MOVIE REVIEW: Hush (2016)

Hush (2016)

Horror, Thriller

Directed By: Mike Flanagan

When talking about the many different sub-genres of horror I would never say the "home invasion" flick was anywhere near the top of my list. Its an area of horror that has never really sucked me in and ever since The Strangers became a hit we have seen an over saturated market for these movies. It's understandable, the formula is simple and cheap and for most people there is nothing scarier than someone breaking into your home to terrorize you. Aside from a select few films this formula has never done much for me so I always applaud any film of this nature that breaks the mold and adds something new to the table. 

The newest film from writer/director Mike Flanagan (Oculus) does exactly that and by using a simple trick that seems so obvious it's rather shocking it hasn't been done before; he made the victim deaf. Hush is a movie that doesn't seek cheap jump scares or use shock value to make it work but instead relies on its clever twist to unnerve the audience and keep them on edge throughout. Maddie (Kate Siegel) is a deaf writer who has moved herself into isolation in order to finish her most recent book in peace. She may have moved herself too far away from society though when a serial killer begins making rounds through her rural neighborhood. 

The whole movie is that simple, an advantage of the home invasion flick is a lot of character can be built up through context of their own home and how they interact within it. We are constantly learning new things about Maddie as the film goes on and in turn we also learn some more about her would be killer played by the wonderful John Gallagher Jr, who does such a phenomenal job that I didn't even realize it was him until after it had ended. 

The decision to make the main character deaf is what sells this film, without it we just have another by-the-books home invasion flick that offers up nothing new. Instead of that we get to see a scenario we have all watched dozens of times before get played out in entirely new fashion. There are some seriously unsettling scenes of the killer freely moving about directly behind Maddie without her having any knowledge, just the idea of that gives me goosebumps. 

The novelty of the new twist can only take the story so far though and with a few minor missed opportunities this film is kept from being a wonderfully different kind of experience. For all the brilliant new ideas Hush brought to the table it ultimately fell prey to a handful of cliches and trends that have always kept me from loving this sub genre, and in turn from fully loving this movie. I don't want to go too deep into the details of what pulled me out of the film at times due to spoilers but I will say that a rather kick-ass mask the killer is wearing is more or less wasted in this film.

Most of the missteps of the film are easy to overlook or ignore as the performances are fantastic. Kate Siegel, who co-wrote the film, stars as Maddie and gives a hell of a performance considering she doesn't really get to talk. John Gallagher Jr., who we have already see light up the screen in this years 10 Cloverfield Lane, gives an unrecognizable performance as the killer and the two characters strike an interesting relationship we don't get to see too often from a killer and his would be victim in horror films. Hush makes the rare achievement in horror of having characters that are more interesting than the actual story you are telling. 

Though I came away from the film not totally in love one thing was undeniable for me and that is that I cannot wait to see what Mike Flanagan does in the future with horror. So far he has crafted two films with original ideas we hadn't seen done before and executed in top form. He managed to create a home invasion story that wasn't totally predictable from top to bottom and that adds new ideas to a bloated sub-genre. It would have been nice to see this in a theater but its hard to complain about a Netflix release that allows to watch me from my own home. Check it out if you haven't already, it's a nice addition to the already strong horror of 2016.

As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!