My Review of Hush (2016)

 

Written by Mike Flanagan And Kate Siegel

Directed by Mike Flanagan 

The Man (to Maddie): "I can come in anytime I want. And I can get you, anytime I want. But I'm not going to. Not until it's time. When you wish you're dead... that's when I'll come inside."

I should warn you that you're going to be seeing a lot of Flanagan related posts as I'm going through his Netflix shows at the moment and also some of his movies. This one in particular really stood out.

Released on Netflix, it was on the app, taken off and now has resurfaced digitally. Given the title, I almost expected a silent movie. I kind of got something in between with the protagonist of the piece. 

The protagonist being a deaf and mute horror writer named Maddie Young (Kate Siegel). For some reason Maddie's living in the woods while also trying to finish her latest novel, given the critical acclaim of the previous one. She's also brushing up on her culinary skills and friendship with Sarah Greene (Samantha Sloyan). The latter also wanted to brush up on her sign language.

Anyways things take a very dark turn when it's actually dark in the woods and a serial killer named The Man (John Gallagher Jr) killed poor Sarah and then took an overzealous delight in terrorising Maddie during the majority of the movie, making it impossible for her to get away from him.

Worse still for Maddie was that even Sarah's well meaning but unfortunate boyfriend, John Stanley (Michael Trucco) couldn't outsmart The Man. He did to his credit to give Maddie an advantage but it didn't quite take. 

The last few minutes between Maddie and The Man definitely ramped up the tension. You had Maddie thinking through every scenario for freedom before having to face off with The Man in her own home. The ending's pretty fucking tense but it certainly was the highlight of the movie.

- Maddie's book was Midnight Mass, which Netflix released as a seven part series in 2021. Siegel literally played Erin Greene in that show.

- There's a brief appearance of Maddie's sister, Max (Emma Graves) via video chat before the main event itself.

- An alternative black and white cut known as The Shush Cut exists for this movie.

- Chronology: Presumably the present day for this movie. 

Hush is a fantastic film with an excellent premise, a fairly unique protagonist within a setting that's a horror staple. Everything just works with a brilliant performance from Kate Siegel and ingenious use of certain things (a flash alarm for example) in an attempt to stay alive from a very ordinary killer. 

Rating: 8 out of 10