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Hush

A Review of the 2016 horror film.

By Courtney-AnnePublished 7 years ago 3 min read
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A deaf writer who retreated into the woods to live a solitary life must fight for her life in silence when a masked killer appears in her window

SPOILERS!!!!

Suspense

Through the whole film there is suspense, which in a horror film the audience expects. In this film there is not a lot of music used, as natural sound is heavily relied on to make the affect on the audience, which it does perfectly. However, when there is music played, it turns up the suspense that the audience is already feeling. The use of this type of music usually hints to the audience that something is about to happen, which in a lot of horror films is the case. But, with this film that is not what happens, which surprises the audience, as they are now caught unaware.

Characters

The main character, Maddie, is a deaf writer who is alone. I personally loved the idea of the main character being deaf, especially in this genre. I didn’t know how it was going to work, but it did. I liked how the creators played on the audio with the audience, for example, because Maddie is deaf, the audience could feel the silence that she carries with her sometimes when the audio was cut and the audience couldn’t hear anything.

The killer, whose name is never mentioned and the audience hardly learns anything about, is a bit disappointing. The acting was amazing on all accounts, the character itself was scary, which is the point. But, there seemed to be no motive, he just turned up out of nowhere, killed Sarah and tortured Maddie for no reason, there was no back-story. I don’t know if that worked, as it just seemed like a random act of violence, which is great, there is rarely any logic in horror films but I just think that this film deserved a back-story or something that explained why the killer came. As the audience you find out a bit about the killer with his crossbow, the audience sees a tally, which could be how many people he has killed, but that is all the information the audience gets.

Isolation

I think the overall theme of this horror film was isolation, maybe the dangers of being alone or in a secluded area, or the dangers of being deaf. The choice of only one location was a great choice and it defiantly emphasizes on the theme of isolation. It was your typical horror setting, the house in the woods in the middle of nowhere.

Plot Twist

In this film, there is no plot twist, and I don’t know if it helps that there was no plot twist or if it would have made the film better. Near the end of the film I thought there was going to be a plot twist. I thought it might all be in her head, for her to finish writing her book, as she said to Sarah that the endings play in her head like a movie and with that voice in her head telling her that there are too many endings, I just thought there would be a plot twist, but there wasn’t. I’m still not sure if that’s a good or bad idea.

Survival Instincts

Near the end of the film, the voice in Maddie’s head begins to tell her what would happen if she took certain options, which I thought was a nice touch. When we were shown the different ways she could die, I thought about self-preservation and survival instincts that we all had. I wondered if we would have them in the same situation?

The Ending

The film ended with Maddie killing the killer, ringing the police and then the police arrived. That’s it.

I’m not in love with the ending, I would have preferred a plot twist, as there was a lot still unanswered.

Why did the killer begin killing?

I don’t think Maddie or Sarah were the target, there was no back- story, he just killed and tortured them, for no apparent reason.

8/10

  • The acting was amazing, especially Kate Siegel’s portrayal of Maddie.
  • The location was the perfect choice of the genre and story.
  • As an audience we never found anything about the killer, who he was? Why did he kill?
  • The ending for me was a bit bland and boring, it didn’t answer any of the questions.
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