An Average Movie-Goer’s Review
Spoilers! If you don’t want spoilers – check out the Spoiler-Free post
I love horror movies and if I’m going to watch them anyway, why not write an entertaining/funny review from the POV of an average movie-goer and not a professional critic.
Today we’re looking at Netflix’s 2016 Hush
Successful author Maddie (Kate Seigel) who is deaf and mute and living alone in the woods is targeted by a deadly serial killer.
Is it Scary?
Hush has almost no jump scares but is extremely tense throughout. So while you won’t be jumping or cowering in fear, your heart will be pounding because of the suspense. In the end, you’ll be scared while watching but not after, unless you happen to live alone in the woods with no way of communicating with anyone when your power goes out.
Detailed Plot:
The film opens with some muted production credits and then a loud jump scare title screen. We pan into an isolated house in the middle of what looks like a forest and we meet our main character Maddie (played by Kate Seigel). Through the use of the background sounds fading in and out we find out that she is deaf and later we learn she’s also mute.
While cooking, Maddie gets a visit from her neighbor and friend Sarah (played by Samantha Sloyan) who is bored waiting for her boyfriend John to arrive. We learn that Maddie is an accomplished author and is currently working on a new book ‘Midnight Mass’ but she can’t decide on one of seven endings for it.
As Sarah and Maddie converse outside through sign language, Sarah notices the fire alarm going off and they run back into a smoky kitchen. As Maddie takes down the fire alarm, Sarah comments on how extremely loud it is.
As night falls, Sarah heads out and Maddie declines her dinner invitation as she has to work. After feeding her cat, Maddie deals with some writer’s block and contemplates video calling an ex-boyfriend, Craig, on her computer.
Instead, Maddie goes to the kitchen and cleans up the burnt food from earlier. Since she has her back to her glass door, she doesn’t see a bloody Sarah run up and bang on the door. Sarah is then shot in the shoulder with an arrow and the killer runs up to her. Maddie is still unaware as the killer brutally stabs and kills Sarah.
After killing Sarah, the killer realizes Maddie is deaf and drags Sarah’s body away before Maddie sees it. Maddie returns to her computer on the couch to continue typing and doesn’t see the killer break into her house. He pulls out a knife, debates killing her, and seemingly decides to wait a bit.
Maddie’s sister, Max, video calls her and the killer moves out of the way before either one sees him. While they talk, the killer reaches for Maddie’s phone on the kitchen counter and Max catches a brief glimpse of it happening but Maddie assures her it was just the cat. Hanging up, she looks around the house for the cat and gives up after some time but leaves the sliding door open for it.
Back at her computer, Maddie receives several picture messages coming from her phone. Crucially, she’s not the one sending them.
Maddie realizes someone has broken in and slowly walks over to the open sliding door. There she sees the killer standing outside taunting her with her phone. They both race to the door but Maddie gets there first and locks it.
Unable to get inside, the killer calmly walks around the house to the electrical panel and turns off the power just as Maddie was attempting to call the police using Wi-Fi from her computer. The killer then walks over to Maddie’s car and uses a hunting knife to slash her tires as she watches.
Using lipstick, Maddie writes “WONT TELL – DIDNT SEE FACE – BOYFRIEND COMING HOME” on the glass door and uses a flashlight to get the killer’s attention. From Maddie’s messages earlier, we know there is no boyfriend coming but maybe the killer will leave since she actually hasn’t seen his face… oh wait no, he immediately removes his mask.
After Maddie confirms that she can read lips, the killer (played by John Gallagher Jr.) recites several messages from her ex-boyfriend, revealing that he knows no one is coming. He then tells her he can kill her whenever he wants but wants to have fun and wait until she wishes she was dead.
With no other choice, Maddie grabs a kitchen knife and hammer and barricades herself in a bedroom. Using Sarah’s lifeless body, the killer taunts Maddie from the window so his definition of fun is not the same as most people’s. Shocked at seeing her best friend dead, Maddie runs out of the room and breaks down crying.
Remembering that Sarah keeps her cell phone in her back pocket, Maddie devises a plan to lure the killer to the front of the house. Using her car keys, she triggers her car alarm which successfully distracts the killer, bringing him to the front of the house and leaving Sarah’s body alone.
Maddie searches the body but isn’t able to find the phone before the killer returns and discovers what she’s doing. The killer is able to grab the window before Maddie slams it down but she stabs his arm with the claw of her hammer causing him to fall back in pain. After wrapping his wound with part of Sarah’s shirt, the killer reveals he has Sarah’s broken phone… duh.
Placing the phone on Sarah’s body, he taunts Maddie by removing Sarah’s earring and then placing it in his pocket. Why? Did Maddie give Sarah those earrings? How would he know that? How would the audience know that? What’s the point of this?
After sneaking through the house, Maddie sneaks outside and tries to run into the woods but stops when the killer barely misses her with his crossbow.
As the killer reloads, Maddie runs back to the house and narrowly avoids getting an arrow through the spine. Upstairs, Maddie watches the killer patrol the house and waits until he is at the front. Sneaking out of a back window, she throws a flashlight far into the woods to trick the killer to head that way.
Honestly, this is a horrible plan, throw a flashlight about 10 feet away from the house, climb down the side of the house, and then run away into the woods before the killer realizes you tricked him? He’s carrying a long-range weapon!
Maddie sneaks to the front of the house and starts to climb down but, unsurprisingly, is shot in the leg by the killer’s crossbow.
As the killer climbs the trellis up to Maddie, she pulls out the arrow from her leg and punches the killer dropping him back to the ground without his crossbow. Maddie grabs it and hobbles back into the window before the killer can climb up and grab her.
Crawling to the bathroom, Maddie tends to her wounded leg and sees 13 notches on the killer’s crossbow which tells us he’s a pretty proficient serial killer. As Maddie tries and fails at reloading the crossbow we see the killer standing outside the bathroom window watching her. He’s then distracted by someone knocking on the door downstairs.
This is revealed to be John (played by Michael Trucco), Sarah’s boyfriend who continues to knock on the door and call out for Sarah. John sees the lipstick writing on the door and is about to call the cops when the killer arrives pretending to be an undercover cop. The killer tells John he was responding to a call at the house when someone ran out of it and knocked him out.
The killer asks to use John’s phone and pretends to make a call for backup but puts the phone in his pocket when he’s done. John doesn’t fall for this and asks for his phone back. The killer plays it off as a force of habit but doesn’t realize Sarah’s earring drop out of his pocket when he pulls the phone out. That explains why the killer weirdly took Sarah’s earring, it was so another character could realize he’s not who he says he is in the future, that was nice of him.
The now suspicious John, tells the killer he just remembered there’s a spare key under a planter near the porch. As the killer heads over to look for it, John grabs a large rock and prepares to attack the killer. At that exact moment, John is distracted by Maddie who bangs on the door to get his attention. This allows the killer to stab John in the neck with his knife.
Although one might think it was really stupid of Maddie to do this at that point and thereby a product of bad writing, in reality, the killer was bending down so Maddie wouldn’t have seen him. She only saw John and was trying to get his attention never realizing, until it was too late, that the killer was right there. I had to add this in because I was pissed thinking it was bad writing until I re-watched the scene.
John falls to the ground, bleeding out as the killer taunts him but John gets a second wind and tackles the killer. Able to get the upper hand, John chokes the killer as Maddie watches on from the house.
Maddie hobbles to the front of the house and runs out towards the woods. Meanwhile, John dies from the whole getting stabbed in the neck thing, and the killer chases after Maddie. Quickly catching up to her, he bashes her in the head with a rock and kills her.
This is revealed to be Maddie playing out what would have happened if she ran out the front door. Maddie sits down and we see her talking to herself (in her mind) playing out every scenario she can think of and what could happen.
There’s one where she runs, one where she tries to turn the power back on, one where she barricades and hides in a room, another where she hides in a crawlspace, etc. In the end, they all end up with her dead except one.
Essentially this is a reference to her being a writer and unable to decide which of the seven endings she should go with for her latest book. Or she’s Doctor Strange.
Maddie decides her best bet is to bring the fight to the killer as it’s the last thing he’d expect. Meanwhile outside, Maddie’s cat has finally shown up but the killer spots it. As he’s about to kill it, Maddie shoots him in the shoulder with the crossbow. The cat runs off and the killer chase after Maddie.
Though she’s able to get into the house, she drops an arrow just outside the door and reaches for it allowing the killer to slam the door onto her arm. He then stomps on her hand breaking multiple fingers before she can pull her hand back in.
The killer taunts her and tells her he’s coming in. Maddie puts on her game face and writes on the glass, using her own blood, “DO IT COWARD”. The killer grabs a crowbar from Maddie’s car and starts bashing the glass door. Meanwhile, Maddie rushes to her computer and types up a description of the killer including a final message to her family.
Grabbing a knife Maddie runs into the bathroom and prepares for the killer’s arrival. As she waits and starts to fade from blood loss, she doesn’t notice the killer entering from a window behind her. Getting close to her neck, he pulls out a knife and taunts her. As he chuckles, Maddie feels his breath and is able to dodge his attack and stab him in the leg.
Maddie runs out of the bathroom and into the kitchen where she starts to pass out from blood loss. As the killer limps over to her, she sprays him in the face with bug spray and turns on her fire alarm. This completely disorients him and causes him to drop his knife. As the falls back he knocks into several items on a nearby table including a corkscrew.
Maddie grabs his knife but he’s able to grab her and slam her to the ground before she can attack. The two struggle with Maddie biting his hand but he’s able to get on top of her and choke her. As Maddie starts to pass out she reaches over, grabs the corkscrew, and stabs the killer in the neck.
As the killer dies, Maddie grabs her phone from him and finally calls the police.
The movie ends as Maddie sits outside, watching the police arrive, and her cat showing up like nothing happened.
Review:
Hush is great, it’s a short, suspenseful horror slasher that I can see being considered a classic. While it’s not as terrifying as The Strangers which had the killers popping up in the background of scenes, it’s definitely as or more suspenseful.
All actors do a great job even the ones with just a few scenes and the dialogue feels natural including when it’s obviously being used to give background information on characters. There’s not a lot of real negatives I can say about Hush but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any.
I feel like the film would have been scarier if the killer didn’t take off his mask so soon after his introduction. Although I get why he took it off, it does take away from the horror of his anonymity. Another negative is Maddie’s horrible plans but again, it’s one of those situations where you can understand the thought process of the character.
The last negative that stood out is one I mentioned above, the killer taking Sarah’s earring felt forced at that moment. Sure it could be him taking a souvenir but if he would have done it at the moment he killed Sarah it wouldn’t have felt as forced.
Overall I highly recommend giving Hush a watch. It is only 80 minutes long and you’ll definitely enjoy it while sitting on the edge of your seat.
Cast IMDB