User reviews

A chess game of suspense involving a deaf girl and a serial killer locked outside her home in the woods.

It sounds like a cliché with a twist, and it is, but it's a really good cliché with a twist.

For a start the premise that the lead character Maddie, the deaf writer, who is home alone after a relationship break up, opens up a box of plot twists and devices that are unfamiliar in their familiarity.

Second, Maddie, (Kate Siegel) dominates the movie, even though it's essentially a double hander, with a superbly sympathetic performance that never gets you shouting "don't do that", as is common in this genre.

The tension does not let up from start to finish (and it's only 82 minutes so doesn't outstay its welcome) as the masked invader tries to outwit Maddie and vice versa.

The temptation might have been to take Maddie's disability and, like with Audrey Hepburn's blindness in Wait Until Dark, use it to her advantage somehow; but that does not transpire. It's actually her skills as a writer (she is completing her latest crime novel when the would be assassin strikes) that gives her some traction in what should be a one-sided battle.

This is an intelligent, well paced and well shot, low budget slasher movie, but on a higher plane.

'Hush' is a lot like 'The Strangers', except instead of strangers plural it's only one man, and instead of a husband and wife being terrorized it's a deaf and mute recluse. It's very tense and cleverly written bar a few cliché tropes that come with this kind of movie. It also has a minimal synth score, something I notice more and more horror movies are utilizing - 'You're Next', 'It Follows' - to give it an '80s classic slasher atmosphere. It's hard to even call it horror though as it offers far more thrills than actual scares. I was thoroughly satisfied watching this movie. It's constantly engaging, and that has a lot to do with the terrific performances of both the man and Maggie, and there are a few scenes that are genuinely depraved and chilling. It doesn't break any new ground, but following 'The Babadook' and 'It Follows', 'Hush' continues to reinspire the subtle, quiet corner of the genre and bodes well for the future of psychological thrillers. Highly recommended.

The slasher genre was at it's peak in the 80's, when the 90's came it began to struggle and in this guys opinion it's never fully recovered. Sure every once in a while a high profile slasher movie pops up but the interest never seems to last.

I'd say a primary reason is that they're all the same but that could be said about a lot of horror sub-genres.

Here we have the story of a mute/deaf author who lives out secluded in the forest and you guessed it she falls foul of a masked killer.

The fact she's deaf actually adds more of an element to the movie than you'd imagine and though Hush suffers from the same Slasher tropes as every other it manages to stay fresh regardless.

Well shot, well written and well acted by both little known leads I came away from Hush very satisfied. Sure it's nothing revolutionary but it didn't need to be, it's a demonstration that slashers still have life left in them.

The Good:

The pets role in the film

Some well crafted moments

Both leads were excellent

The Bad:

Slasher tropes

Hush combines the familiarities of the home-invasion sub-genre with the unpredictability of its interesting premise. Kate Siegel plays deaf author Maddie with persisting conviction and aids in mining the story's nailbiting potential. It doesn't surpass every trope there is within its category, but it sprinkles plenty of "oh, how will this turn out?" questions across its short runtime to keep you on your toes.

Let us start with the fact that this is not a horror movie. It's a thriller, with some interesting unusual aspects, as well as a few cringe-worthy flaws (in character logic, as the case always seems to be).

So what makes this movie stand out and feel almost fresh? The obvious first is that our protagonist is deaf-mute. Not being an expert on deaf people, I still believe this was played quite consistently to the movie's credit. It is interesting to occupy the head space of someone missing such an important sense in a frightful situation.

Another thing I noticed is the total lack of jump scares. There isn't a single jump-scare in the movie, which only further distances Hush from being a horror movie. In fact the usual creep factor as a whole is kept to a minimum. It quickly becomes a cat-and-mouse kind of battle of wits more than anything else, which I found a pleasant surprise, despite being more of a horror fanatic.

The third curious thing is that from the get go it's made clear that the killer is very much human. We don't know what his motivations are, he's just out to kill and doesn't give much of a s*** about anything else but his upper hand. He doesn't have much of a plan and has to improvise, as does our protagonist to survive.

I found the thrill in this movie to be more intellectual than primal. The gore is neither profuse nor lacking, it's there when it's needed. It's well shot, acted, directed and edited, considering the modest budget, and doesn't overstay its welcome. I'd recommend it for a rainy evening if you want to see the thriller genre try something new.

Mike Flanagan is one for two in my books. His first big film was Absentia, which was a slow boring mess of a film. Interesting ideas, but nothing much else was going on in the film. His second output was a vast improvement, Oculus. Flanagan showed promise and improvement, which made me interested in seeing what else he had for future projects. Well, he has two films coming out in 2016 and I want to talk about Hush, his take on the home invasion sub-genre.

Home invasion films have been done to death. Some are great (You're Next), some are tolerable (The Strangers) and some are downright terrible (When A Stranger Calls, 2006). So how does one make their home invasion film stand out from the rest? There has to be some twist on the story to make it memorable. You're Next was a great deconstruction of the genre itself and had the heroine be a survival specialist. The twist Hush brings us lies in the fact that our protagonist if completely deaf.

The key element that makes or breaks this film is the sound design. I felt like the crew pulled it off and we have a solid thriller on our hands here. Maddie is a deaf author and she has secluded herself in a house in the woods to write her next book. Problems arise when someone outside her house decides to play a deadly game with Maddie and know she has to keep him out and escape alive. Again, this is a simple premise that is only made interesting by the fact that she is deaf and how the filmmakers decide to handle that aspect of the story.

While the film does inevitably go down routine routes with the story, Flanagan does so with skill and finesse. Multiple times throughout the film we are in Maddie's shoes as Flanagan completely mutes the audio. We see the terror happening behind her, but we cannot hear it. He can be entering the house at any point and we will not know. Flanagan manages to seep the viewer in suspense throughout the whole film and while there are some gory and squeamish scenes, he doesn't rely on them. They feel real and earned. Looking back at the film there are multiple sequences where I was taken back or had a huge grin on my face with the ingenuity of it all.

People will ultimately try to find inconsistencies with how the film handles the deaf aspect. I had maybe one issue myself, but can look past it for the benefit of the enjoyment I ultimately had because of the film. With a small cast of only four people and hardly any dialogue (maybe 15 minutes total?) Hush is a well crafted film that earns a viewing from anyone who likes this genre.

"Hush" focuses on Maddie, a deaf-mute writer living alone in a remote house, where she is accosted one evening by a psychopath hellbent on terrorizing and murdering her.

Co-written and directed by Mike Flanagan, who many have cited as a contemporary horror maestro, "Hush" is a straightforward thriller that cuts to the chase. There's not a lot of plot; most of the film plays on the gimmick of the protagonist being unable to hear anything around her (including the noise she makes), which is a clever setup for a horror-thriller film (I'm actually surprised it wasn't done earlier).

Comparisons to "The Strangers" are abundant and probably well-deserved, as that film pioneered the post-millennial home invasion film as we know it. "Hush" reduces the equation a bit, stripping it down to a one-on-one cat-and-mouse game, so in some regard it's a much more intense film; on the other hand, it's also remarkably less scary—but that's not really what Flanagan seems to be going for here anyway. It's not a film that intends to scare or get under the skin so much as it is a sparring match between two very different people.

The film is nicely shot and there are some fantastic scenes that play on a collective home invasion paranoia that I think we all have. The gore is kept to a minimum, but what is there is extremely visceral. The performances are solid, which is vital for a film that virtually revolves around two characters; Kate Siegel (who co-wrote the film with Flanagan) stars as the deaf Maddie, and is extremely believable, while John Gallagher Jr. plays the anonymous nutjob who is more despicable than he is scary. Where the film does falter a bit is in its last act, where the gimmick begins to wear off a bit as Maddie's situation grows more and more helpless. There is an amicable payoff in the end, albeit a drawn-out one.

Overall, I found "Hush" to be a relatively well-made film, and an enjoyable riff on the home invasion setup. That said, the film does grow dull in areas, and it also offers little in the way of new ideas, but what it does do, it does with class. All in all an entertaining and fairly intense thriller for what it's worth. 7/10.

Rating a 9 because it cant be any less!! I remember watching the trailer of the movie and I thought maybe its just the trailer thats good, until....i Saw this movie today!!

The actress who played the lead is so amazing as an actress and i hope to see more of her in the future!! Unlike other movies from this genre, it did not appear anything extra anywhere at all and felt more real.

The serial killer as well was amazing played by the actor!

I held on to my breath till the credits started rolling and I am still in that mood of the film created by it.

The lighting, the cinematography, the acting, direction is just so right up to the mark!

These kinda gems come only once in a while! I hope the team is reading this review someday :)

Guys you did an AMAZING job and this has been one of the most perfect horror/thrillers I have recently watched! The kinda film that will always be remembered once you watch it.

'Hush' is a fast-paced modern slasher flick with a twisted take on the genre. Well, the twist here is that the lead protagonist is deaf and mute from her teens and the director-writer combo of Mike Flanagan and Kate Siegel (who also happen to be husband-wife in real life), places this character in a stuck-up situation where a killer is on the prowl and all odds are stacked against her. Questions start piling up but a good thirty minutes into the film, the viewer is given enough leads to estimate where the film is headed.

A film such as this, where the entire scenario revolves around a minimalist location, one feels inclined to applaud director Flanagan's knack for not making the film look like yet another typical home-invasion flick. The protagonist Maddie's inability to speak or hear is put to good effect in the screenplay. I won't spoil those brilliantly written and choreographed scenes in this review, because that is exactly what puts this flick a few notches above the rest in the genre. Equally inventive and enthralling are those scenes where Maddie's imaginative capability is put to test.

The cast (that comprises of just four characters, out of which the film revolves majorly around two!) is adequate as well, and lends ample support to the overall mainstay of the flick. Flanagan's directorial skills, which looked rather unimpressive in Absentia (2011), after which he made a notable Oculus (2013), has considerably improved over the years, all the while sticking to modest production expenditure. Aided in writing by his wife Kate Siegel, the couple seem poised to astonish us yet again this year in the sequel to the strictly sub- par Ouija (2014).

Hush is a pleasant surprise amongst the shitload of low-budget slasher garbage that is handed out to us every now and then. It is by all means worth a watch for thriller buffs.

To make this short and sweet, all I need to say is watch this movie. Watch it with a big group of people.

It takes a very simple plot and makes it into a very well-thought out horror movie.

The opening scenes effectively establish Maddie's story to allow the audience to get to know and care for the character.

Once the masked killer arrives, it begins as your typical cat-and-mouse game seen in every home invasion movie. The main character being deaf does allow a fresh spin on this game though. And without giving much away, the movie slowly begins to evolve into a very tense, fun ride.

Not to mention the superb acting from Kate Siegel, given the fact that she was only able to use sign language and other resources as a form of communication. You wonder throughout the film what you would do in her shoes, and you may be surprised by the logic and resourcefulness of some of her decisions.

There are several moments that would likely get an audience riled up, so grab a big group of friends and enjoy.

Real-life deaf people (without mental disorder) are not so clumsy. The script forced a "deaf helpless" but ended up leaving the protagonist without the other senses of the body. Any deaf person would pick up the vibrations of doors rattling, or reflections/shadows from someone nearby, smelling sweat. I almost liked it but I thought it was a bit of "pushed" agony.

The film started off quite well from the outset, with a nice setup. Having the main character be deaf is interesting, but unfortunately it doesn't pay off very well. There's not much buildup to the game of cat and mouse that makes up the bulk of the story and so the viewer is thrust into the action in a way that seriously lessens its impact. There are flashes of promise in the first ten or so minutes but after that it's a fairly clichéd survival horror that doesn't offer anything spectacular. Some fleeting moments of tension and shock make it worth a one time watch if you're curious, but don't go into it with high expectations.

I thought this movie would be stupid, but I was sorely mistaken. The woman fending off this sadistic murderer is dead and mute, clearly a bad combination when a killer is involved. The movie was thought out well enough, though it is not exactly scary. I liked how the characters acted human rather than superhuman or very weak like a lot of horror movies show. The man is more powerful than the woman, but she holds her own due to her ability to think clearly in a scary situation. I would 100% recommend this movie for a singular watch.

Hush (2016)

*** (out of 4)

Maddie (Kate Siegel) is a deaf writer who lives in a secluded house deep in the woods. She's currently struggling to find an ending to her latest novel but her world is turned upside down when a man (John Gallagher, Jr.) shows up outside her home trying to kill her.

Mike Flanagan's HUSH is the perfect example of what you can do with nice performances, a good story and some creative directing. The film certainly has some flaws along the way but for the most part this is an extremely effective thriller that uses creativity over cheap CGI effects or obnoxious loud band noises to try and get scares.

What impressed me the most was the simple storyline and how director Flanagan managed to use it to the perfect effect. The biggest issue for our female lead is that she can't hear the killer and the killer's best protection is that he can hear her. This here creates some great suspense because of scenes like where the killer is standing behind her knocking on a window but she can't tell that he's there. There are several scenes where the killer is right there making noise but our deaf person can't hear it and this just milks up the suspense.

The film really makes you understand and feel what our lead character is going through. I say this because while it's obvious what it means to be deaf, this film manages to really let you see and feel the fear that the character would be going through in this situation. The director perfectly milks all of these scenes and the screenplay is also extremely effective because of the creative scenarios that our lead has to go through.

Siegel is extremely effective in her part because she has to do so much without saying a single word. She's certainly very believable in her role and she certainly makes you believe she's a deaf woman. Gallagher, Jr. is also good in the role of the killer as he brings a certainly cold and clam nature to the role. The two work very well together and off one another.

As I said, there are some flaws including one really bad dream-like sequence but for the most part this is one of the more creative thrillers in recent years.

Maddie Young (Kate Siegel) is a deaf writer living alone in an isolated house in the woods. She lost her hearing at 13. Sarah is a neighbor friend who admires her writing. She gets killed by a masked man with a crossbow at Maddie's door but Maddie is unable to hear the commotion. Maddie becomes the next target of the sadistic killer.

This is a really simple small contained horror perfect for Blumhouse. It's very solid with a couple of minor issues. The house, being such an important setting, needs a through tour to show the layout for the audience. John's arrival leads to a couple of more problems. First, he's tapping on the glass like she would hear him when he knows she's deaf. Second, he's suspicious but he can't know for sure about anything. It's more logical to separate yourself from the other guy and call the cops. The scene straddles a fine line between tension and disbelief. It slips over that line a little at a couple of points. The best scene is her considering all the possibilities and tying it back to her murder mystery writing skills. A cool way to end this would have been for the movie to go silent as the cops with their sirens come driving up the road. Instead it's only fading out the sirens which is fine but it doesn't trust the silence and insists on a sound effect. Honestly, the closing credits should all be done in silence. These are all little annoying choices which subtracts from my enjoyment of a really simple horror concept. Also I would figure this is scarier for women who live alone in big houses.

I thought Hush was one of the best Horror movies I've seen in years. It reminded me of Wait Until Dark but with a deaf victim instead of a blind one. I really cared about the main character and all the actors did a fine job. I've been off work this week and have been catching up on all the movies on Netflix. Most of the time I don't expect much, especially from the direct to video movies. Every once in a while you come across a gem. This movie was very well photographed also. There are no scenes so dark that you can't figure out what is going on. I hate that in so many horror movies.

I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes horror movies without anything unbelievable in them like ghosts or monsters.

I liked the movie. It was fine. We have home invasions against the blind, the agoraphobic , and now the deaf mutes. I think we covered a lot there. The premise is fine. The acting was okay too. My biggest problem is the bad guy using a crossbow in a airy like this. It is a terrible weapon. It takes so long to reload. It is impractical. He would have been much better off with a compound bow or a recurve. Something that has a much faster reload time. And who the hell was that guy anyway? Random crazy dude? A little back story would have been good here.

Definitely not an original film by any means of the imagination. Yet it still really, really works. Why? I'm not sure, but part of it is that the film doesn't take too many of the drastically stupid turns that these sorts of films do. I also think that it has a really inspiring arc for the lead character, and the emotional investment is greater than what the usual would be. I also think the film, while not being very original, still plays it a bit differently than the norm. You would expect a film like this to be mostly build-up, but it's not at all, sometimes to its detriment though. It gets to be a bit repetitive. The fact that the assailant also shows his face pretty early on is also sort of surprising. This isn't anything mind-blowing, but it's well-paced, very well-directed, very well-acted (Gallagher Jr. killing it once again after his wonderful turn in 10 Cloverfield Lane), and ultimately a good time.