaggerated version of himself.
Neil LaBute’s latest movie, House Of Darkness, is a reimagining of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Fans of LaBute’s acerbic writing—he’s the man behind In the Company Of Men, Your Friends & Neighbors, The Shape Of Things, Nurse Betty and the remake of The Wicker Man—will be on board for this intriguing horror-comedy starring Justin Long, Kate Bosworth, Gia Crovatin and Lucy Walters.
Colson Baker, aka Machine Gun Kelly, plays a young criminal on the run after ripping off a bag of money from his crime boss in One Way, an action thriller written by Ben Conway and directed by Andrew Baird. Rounding out the cast are Kevin Bacon, Travis Fimmel and Drea de Matteo. The R-rated movie got mixed reviews from critics, but audiences and fans of MGK rated it higher.
Thomas Jane and his daughter, Harlow Jane, play father and daughter on-screen in Dig, a mystery-thriller in which they are held hostage by a dangerous couple played by Emile Hirsch and Liana Liberato. The story is uneven but has its moments, thanks mostly to the Janes and Hirsch.
In celebration of the documentary’s five-year anniversary, Hulu is adding Love, Gilda to its library. This loving tribute to the Saturday Night Live comic and actress Gilda Radner uses personal diaries, audiotapes, video clips, and interviews with friends and colleagues to create a portrait of the iconic comedienne who passed away from cancer in 1989 at the age of 42.