Review of Hush (2016) by Brett H — 11 Apr 2016

Hush is a tense and intelligent home-invasion thriller that centers around a deaf and mute novelist who's terrorized by a masked assailant at her secluded cabin and has to use her wits to survive the ordeal: and it is awesome! The film is co-written and directed by Mike Flanagan who brought us the solid, Oculus, and his flair for unsettling cinematography and well-handled scares is once again featured here.

His wife, Kate Siegel stars (as well as co-writes) in the film as the deaf/mute, Maddie and does a great job portraying the sheer terror of the situation, with the added effect that she can't hear anything the killer is doing.

This is emphasized early in a chilling scene of grisly murder, happening right behind her which she is oblivious to: the scene is very effective. Once she realizes she's being attacked, she goes into full survival mode and it was very refreshing to see a protagonist with a disability such as this holding her own against a villain.

The film also employs a clever visual gag where it makes you believe something horrible has happened, before pulling the rug from under you and you get to chuckle at yourself for falling for it. Hush has a fantastically thrilling first half with wonderfully orchestrated tension and suspenseful cat-and-mouse moments before it begins to get a little bit repetitive, but at a brisk 83 minute runtime, it doesn't overstay its welcome in the slightest and is a sure-handed sign that Mike Flanagan is a talent to watch out for on the horror scene!