## Forget Everything You Think You Know About Thrills: This Hulu Gem is About to Vanish Buckle up, because you’re about to dive into a world where reality bends, expectations shatter, and the line between sanity and madness blurs. Polygon calls it “the weirdest thriller in years,” and trust us, they’re not exaggerating. We’re talking about a mind-bending cinematic experience that will leave you questioning everything you thought you knew about the genre. But, there’s a catch: it’s about to disappear from Hulu. Before this enigmatic masterpiece vanishes, we’re breaking down why you absolutely need to watch it before it’s too late.
The Power of Titane’s Imagery: A Discussion of Its Impact on Horror Fans
A discussion of how Titane’s imagery has influenced horror fans and why it’s a standout in the genre.
Everyone’s horror pressure points are different. Either because of where or how you were raised, your lifestyle, or even just your own peculiarities, we have all encountered horror movie things that wig us out to no end that other people take in stride (and vice versa). Every ranking of scariness should be taken with a grain of salt and parsed for explanation about what makes it scary, because odds are we all have different tolerances.
Which is all to say, hear the full breadth with which I say this: Titane, which is leaving Hulu this Saturday, is one of the few movies that has made me physically nauseous as I watched it, and I think probably everyone should. Titane was known before its release as “the movie where a woman gets impregnated by a car.” This is more or less the story in a nutshell; Alexia (Agathe Rousselle) has loved cars since a childhood auto accident left her with a titanium plate in her head. As an adult, she lives as a showgirl at a motor show — where, yeah, she eventually has sex with a car — and also is a serial killer who’s killed a few people over a few months.
Once she finds out she’s pregnant, she goes on the run, hiding in plain sight as Adrian Legrand, a young boy who disappeared a decade ago at age 7. Unfortunately, Adrian’s dad Vincent (Vincent London) is all too happy to accept Adrian’s return with no questions asked, even as her pregnancy starts to show.
Titane is riddled with the balance of such grotesquerie and weirdness. Alexia realizes she’s pregnant when she starts dripping motor oil out of her vagina. She uses the same hair stick she uses for killing to attempt an abortion, and then goes on a rampage. For a more recent comparison you can look to act three of The Substance, only with more violent viscera coming out. It would be simply bloody terror if it weren’t for all the motor oil. It is also stomach churning — complimentary. Because Titane — like its New French Extremity brethren — is far more than just its horrors.
The Struggle for Identity: Alexia’s Journey and the Film’s Themes
As we follow Alexia through her rampage and eventual retreat, the movie bounces like a lowrider cruising, ricocheting off gruesome images and gendered themes alike. The characters of the film struggle to control their changing bodies, constantly intertwined and at odds with what they see in the mirror.
The Power of the Automobile: Symbolism and Metaphor in Titane
The horror drives things to extremes and then dances there. For better or worse, we’re hauled along for the ride. That Titane feels like it can and will go anywhere makes for a tense viewing, the sort of thing that leaves you so clenched that you get to the end and realize you have been on edge to the point of physical discomfort.
The Film’s Use of Setting: How Titane’s World Shapes the Story
Titane may certainly seem like the kind of gonzo film that’s “just asking questions” without appropriately answering them, and I’m not wholly convinced that critique is wrong. But years later, my throat still clenches a bit at the thought of it — and that’s the kind of gut feeling that suggests it’s at least interesting enough to chew on.
What to Watch Before It Leaves Hulu
Editor’s Pick: Sexy Beast
Director: Jonathan Glazer
Cast: Ben Kingsley, Ray Winstone, Ian McShane
Leaving Criterion Channel: March 31
Earlier this month, Jonathan Glazer took home the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film for The Zone of Interest, his first Oscar win in his 30-plus-year career. Glazer has only directed four features in that time, each one more cerebral and astounding than the last. His first film, Sexy Beast, is arguably his most “commercial” effort to date — and even that qualifier feels like a stretch: It’s a black comedy crime drama that plays out with the nail-biting tension of a horror thriller.
The film centers on Gary “Gal” Dove (Ray Winstone), a career criminal happily whiling away his retirement in Costa del Sol with his wife and friends. Gal is suddenly plagued by a visit from Don Logan (Ben Kingsley), a former associate who has come to recruit him for a upcoming heist. Don is a foul-mouthed, emotionally manipulative sociopath who delights in incessantly berating those around him and bending people to his whim, so when Gal refuses his offer, Don makes it his mission to make Gal’s life a living hell until the job is done.
Glazer’s stellar direction and Ivan Bird’s dreamlike cinematography are what set Sexy Beast apart from other crime movies of its era. So does Kingsley’s scene-stealing performance as a malevolent agent of chaos, who blows in like a bad omen to wreak emotional and physical havoc on anyone and anything unfortunate enough to be close to him. That’s not even mentioning the score, which includes contributions from U.K. trip-hop outfit Unkle, who Glazer previously collaborated with on the music video for their 1998 single “Rabbit in Your Headlights.”
Sexy Beast is an exhilarating, thorny, and terrifying case study in emotional manipulation that also happens to be a superb heist movie, and you should absolutely make it your priority to see it if you haven’t already.
- Jonathan Glazer’s 2000 debut, Sexy Beast starring Ray Winstone and Ben Kingsley, is a top priority; you must watch that if you haven’t already.
- Other picks include the sci-fi horror film Underwater, starring Love Lies Bleeding’s Kristen Stewart, Kathryn Bigelow’s elusive cyberpunk thriller Strange Days, a classic martial arts action film starring the inimitable Sonny Chiba, and more.
Whatever you’re looking for, there are options for you, with the added urgency of “you won’t be able to watch this here next month.” Here are the best movies you should watch before they leave streaming this March.
Other Must-Watch Movies Leaving Hulu in March
The Street Fighter
Image: Toei Company/New Line Home Video
Director: Shigehiro Ozawa
Cast: Sonny Chiba, Yutaka Nakajima, Goichi Yamada
Leaving Netflix: March 31
One of the most influential action movies ever made, The Street Fighter is a gloriously violent display of Sonny Chiba’s unique star power, as he rips and tears his way through a bunch of gangsters and lowlifes.
Decades later, Chiba’s son Mackenyu (One Piece) is carrying that legacy forward… albeit in a slightly less violent fashion. The first movie to receive an X rating in the U.S. because of violence, The Street Fighter not only inspired the title of the fighting game series, it also introduced the idea of X-ray fatalities, directly influencing Mortal Kombat.
If you’re a fighting game fan and you’ve never seen The Street Fighter, this is your chance to fix that.
Underwater
Image: Alan Markfield/20th Century Fox
Director: William Eubank
Cast: Kristen Stewart, Vincent Cassel, Mamoudou Athie
Leaving Hulu: March 31
Underwater is a lean genre project with B-movie flair and solid execution. So if you’re in the mood for something that’s got a little bit of everything, and you don’t mind if things get a little weird, then Underwater is definitely worth checking out.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the article “Watch the weirdest thriller in years before it leaves Hulu” is a thought-provoking exploration of the unconventional thriller that has taken the streaming world by storm. The piece delves into the film’s bizarre plot twists, its blend of genres, and its ability to keep viewers on the edge of their seats. The author’s enthusiasm for the movie is palpable, and their argument for why it’s a must-watch before it disappears from Hulu is compelling.
The significance of this thriller lies not only in its entertainment value but also in its bold defiance of traditional genre conventions. In an era where formulaic storytelling often dominates the thriller genre, this film’s willingness to take risks and push boundaries is a breath of fresh air. As the streaming landscape continues to evolve, it’s crucial that we celebrate and support innovative storytelling like this, lest we be left with a sea of homogenous, unoriginal content.