Review: Hush
In the past couple of years, Mike Flanagan has become a name that immediately captures my interest, thanks to his work with The Haunting series on Netflix and his Stephen King Adaptations rivalling Darbont for best in the business. But it was Hush that put him on my radar, taking a Home Invasion story and placing a deaf-mute protagonist in the middle of it was a risky venture but it’s pulled off exceptionally well and creating a film that I think should start becoming a Halloween staple for me.
The entire film is set in one location, the isolated cabin home of Madison ‘Maddie’ Young, a novelist who was struck deaf and mute thanks to childhood meningitis and complications with surgery afterwards. Maddie lives a comfortable but solitary life, her closest friends are her cat who wanders in the woods surrounding her home and her neighbour Sarah who despite living a fair bit away, makes the effort to see Maddie and has been learning sign language to talk to her better.
During one night when Maddie is struggling to find an ending for her latest novel, a bloodied and panicked Sarah appears, trying and failing to get Maddie’s attention before being killed by a masked intruder. The Intruder realises that Maddie is deaf and given her isolation he decides to have some fun with her, what follows is a cat-and-mouse game as The Intruder can’t get into the house but Maddie can’t get out to safety leading to both of them trying to one-up each other in a twisted game of surviving the night.
It’s a very simple set-up but executed very well, after the soft opening where we’re given a short but effective period to learn about Maddie and who she is, the film just bursts open once The Intruder arrives and doesn’t let up from there. There’s a subtle build-up through the film as things escalate, going from Maddie realising there’s an intruder, The Intruder cutting the power, Maddie trying to escape and the two of them taking any opportunity they can to get at the other. The fact that Maddie is deaf as well adds in another layer of threat since even on home-turf she’s at a constant disadvantage, it’s a great turn on the home invasion flick and does enough to set up an effective threat to carry the movie through.
The characters essentially boiled down to Maddie and The Intruder with some cameo appearances from Maddie’s family through facetime. Neighbour Sarah gets a nice introduction as we’re shown her to be a kind friend to Maddie and actually making an effort for her, it makes her violent and horrific death that much harder to watch just a few moments later.
The unnamed Intruder – played by John Gallagher Jr who I last saw as the kind-hearted boyfriend in Short Term 12 so this is a hell of a departure – is a great villain for this story, we never learn who he is, why he’s doing this or what he wants, he’s just there to torment Maddie and gets his kicks doing so. What’s interesting about The Intruder is that despite being obviously psychotic, he’s not as one-note as you might think, he’s obviously intelligent; he immediately cuts the power once Maddie realises he’s outside, he fakes being a police officer to a passerby to avoid suspicion and when push comes to shove he uses Maddie’s deafness to his advantage to get the drop on her. But he’s also cocky, overconfident which comes back around several times, he reveals his face to Maddie which he sees as an intimidation tactic but becomes even more of a reason to kill her later, he takes souvenirs which tie him directly to incidents once the passerby gets involved, and despite using Maddie’s deafness to his advantage he consistently underestimates her and her will to survive. He’s a surprisingly well-developed villain despite a lack of motive and Gallagher’s sick enjoyment that he gives the Intruder is enough to make you instantly hate the guy and everything he does.
Our main character Maddie is played by co-writer and Flanagan’s wife Kate Siegel and I’ll be honest I think Maddie should enter the conversation as one of the better modern horror heroines because the film does a great job with her. Crucially the film introduces us to Maddie the person before we meet Maddie the survivor, those opening minutes where Maddie spends time with Sarah are important because it gives us small moments of character building that carry weight when it comes to empathising with her, she’s been a deaf-mute most of her life and can get by with it, she’s just broken up with her boyfriend and found herself stuck in a rut and she’s trying to learn how to cook but ultimately failing. Little moments like that which endear you to her before she’s even found herself in danger, and once she is in danger her decisions are cautious but smart to keep you on her side, for instance when she writes a note to the Intruder telling him she hasn’t seen his face and will keep quiet if he lets her live. I don’t know any deaf or mute people in my life so I can’t say how accurately Siegel portrayed the affliction but as a character I though she did fantastic work with Maddie, she had this ability to balance out Maddie’s bravery, not being too cowardly as she’s hiding behind the sofa waiting for it all to end but not brave enough to take the Intruder head on, aside from her small wealth she’s a regular person and clearly not cut out for combat. Like the plot’s escalation, Maddie has to build herself up until she can’t NOT fight back and Siegel sells that character arc so that we’re with Maddie through every choice, every mistake and every close call wanting her to get the upper hand at least once.
As previously mentioned, the film is directed by Mike Flanagan who pulls out all the stops to make the most of the singular location and lack of dialogue, by keeping the bones of the film as simple as possible – home invasion across one night – Flanagan is able to build on top of that with the new elements that help it stand out, Maddie being deaf allowed him to build tension by having her be unaware of the Intruder’s position around the house, the constant back and forth about trying to get in or out presented several moments where both parties came close to each other, often without one or the other noticing and ramping up the tension through the fear of waiting to see if anything’s been noticed.
I can’t say for certain but I think that Flanagan messed with the sound design to make some parts much louder than normal, since Maddie can’t hear how much noise she’s making, any noise she does make is going to be dangerous and the film uses that to get the thrills up quickly. There’s one moment where Maddie is able to get outside for a little while but has to suddenly stop and hide from the Intruder and I swear that the sound of her feet kicking the leaves around her was twice as loud as the rest of the scene, it’s a jump-scare without the jump, that sudden fear of wondering if she’s been heard or not. Flanagan is great at that level of tension, given the one setting and short run-time of the film he’s able to keep it up for a long time, only letting you catch your breath for a handful of moment – if that – before taking it away from you again. It’s actually quite impressive how effectively he does it whilst doing very little, you can’t see because basically the whole invasion is at night and the power’s been cut and you can’t hear because Maddie’s deaf but the little that you can see and hear gives the smallest indication and your brain fills in the terrifying gaps yourself.
I’m probably not doing the best job explaining why Hush works as well as it does, it’s simplicity in design but complexity in execution all work in its favour to deliver a movie that does exactly what it needs to do. Putting a deaf protagonist in the driver’s seat never feels exploitative and even gives the film different avenues to work with, Siegel and Gallagher both deliver strong performances as the unprepared heroine and the unknown villain respectively and Flanagan uses only a few tools in his arsenal to deliver a heap of tension whilst staying true to the simple formula he designed. It’s a great entry to the home invasion genre and a tight little thriller on its own merits.
8.5/10