Thrilling horror that shouldn’t fall on deaf ears
This review contains minor spoilers.
Hush is a smart, tense and atmospheric horror, which capitalises on its unique twist to fantastic results. Oculus director Mike Flanagan returns in a Netflix exclusive film following the story of young author Maddie (Kate Siegel), who lost her hearing to bacterial meningitis at 13. When a masked man approaches her secluded home (played by John Gallagher Jr.), he quickly realises his advantage and threatens to kill her – but only after he’s pushed her to her limits.
It’s a simple twist to a pretty traditional horror story. There’s nothing too grand or original about the plot itself, instead the twist here – that being Maddie is deaf – is the secret ingredient that Hush fully embraces to inject incredible amounts of tension into the story. The film does a great job switching between an audience “looking in” point of view to help us root for Maddie, while also reminding us of the vulnerability she has by switching to more intense close ups, reflecting her emotions and limited senses.
The first word that comes to mind with Flanagan’s horror piece is trustworthy. It’s easy to let yourself become lost in the tense game of cat and mouse on display here because the film never threatens you with a jump scare – the crutch of the modern horror to create undeserved and false fear in audiences. Rather, Flanagan allows and enjoys bringing you into this home and making your heart race with each move Maddie makes. You’ll find yourself rooting for the underdog hero, watching her create smart solutions to the dire situation she’s in.
Though the film forgoes jump scares, gore is still present throughout the film to emphasise physical consequences of risks Maddie takes, and the reward for outsmarting her predator. It’s sparingly used to an effective level, with the physical damages on Maddie eventually becoming the plot point which drives the film to its conclusion. While the final encounter is mostly satisfactory, you can’t help but wonder if her character could have been pushed more to tug on the emotional heartstrings of viewers who will become invested in her character throughout this ordeal.
John Gallagher Jr’s performance here as the villain is great, sadly you can’t help but feel that the humanoid mask he sports could have been pushed further into the movie’s plot. It’s removed quite early into the film to give Maddie a motivation to fight back, but no doubt some great scares and physical movement could have gone into the unsettling masked villain approach – the physical presence of the man becomes less fearful once you attach a human face to the attacker.
There are also certainly moments where a suspension of disbelief will have to be applied to scenarios. A sequence near the finale of the film sees the neighbour’s husband fooled into thinking the attacker is police and proceeds to gain intimate knowledge of Maddie, simply by shining a flashlight in his face and claiming to be an officer. These moments don’t bring you out of the flick by any means, but you’ll find yourself yelling at the screen, flabbergasted by this character’s stupidity in comparison to Maddie, or even the general human population.
Verdict
A typical premise with a small twist allows Hush to succeed as a tense and heart racing horror/thriller with some great performances on display. Though you could wish certain elements could have been take a different way or pushed to new limits, Flanagan succeeds in creating a strong minimalist movie which will satisfying fans of the genre, delivering one of the best horrors of the year so far.
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