What’s New to Stream on Hulu for August 2021

Older movies and new shows highlight the best of Hulu this month.
New to Hulu August 2021

Crossing the Streams is our look at all the offerings hitting the big streaming services each month, and this time we’re checking out the new Hulu arrivals for August 2021 including a comedic mystery series, a new show from Taika Waititi, and more!


Hulu Pick of the Month for August 2021

It’s unfair of me to do this, but August’s pick of the month doesn’t actually arrive until… the very last day of the month. I’m hoping it’s worth it, though, as Only Murders in the Building (premieres August 31st) looks immensely promising on the page. Steve Martin and Martin Short co-star alongside Selena Gomez as residents of an apartment building who come to suspect a murderer lives among them. Martin created the show alongside John Hoffman (Grace and Frankie, 2016-2020), and it looks to a fun blend of mystery and comedy highlighted by two of the best in the industry. Gomez may seem like a curveball here, but she’s proven herself as a reliably low-key straight man before, and she might just play off the two masters surprisingly well. Here’s hoping Martin and Short ultimately discover the guilty party is Chevy Chase.


New from Indigenous Talents

Taika Waititi is the big name behind Reservation Dogs (premieres August 9th), and his interests are clearly on display, but this is creator Sterlin Harjo’s baby. The show follows four young Native Americans living on a reservation in Oklahoma who make it through each day with a combination of hijinks and hope that someday soon they’ll leave this all behind. It’s funny at times, albeit more humorous and entertaining than laugh out loud, but there’s also a beating heart at its core in these “kids” and their community. Native reservations are rare settings for film/TV, and its characters are equally as uncommon, but that’s hopefully changing as exposure and representation can only be good. Pair this show with Peacock’s Rutherford Falls for an entertaining and eye-opening time.


Monster Movies!

While some horror films aim to deliver fun thrills, others want to unsettle, and this early 80s horror/sci-fi film lands in the latter camp. Philippe Mora’s The Beast Within (1982) opens with a young woman assaulted by something in the darkness, and years later the son who resulted from the attack begins behaving strangely. Yes, it’s cicada horror, and you should probably give it a spin. It’s disturbing and grim, but the film also delivers some spectacular practical effects that both impress and disgust.

I’m on record as being fairly underwhelmed by vampires as protagonists because far too many of them are presented in the romantic, seductive vein which is pretty boring. (There are exceptions, obviously.) 30 Days of Night (2007) foregoes that angle and instead presents them as the monsters they are, and the result is a film that never quite gets the credit it deserves for delivering beautifully crafted set-pieces, killer gore (that decapitation is an all-timer!), and stellar performances from all involved including Josh Hartnett and Melissa George.

The counter to more serious fare is this fun, creative, and highly energetic creature feature from the UK. Joe Cornish’s Attack the Block (2011) drops alien monsters into South London where they meet their match in a rambunctious gang of teen hooligans. A pre-Star Wars John Boyega headlines alongside Jodie Whittaker, Luke Treadaway, and Nick Frost for a film that pairs some sly commentary on race and class with a fairly thrilling alien invasion. It manages more impressive visuals on its low budget than many blockbusters can muster. Turn on the subtitles and settle in for a good time.


A Jennifer Jason Leigh Double Feature

Jennifer Jason Leigh has been acting since 1981 and has starred in some of your favorite movies across the decades including Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), Road to Perdition (2002), and Annihilation (2018). Matthew Chapman’s Heart of Midnight (1988) might not reach their heights, but it does deliver an odd little thriller with a memorable lead performance at its center. Leigh plays a young woman who inherits a rundown club from her disturbed uncle, and soon the place’s dangerous and weirdly seductive vibe becomes threatening. Trauma, mind games, ghosts… there’s something going on behind these walls.

The flipside of the spectrum is George Armitage’s Miami Blues (1990). A wildly raucous and ultimately sad action/comedy, the film sees a bad boy (Alec Baldwin) woo a young woman while breaking the law at every opportunity. Fred Ward is fantastic as the cop hot on their trail, and while the two guys duke it out Leigh sits at the center of it all representing innocence and empathy. There’s plenty of fun to be had here, but it’s couched with some mean beats and affecting realizations. Armitage would score his biggest (and only) hit seven years later with the terrific and far lighter Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), but don’t let this one pass you by.


The Complete Hulu List for August 2021

Release DateTitleNote
8/110 to Midnight
21
30 Days of Night
30 Minutes Or Less
All About E
Alpha & Omega
Are We There Yet?
As Good As It Gets
Attack the Block
The Baby-Sitters Club
Bagdad Cafe
The Beast Within
Black Swan
Blood Games
Blood on Satan’s Claw
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Cherry Pop
Christina’s House
Contagion
Every Breath You Take
The Final Girls
First Knight
Fish Don’t Blink
Fred Claus
Freelancers
French Postcards
From Prada To Nada
Garbo Talks
Getting Go: The Go Doc Project
The Girl King
The Grudge
Gulliver’s Travels
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
Hamilton’s Pharmacopia - Complete Season 3
The Hawaiians
Heart of Midnight
Heartbreakers
Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party
Henry V
Hondo
The Hot Chick
The Hunter
I Know What You Did Last Summer
I Love You, Don’t Touch Me!
It’s Kind of a Funny Story
Jack and Jill
The Killing Streets
King Arthur
Kingpin
The Legend of Bagger Vance
Liz in September
Mad Max
Miami Blues
Mirror Mirror
Mud
My Bloody Valentine
Naz & Maalik
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Plaza Suite
Roadhouse 66
Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion
Rudy
Shane
Shark Tale
Some Kind of Wonderful
The Sons of Katie Elder
Special Effects
Spellbinder
Thelma & Louise
The Thin Red Line
Those People
Toy Soldiers
Transcendence
Under the Tuscan Sun
The Vatican Tapes
Watchmen
8/4The Devil You Know - Complete Seasons 1-2
8/5Princess Cyd
8/6Madagascar: A Little Wild - Complete Season 4Hulu Original
8/8The Party
8/9Reservation Dogs - Series Premiere
8/10Together, Together
8/11AWOL
Fantasy Island - Series Premiere
8/12The Force
Held
HomeroomHulu Original
The Virtuoso
The Waiting Room
8/14Brooklyn Nine-Nine - Season 8 Premiere
8/15The Hate U Give
Silo
8/17Bachelor in Paradise - Season 7 Premiere
The Skeleton Twins
8/18The Marijuana Conspiracy
Nine Perfect Strangers - Series PremiereHulu Original
Unsane
8/19Blast Beat
Jungleland
8/21We Broke Up
8/23The Ultimate Surfer - Series Premiere
8/24Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor
8/26American Horror Story - Season 10 Premiere
Archer - Season 12 Premiere
Disobedience
Feral State
Love And Monsters
8/27Chaos Walking
Vacation FriendsHulu Original
8/28Four Good Days
8/29Horizon Line
8/309/11: One Day in America - Series Premiere
Spell
8/31Only Murders in the Building - Series PremiereHulu Original

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Rob Hunter: Rob Hunter has been writing for Film School Rejects since before you were born, which is weird seeing as he's so damn young. He's our Chief Film Critic and Associate Editor and lists 'Broadcast News' as his favorite film of all time. Feel free to say hi if you see him on Twitter @FakeRobHunter.