1316. Hush (2016)

Starring: Kate Siegel, Samantha Sloyan, John Gallagher Jr.

Director: Mike Flanagan

Running Time: 81 mins

Hush is an American film about a deaf and mute woman who finds herself under threat from a masked home invader playing a sadistic game.

This is a great thriller. I’ve definitely seen the genre done better (see the brilliant Wait Until Dark – a very similar film), but for a small, independent thriller, this is fantastic, full of tension, stunning directing, and a good sense of fun on top.

I’m going to start with what I liked most about Hush, and that was Mike Flanagan’s directing. Most impressively, he creates tension brilliantly throughout this film. Particularly in the brilliant opening act, I was on the edge of my seat through some unbearably suspenseful moments where Flanagan confidently and effectively creates palpable tension.

And the best thing is that he makes sure that you know that this is just a simple thriller. Whilst its main objective is providing some good suspense, the great thing about Hush is that it almost satirises some of the tired tropes of the slasher genre. So, when you’re expecting something like a jump scare to come up, it often doesn’t, despite an obvious build-up that would lead to a scare 99% of the time.

That’s why I liked the directing so much in this film. It was really effective, but also had that extra layer of ingenuity to play on the horror formula, which was really impressive to see.

Now, the rest of this film isn’t quite as good as Mike Flanagan’s directing, but it’s still not bad at all. For starters, the story’s pretty simple. You’ve got a masked man who’s tormenting a deaf and mute woman by pacing around her isolated house, leaving her helpless and stranded. It plays out like that for the majority of the movie, and although, it can admittedly get a little repetitive at times, it’s full of tension, and it also makes sure that you have some good fun too.

This isn’t a scary film at all, but the degree of tension that you have makes it a lot of fun to watch. It may not be truly exhilarating, but you’ll be glued to the screen right the way throughout, and will undoubtedly have a good time with everything that happens, and that’s why Hush gets a 7.8 from me.