The Criterion Collection

Ring in 2013 with this week’s selection of free Criterion films on Hulu, which feature celebrations ranging from the splashy to the surreal. Go to a New Year’s party with Charlie Chaplin in The Gold Rush; let loose in Rio with Marcel Camus’ carnival extravaganza Black Orpheus; attend an out-of-control outing to the country in Jean Renoir’s The Rules of the Game; and if you’re in the mood for really terrible—and literally interminable—dinner parties, there’s always Luis Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel or Jan Němec’s A Report on the Party and Guests.

But nothing in the Criterion Collection matches Victor Sjöstrom’s silent masterpiece The Phantom Carriage for its strange take on January 1. Its premise—that the last person to die on New Year’s Eve before the clock strikes twelve is cursed to pilot Death’s chariot, collecting souls—is undeniably creepy. But this amazing film is ultimately an emotionally rewarding, humane redemption drama. You can watch it for free in its entirety below or at Hulu. And remember, if you sign up for Hulu Plus for just $7.99 a month, you’ll be able to see the hundreds of other Criterion films streaming there.