This “10/10” Thriller Swerves into the Hulu Top 10

  |  
Feb 15, 2025
Amber Alert

Horror movies are often punishing. Largely, the genre tends to explore the folly and hubris of humans and the consequences that later befall them. Don’t go to the cabin in the woods. Don’t read from the book. Don’t play around with teleportation, onward and onward. Heck, even Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey moralized, punishing Christopher Robin for abandoning his friends before a long (and cannibalistic) winter.

Those moral failings are part of what makes the genre accessible. When “stupendous” Trent (Travis Van Winkle) is impaled on the back of a truck in 2009’s Friday the 13th remake, we don’t feel bad because Trent otherwise had it coming. It’s the backbone of so much Western entertainment—this is fun because I’m better than the people I’m watching. The rare title, however, asks the impossible. Could you put yourself in danger to save someone else? If so, how far would you go? Kerry Bellessa’s Amber Alert, which charted this week on Hulu, has the answer.

Per Hulu: When Jaq (Hayden Panettiere) and Shane (Tyler James Williams) witness a potential kidnapping during a rideshare, they desperately race against time to save the child’s life.

Listen, I’ve seen Amber Alert, and as much as it screams Lifetime thriller, it’s actually considerably more accomplished than that. It’s certainly more successful than Bellessa’s original rendition, 2012’s film of the same name, filmed in found footage style. This Amber Alert is crisp, digital, and regularly compelling. It even had me spooked from time to time, and that’s no small feat.

Panettiere and Williams make for likable leads, and while there remains some incredulity for how they originally find themselves involved in tracking down the suspect, after things are in motion, they’re pretty competent too. From breezy lies to a dropped earphone, the pair manage the mounting danger well. Sure, they’re no Benson and Stabler, but they do the best with what they’ve got, and that goes a long way toward making Amber Alert a reasonably thrilling ride.

Online, fans have been having a great time with the film, too. Fans are loving the thrills, chills, and, of course, genre icon Hayden Panettiere. Check out some choice social reactions below:

What do you think? Do you have any plans to check out Amber Alert on Hulu? What other thrillers are worth seeking out? Let me know what you think over on Twitter @Chadiscollins.

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