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Hulu is ready with an entertainment-packed May this year. The upcoming month will see the release of the much-anticipated comedy series Adults and the return of Hulu’s one of the most popular series, Nine Perfect Strangers. Just like every month, Hulu is ready to overload you with great content. So, we’re here to tell you about the 10 new movies and TV shows coming to Hulu in May 2025.

Escape (May 3) Credit – Plus M Entertainment

Escape is a South Korean action thriller film directed by Lee Jong-pil from a screenplay co-written by Kwon Seong-hwi and Kim Woo-geun. The 2024 film follows Lim Gyu-nam, a North Korean soldier who defects to South Korea and is soon finds himself being chased by a ruthless North Korean Major. Escape stars Lee Je-hoon, Koo Kyo-hwan, and Hong Xa-bin.

Insidious: The Red Door (May...

A scene from the South Korean action thriller Escape. Courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment

Recently, I’ve found a slew of Korean action flicks to be quite impressive, particularly for outstanding stuntwork and effects. Most have been contemporary crime-themed offerings. Escape, despite its potentially action-heavy title, goes in another direction – longer on political propaganda. Still quite effective.

The protagonist is a sergeant in the North Korean army (Lee Je-hoon) in a unit patrolling the southern border with you-know-who. The area is riddled with land mines to deter deserters and defectors. He forms an elaborate plan to defect, including painstakingly mapping all the mines he’ll have to avoid when the time comes. Steve McQueen’s characters from Papillon and The Great Escape would both admire his level of preparation. His goal gets complicated when discovered by one of his men (Hong Xa-bin), who insists on going with him under threat of exposure.

The Killers anthology brings together four renowned Korean directors for a creative examination of the criminal underworld. Released in 2024, the film draws inspiration from Ernest Hemingway’s short story “The Killers” as well as Edward Hopper’s iconic painting “Nighthawks,” both of which depict ominous encounters between hitmen and their targets. Through four distinct short films, Kim Jong-kwan, Roh Deok, Jang Hang-jun, and Lee Myung-se put their own singular spin on this pulpy premise.

Kim opens with “Metamorphosis,” throwing viewers into a neo-noir world of blurred reality and vengeance. A down-on-his-luck man awakens in a lavish underground bar owned by an alluring yet mysterious woman who offers a path to retaliation. Roh follows with the dark comedy “Contractors,” skewering outsourcing absurdity through the botched handoff of a murder contract down an incompetent chain of hires.

Shifting tones, Jang’s “Everyone is Waiting for the Man” ratchets tension in a quaint...

They called it Escape, and what an apt title it is. This thrilling newcomer wastes no time plunging us into the desperate bid for freedom of North Korean sergeant Lim Gyu-nam. Over ten tense years, Lim has meticulously plotted his getaway across the mine-strewn border to the promised land of the South. But on the eve of his departure, a spanner is thrown in the works, endangering not just Lim’s mission but his very life.

That sets the relentless cat-and-mouse chase in motion. As Lim recalculates in the face of new obstacles, he’s hunted by the dangling Field Officer Li Hyun-sang, a captivating yet unsettling antagonist. Their childhood connection makes their conflict all the more compelling as friend turns against friend. Meanwhile, the stakes are raised when Lim’s comrade Dong-hyuk is captured, leaving Lim racing to rescue him from the iron grip of the North’s brutal regime.

Stars: Lee Je Hoon, Hong Xa Bin, Koo Kyo-Hwan, Esom, Song Kang | Written by Kwon Sung Hui | Directed by Lee Jong-Pil

The Dmz is a lethal no man’s land that divides the Korean Peninsula. For South Korea, it’s a first line of defence against an invasion from the North. For North Korea, it’s a last measure to stop its citizens who try to escape from the country. Sergeant Lim Kyu Nam is stationed on the north side of it, but not for much longer. His ten-year enlistment is almost up. But he isn’t going home, he’s planned out an escape to the South, where he at least has a chance to live the life he dreams of.

Unfortunately, Dong-hyuk discovers his plans and tries to make his own escape. When he tries to stop him, they both get caught and accused of desertion. The only...

by Khushi Jain

17 year old Yeon-gyu bashes open the head of a fellow student in the school playground and thus begins the Korean gangster film “Hopeless.” For his debut, Kim Chang-hoon dips his toes into a dark genre and creates something that respectfully nods to its predecessors. Premiering at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section, “Hopeless” is a well-made saga of mob violence.

Hopeless Debuts Exclusively on Digital June 25 ,courtesy of Wellgo USA

Yeon-gyu (Hong Xa-bin) lives in a tiny, tightly packed apartment with his docile mother, abusive alcoholic stepfather and stepsister Hayan (Kim Hyoung-seo “Bibi”). He starts working for a local gangster Chi-geon (Song Joong-ki), mainly stealing bikes and occasionally helping manipulate a political election, so as to earn enough to one day leave the fictional ‘Myeongan City' for Amsterdam (where he believes everyone lives a good life). The world that he willingly enters forcibly...

Hong Xa-bin as struggling teen Yeon-gyu, in the South Korean gritty drama Hopeless. Courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment

I’ve praised many Korean crime and action exports recently. Hopeless will not be one of them, perhaps due to high expectations following the others. This one is aptly titled, providing a depressing tale set among the bottom of the urban economic ladder, and the limited options available to the youth and adults stuck in the slums.

The protagonist is Yeon-gyu (Hong Xa-bin), a teen who just wants to keep his distance from an abusive stepfather and finish his education without hassles. He’s a good guy who would do well in most other circumstances. But in this neighborhood, his efforts to help others turn out to be futile, or worse, including losing his menial part-time job . Local thugs add to his woes, driving him into the crime realm for physical and financial survival.

South Korea’s Plus M Entertainment has closed a raft of key deals at the Cannes market on upcoming action thriller Escape, including for North America and territories across Europe and Asia.

The thriller, in which a North Korean sergeant attempts to defect while pursued by a ruthless major, has been acquired by Well Go USA for North America and K-movie Entertainment for the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

Further European sales include France (Metropolitan), Germany (Splendid Films) and Poland (Media4fun). In Asia, the film has been acquired for Hong Kong (Edko Films), Taiwan (Moviecloud), Thailand (Sahamongkol), Vietnam (Lumix Media...

South Korea’s Plus M Entertainment has closed a raft of key deals at the Cannes market on upcoming action thriller Escape, including for North America and territories across Europe and Asia.

The thriller, in which a North Korean sergeant attempts to defect while pursued by a ruthless major, has been acquired by Well Go USA for North America and K-movie Entertainment for the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

Further European sales include France (Metropolitan), Germany (Splendid Films) and Poland (Media4fun). In Asia, the film has been acquired for Hong Kong (Edko Films), Taiwan (Moviecloud), Thailand (Sahamongkol), Vietnam (Lumix Media...