Review of Hush (2016) by Nate D — 04 Jun 2016

More and more these days movies are honing in on the technological era. Ask yourself, is it possible to stalk and torment a woman, even a deaf mute, with all the advances we have enjoyed? The answer is yes.

Hush takes place in an obvious rural setting. Drawing obvious inspiration from the opening sequence of Scream and a bevy of other home invasion movies such as Strangers and Panic Room, it takes us on a real-time ride through a psychopath's desire to traumatize and eventually murder a deaf woman, as well as her desire to, well, avoid being traumatized and murdered to death. Initially there to kill the friend of the protagonist, opportunity knocks when he discovers he can do it three feet from her without her realizing anything was up. He steals her phone, cuts her wifi, announces his presence in the most dickish way imaginable and then the games begin.

This is less a cat and mouse thriller than you would think. He can get in whenever he wants but goes as far as straight up telling her he won't until she's ready to crack. There are great scenes, one of which involves her exasperated attempts to arm a crossbow while he watches, another where she discovers her neighbor's wifi connection is secured, thus ending her bid to signal for help. This isn't an exercise in sheer terror, it's a lesson on what these movies should be: fun. Logical liberties are taken to pad the running time quite a bit, but that's a minor gripe. It will scare the timid and entertain the group that roots for the killer. After all, isn't that the point?