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Hush

5/21/2016

13 Comments

 

B
​2.87

A deaf writer is tormented at her rural home by a psychopathic murderer.

Directed by Mike Flanagan
Starring Kate Siegel and John Gallagher Jr
Initial Review by Bobby Schmidt

Picture
When I initially watched Hush, it was late at night, outside, and on my laptop with some quality earbuds in.  A friend (and sporadic podcast listener!), suggested it, so she and I actually watched it together over the Showgoers extension.  It was actually a pretty nice environment to watch a horror thriller.  The thing is, expectations for scary movies these days are quite low.  It seems like the genre leans more toward cheap jump scares, torture, and gore more than looking to induce any real element of fear.  Hush, being a home invasion movie, really could have gone either way.  While there are a few things to pick on, overall it absolutely worked for me. ​

​I'll start with what I think is the star of the film... the audio. When I announced my pick, I suggested that everybody watch on whatever would give them the best sound quality. With our protagonist being deaf, director Mike Flanagan makes the choice of really use sound (and the lack thereof) to the movie's advantage. From the moments of muted or seemingly distorted audio and moments of silence as if from Maddie's perspective to the loud blasts (especially that fire alarm), I absolutely loved the sound and editing in Hush. It completely drew me into the atmosphere of the situation and I shared Maddie's fear. So often in horror films, the sound is little more than screaming and music that isn't as creepy as intended. The score here fits in seamlessly enough to enhance the environment while never being a distraction. Hush gets an A+ for audio, from me. 

Now, the lack of any audio in Maddie's life is what really sets Hush to be different from a standard home invasion hack and slash movie. We're given a nice set up to Maddie, with adequate information from what we're shown to get to know her. She's intelligent, humble, friendly, deaf... and isolated. We know she's far away from her family and her closest neighbor is a little hike through the woods.  I'm a big fan of how persistent and strong willed Maddie is. She's quick to try different things (including some not so good choices), but her fight or flight is well displayed. And of course, she's a writer who struggles with endings, always having too many in her mind without being to choose the right one.  Which leads to another well done aspect of Hush.... 

Foreshadowing is a staple of nearly every quality story, and Hush is not lacking at all in this department. One of the first visuals we get is Maddie opening a bottle of Pinot... corkscrew shot number 1. Soon after we get a clear look at the corkscrew on the stand. At first, it's fair to think this may be too blatant, but I think the audience is distracted enough (as is Maddie) with her cooking, the cat, the texting, etc... not to really focus on the corkscrew, as it readily slipped to the back of my mind until it was ready to slip into the intruders neck. The fire alarm is one of my favorite parts of the film. When it first goes of, Christina and I both said something about it... along the lines of "wtf, that's an incredible alarm!" Of course, it's absolutely practical for Maddie and ends up being vital to her survival in the end. Things like the shot of Sarah putting her phone in her back pocket and Maddie recalling it, or short term cuts like the insect spray.  I always enjoy hints, be them subtle or slightly in  your face, that are called back well as the story goes on. 

With that, it's sort of in the foreshadow/setup vein that the movie has a couple issues, as well. Was anybody else waiting for Craig to show up, or at least be relevant at some point? We get multiple missed Facetime calls from Craig, which clearly rattle Maddie, as well as a quick call and hang up in the other direction from her. He's then mentioned in her conversations. It really felt like we were being set up for something to happen there... and it went nowhere at all.  Hell, give me quick scene of Craig calling when the intruder has the phone and make something interesting happen there... or after Maddie settles down and sits on the porch waiting for the police, have her call Craig to show us how she was affected by what just happened and how it makes her isolation and distance look a little different. 

The other major issue I had, was the voice in her head. Not so much that she had one, that's fine and set up well. She explains to Sarah that she could hear until she was a teenager, so the constant voice in her head sounds like her mother.  That, with the knowledge that she overthinks and creates too many endings and scenarios in her head could have made her montage of bad endings work really well. Instead, we're giving an odd visual of her talking to herself, hearing her own voice point out all the wrong ways to go. I think if we hear her mother's voice (which we could have set up with an early phone call, or even a home video showing us her mom if they wanted the same type of visual) going through the scenarios with her, it would have made more sense with what we already knew about how things work in her mind, especially the supposedly constant voice.  Things were set up well with Craig and the voice in her head, but the callbacks lacked and the execution of some scenes failed because of it. 

Now, without Craig and Maddie's mom, we only have a total of five characters in the entire movie. Max (Maddie's sister) is only on a Facetime Call, Sarah gets one scene with Maddie and another short one as she's killed, and John is the biggest idiot of all time. I think all three parts are given enough screen time and are acted adequately enough... nothing special, nothing horrible. The major roles of Maddie and the intruder, however, were really well done, I thought. Kate Siegel gives us a great lead (Mediocrity nomination forthcoming!). I'm a really big fan of her tone and expressions throughout the film. Her casual conversations with Sarah and Max are really well played, and her emotions, especially the fear, with the invasion are spot on for me. Each of her confrontations with the intruder work come across strong. The intruder, Jon Gallagher Jr., is interesting. As he's pulling his mask off, I expected some hideous face, or somebody far more menacing... but what we're given is a pretty ordinary looking man. Instead of being disappointed, however, it made things all the more creepy. It's not a monster at the door, it's a regular average looking human being who is capable of this, and that just adds to the fear factor. I think Gallagher does a really good job with the character. He doesn't need much range here, but his demeanor and delivery is solid and plays up the regular guy being scary. Solid casting, acting, and directing all around. 

With the big things out of the way, I think... some quick thoughts I jotted down throughout. 

I liked the realistic conversations with Max and Sarah. They seemed comfortable with relatable language and expressions.  

Should we all start getting to know our neighbors' WiFi passwords? 

Locking the doors on him, hands in the window, hammer to the forearm, kicking him off the roof... I like the little wins, that gave us a little hope, but still kept things in perspective. 

Her hand getting smashed was a great shot, cringe worthy... but wasn't done in an over the top fashion that could have easily been too much or distracting. 

I really liked her writing that note to her parents. It doesn't seem like something you see in most horror movies... but the realistic nature of her thoughts going to her parents, still being quick enough to remember to include a description, and using what is essentially her full acceptance of what's likely to happen to make her last stand is a great little touch. 

I thought from the first time we saw her, that the cat was going to die. I liked how they used that as a moment of distraction for the intruder, and the audience, to give Maddie a shot at him. 

I think the build up and back and forth was well done. The movie wasn't too long, which is important because I think dragging things out any longer could have really hurt it.  In the end, I think we're given a really good final stand off sequence with a satisfying finish.

So yeah, overall, I really enjoyed Hush. For me it had all the makings of an A range horror movie, especially with a mere $70,000 budget. I really wanted to love it, but the missteps with Craig and Maddie's voice in her head are big enough for a drop to the next tier. This was my first Michael Flanagan movie, since a previous pick of mine, Occulus, was vetoed. After Hush, I'll definitely put that one back in my queue and finally watch it, along with his other work if it's readily available. Held up by a quality premise, solid acting, and great fear inducing elements, especially the audio, Hush gets a well deserved B+
13 Comments
Reserved for direct replies to initial review
5/21/2016 05:40:17 pm

Comment below!

Reply
Bryan
5/23/2016 10:30:22 pm

I meant to take notes on this, but I was pretty into it and didn't want to look away. Personal note - I consider myself incredibly sensitive to sound - I don't like concerts due to volume and I turned the bass on my surround sound to 0 or 1 because it stresses me out. Bad audio mixing in a movie where I have to hold the remote to successfully watch a film stresses me out. This gave me a semi-attachment to the main character, not that I understand being deaf - but sound is a big deal to me. I don't remember much about Shane's Norwegian sea faring movie. But I can still recall the sound of the ocean from that movie.

Most scary movies tend to live in this, "that character is such an idiot" world. Hush does not live in that world and I am grateful for it. It could be that the main character is deaf and my sense of empathy was heightened, or maybe the director just did a good job of not letting the main character be an idiot.

Bobby had hinted that the audio was sublime, but I was not there. I thought the director could have done more with the main character's deaf attribute in terms of film silence.

The foreshadowing was good enough, but I just kept waiting for her to use the fire alarm. That's one of two bad directing (dumb character) gripes. We knew it was coming - just get it to it. The other big gripe was the big dumb jock character. Should have left him out.

This is one of the better thrillers I've seen, much better than the beloved Babadook. I'll start at a B. I can't imagine ever watching it again, but it's top of its class ... for now.

Reply
Bobby
5/24/2016 12:40:00 am

John was the 'that character is such an idiot", which was fine. I definitely agree that Maddie being intelligent and competent was a big win.

As for the sound... you should have turned your bass up!

Reply
Sean
5/24/2016 01:09:45 am

Decent flick.

I'll say the anticipation as the intruder killed the neighbor and slowly toyed with Maggie before she discovered that she wasn't alone was the scariest part for me. From there I wasn't a big fan of Maggie's decision making and was less a fan of the intruder's overconfidence in his ability to take Maggie down anytime he wanted. She shouldve immediately barricaded herself in an interior room with no windows with all the weapons she could gather.

Solid but not extraordinary. B-.

Reply
Bryan
5/24/2016 12:59:11 pm

The killer seemed willing to wait things out. She would have either fallen asleep or gone crazy waiting.

I agree that the anticipation of the break in was the best part of the plot.

Reply
Jon
5/26/2016 03:24:27 am

I don't know specifically why, but home invasion scares the shit out of me. Dateline and unscrupulous local news reporters... they've got my number. I don't actually do anything about it, and therefore hope there aren't any potential home invaders reading. This means that I'm never going to watch movies like The Strangers or Funny Games or The Purge, and I seriously considered skipping Hush. The twist of having the target be a deaf woman was enticing enough to make me press play. I'm not upset I did it, as the twist kept the most agitating aspects of the genre from stressing me out, but this just isn't a movie I'm capable of loving.

Hush is unquestionably confident in all aspects. Flanagan definitely keeps things tense without making his protagonist and antagonist seem dumb, the cardinal sin in horror movies, home invasion or not. The only character that falls into the dumb trap is John, who never acquired a healthy distrust of authority, a forgivable sin compared to mistakes he could've made. Bobby mentioned the various Chekhov's devices (scriptwriting 101: Chekhov's Gun states that a gun, or similar object, introduce in act 1 must be fired by act 3), each deployed well and satisfyingly. The leads are both strong, with Kate Siegel operating at a higher degree of difficulty, though John Gallagher Jr is way off type from the roles I've seen him in previously. Bobby also extolled the sound quality, and I can't quibble with his praise. If I could get excited about these kinds of movies, this would be a gold standard.

Has anyone considered that the ending is just writer's brain playing out the best case scenario as Maddie bleeds to death in the bathroom? She's passing out before she even gets in there, and she sure keeps finding the reservoirs of strength necessary to fight back. Maybe one, but two or three? It becomes a different movie in that big, final confrontation, after what had previously felt thought out and realistic. The alternative is that Maddie died of blood loss in the bathroom and The Man got away. It was certainly satisfying to see her triumph in the end, but there's something off about everything from the moment The Man appears in the bathtub behind Maddie. What do you guys think?

I suppose this is the best possible version of a home invasion story, but Hush hasn't sparked my interest enough to put that supposition to the test. As far as home invasion sequences in movies that aren't about home invasion, the gold standard is in Martha Marcy May Marlene, a dramatically underseen movie and one of the best of 2011. After watching it, I couldn't sleep and was quite bleary at the celebratory graduation dinner for my brother-in-law the next afternoon. That's a masterpiece of unreliable narration and broken narrative; Hush tops out a C+ because I can't help but keep these kinds of movies at arm's length.

Reply
Sean
5/26/2016 09:07:15 am

They didn't give me any reason to think they ended the movie on what didn't really happen. I don't doubt that your scenario of her bleeding to death in the bathroom while the killer gets away was a possibility during the scriptwriting process but was scrapped for a "happy" ending.

Reply
Bobby
5/26/2016 02:58:22 pm

If her ending issues weren't expressed so clearly early on and she didn't make a definite decision to kill him during her multiple ending montage, I'd agree that it could be uncertain. But, I think it's real as a way of showing she can, and has, chosen the best ending to close that line.

Reply
Sean
5/26/2016 07:30:29 pm

She did make the decision to attack him during her internal chat- it became her only choice

Bobby
5/26/2016 08:32:45 pm

Right, that was part of the if. I didn't articulate that well.

Cooker
6/20/2016 04:14:31 pm

Shhh! Be very very quiet. I’m a douche in a kabuki mask and I’m stalking and killing people for unknown reasons.

I did enjoy Hush to an extent. I loved the use of audio (and lack thereof) throughout the entire film. However, I really wanted a motive for this guy that was doing the tormenting. Maybe she stole his novel idea or something. Otherwise it just becomes one of those “oh, there’s a killer, who cares” kind of movies.

The suspense played out nicely, but sometimes the screen just got too dark and I couldn’t even tell if anything was happening. I also knew it’d be a challenge being a one location, 50-minute game of cat and mouse and keeping it interesting. The neighbor coming over helped with that.

This gets a B. Not bad, some issues, enjoyable.


Reply
Drew
6/28/2016 10:48:17 pm

I did not enjoy this film. It was awful and anything more than a C- is too much.

Grade: D-

Reply
Topper
2/18/2017 01:15:22 am

The oa lyrics thing that setsucks this film apart from any other horror film is the gimmicks of the main protagonist being deaf. That's it. All other plot point are comedicaly trope. I mean she lives basically in a house with all glass doors in the God damn woods. The man was in the house to steal her phone. Just kill her then. It's not rocket science. The exaggeration of sound during the initial cooking scene was basically disgusting. Like hearing someone chewing extra loud. There is no need. We get it she is deaf. She is not however fucking blind. So why is she looking in every wrong direction ato every point in the damn movie? Oh yeah trope...

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