Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Movie Review: "Hush" (2016)

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Movie"Hush"
Director: Mike Flanagan
Year: 2016
Rating: R
Running Time: 1 hour, 21 minutes

A deaf writer fights for her life against a masked killer lurking outside her home.

"Hush" is a low budget horror/thriller directed by Mike Flanagan. The screenplay is also written by Flanagan along with his wife Kate Siegel, who is the star of the film. Siegel plays a deaf mystery writer named Maddie, who is busy at work on her second novel, but seems to be stuck in a period of writers block. As with most horror movies, Maddie's home is located in a rather rural wooded area with only one neighbor down the way a bit. She doesn't get many neighbors these days, especially since she has just broken up with her boyfriend, leaving her alone in this big house with little hope for visitors. While cooking dinner one night, a masked man shows up outside her house. He has just finished murdering one person and is looking to make Maddie his next victim. The mask this assailant wears for a portion of the film is super simple, but is also really, really creepy and effective in setting a fantastic tone for horror. It is often the blank white face masks that are used constantly, but when applied to the right film, they become super unnerving. This killer doesn't just want to murder Maddie, he wants to torment her slowly. He receives pleasure from pushing his victims to the edge of fear just before ending their lives. Now, she has to figure out how to survive despite her disability. Since she is deaf, she can't hear him coming when she tries to make a run for it. She also isn't fully aware of how much noise she is making herself, which also puts her at an extreme disadvantage. Maddie's deafness adds an extra level of tension that maintains itself throughout the entire run time of this movie.

We knew nothing about "Hush" other than the sheer amount of people online who had watched it before us and sang its praises. It's a suspenseful, edge of your seat horror/thriller that keeps the surprises coming and the tension level high. Mike Flanagan is able to create a simple yet wonderfully creepy atmosphere that is extremely palatable. We root for Maddie the entire time and want her to make it out of this horrible situation alive, but it's more than that. We also want to see what creative, clever ways she has to think of to try to outsmart this murderer. Kate Siegel acts her heart out here, and everyone else is excellent as well. We have to say we really enjoyed this approach to the home invasion horror genre. It might not completely reinvent the wheel, but giving it certain plot points sure as hell make it more inventive, and thus, keeps us more invested. This is definitely worth checking out as soon as possible!

My Rating: 8/10
BigJ's Rating: 8/10
IMDB's Rating: 6.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 100%
Do we recommend this movie: Yes!
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One year ago, we were being scared by"Wolfcop"

Two years ago, we were being scared by"The Blob"

Three years ago, we were being scared by: "The Lost Boys"

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