Written by Josh Brewer, December 30, 2016, at 5:30 p.m. Tweet to: @theJWBrewer
Title: Hush
Director: Mike Flanagan
Writer: Mike Flanagan, Kate Siegel
Release Date: April 8th, 2016
Cast: Kate Siegel, John Gallagher Jr., Michael Trucco, Samantha Sloyan, Emilia Graves
Cliff’s Notes
Deaf author Maddie is living her life, trying to finish her latest novel. Bad news arrives in the form of a crazy ass killer bent on making her life miserable. Home-invasion horror bits follow!
Lecture
Mike Flanagan has, over the last few years, become one of the premier voices in horror cinema, mastering the mid-range budget with flicks like Absentia, Oculus, and the second Ouija film. But the highlight of his work, at least until the release of Gerald’s Game, one of my personal favorite Stephen King novels – has got to be Hush. A commentary of isolation – both physical and emotional – Hush takes a simple- and if I’m honest, overplayed – set up and knocks it out of the park.
The set up here is nothing new. A woman lives alone in the woods, surrounded by only a few neighbors. She keeps her family close via technology, and goes about her life in hiding. Then, a crazy walks into her life, slaughtering the neighbors and she’s got to fight back to save herself. It’s all been done before. It’s safe to say, however, that it’s rarely done this well and with this level of care given to the characters. What really brings Hush into the upper level of horror flicks is the way that it embraces Maddie and her plight: a deaf person struggling against a hearing adversary.
So often in horror films, the final girl is given a level of boring sameness – as an attempt to make her more relatable for the audience. These characters are strong, often female but androgynous, and exist as a final audience surrogate. Hush removes this by creating a layered leading lady who has strengths – talk about strategically minded-, flaws – she intentionally isolates herself-, and fears. The first twenty minutes of the flick define Maddie incredibly well while showing how she lives her everyday life, things that reappear in the finale to great effect.
And let’s be honest, after the first twenty minutes, the flick turns on the afterburners and slides into horror territory. The whole affair is stylish, scary, and smart, without ever pandering to the 
audience. What’s more, this puppy bathes in vicious. Normally, with such a small cast, the baddie and lead have a level of plot armor. “We can’t hurt them because then the flick won’t have anywhere to go.” Not here. These two are out for blood and there are sixty quality minutes of two people beating the shit out of each other with fantastic results. Which is really the core of the flick, things you know and expect, done with intelligence, and making Hush into a quality horror film.
Acting
The supporting cast is fantastic, but the film belongs to Siegel. She gives an amazing performance, rocking the deaf person who has retreated from life to lick her wounds. And then, once the horror hits, she carries the tension like a champ. All of this without a single line of spoken dialogue and only a few uses of American Sign Language. As her opposite, Gallagher knocks his role out of the park. What could be a man in a mask turns into a terrifying force of reality. He’s not superhuman, he’s the worst possible thing that people can be. The guy even manages to maintain his air of evil once he gives up his mask – expertly designed, btw- which can be a common pratfall in the horror genre.
Directing
Flanagan is on point! He rocks a slew of groovy shots, gets the most out of his location – I really dug the opposite side of the window scenes -, and rides a boat-load of tension. His camera work, especially his use of the steadicam, takes the story to the next level. The way Flanagan milks the tension out of his story makes the flick even stronger.
Script
Tricky subject here. Hush’s script keeps it simple and embraces the characters well. The result shines with nearly an hour of film without dialogue. That, combined with a slew of awesome horror bits, make the flick stand out. It also gets bonus points for avoiding almost all of the standard slasher trappings. No dumb moves here, everyone thinks tactically and the film seems smarter because of it. Only negative is that, despite all the awesome on the screen, there’s really nothing new here. It’s all been done before.
Effects
Hush isn’t too bloody, but when it hits, it hurts. There are a slew of arrow injuries, stab wounds, and one hell of a hand breaking. The effects rock, even if they’re not always on display.
Highlights
The hand breaking scene screams hardcore and makes the entire flick hit even harder. There’s no plot armor in this puppy.
Lowlights
So, just me, but there are a few moments where the timing of the flick seems a touch off. I know, flicks in real time are hard, but it takes a character forever to walk down a set of stairs…
Final Thoughts
Sure, it’s not stunningly original, but Hush takes its simple setup and runs with it. The result is a viciously fun ride through one woman’s nightmare. One of my favorite flicks of 2016.
