Hush (2016 film)
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Official poster
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| Directed by | Mike Flanagan |
| Produced by | <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
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| Written by | <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
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| Starring | <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
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| Music by | The Newton Brothers |
| Cinematography | James Kniest |
| Edited by | Mike Flanagan |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Netflix |
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Release dates
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Running time
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81 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $70,000[1] |
Hush is a 2016 American psychological horror thriller film directed by Mike Flanagan from a screenplay by Flanagan and Kate Siegel.[2] The film stars John Gallagher Jr., Michael Trucco, Samantha Sloyan and Siegel. The film was produced by Trevor Macy, through Intrepid Pictures, and Jason Blum through his Blumhouse Productions banner.
The film had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 12, 2016.[3] and was released on April 7, 2016, by Netflix.[4] Critical reception was very positive, with praise regarding Flanagan's direction, and the incorporated thriller elements.
Plot
Madison "Maddie" Young (Kate Siegel), a young deaf author who lost her hearing after a bout of bacterial meningitis at age 13, lives isolated in a small cottage in the woods, surviving off money from book sales. Her friend and neighbor Sarah (Samantha Sloyan) visits her one day to return a copy of one of her books, and that night, is chased back to Maddie's cottage by a masked man (John Gallagher Jr.). Sarah bangs on the door for help, but Maddie doesn't notice her and the man stabs her to death on the doorstep.
The man quickly realizes that Maddie is deaf and uses it to his advantage. He sneaks into the house, takes her phone, and begins taking photos of her and sending them to her laptop to make her aware of his presence. As Maddie realizes she's being stalked, she locks herself inside the house. The man cuts the power and sabotages her car. Maddie writes that she "won't tell, didn't see [his] face, boyfriend coming home" on the glass-paneled front door in lipstick. The man responds by taking off his mask. The man taunts Maddie by propping Sarah's body up against her bedroom window. Maddie tries to distract him with her car alarm so she can get Sarah's phone from her body, but fails to get it before he returns. She manages to fight him off with a hammer and locks herself inside again.
Maddie makes several failed attempts to escape, eventually climbing through a second story window onto the roof. She tries distracting him and making a run for it, but he comes back before she can climb off the roof. He fires a crossbow bolt into her leg. She manages to knock him off the roof and steal his crossbow as he tries climbing up to finish her off. She staggers back into the house on her injured leg and frantically tries to load the crossbow as Sarah's boyfriend John (Michael Trucco) arrives at the house looking for Sarah. The man confronts John, pretending that he is a police officer on a dispatch call to Maddie's residence. He pretends to call for back-up on John's phone as John's suspicion grows. John approaches the man, intending to attack, but Maddie sees him and bangs on her door to get his attention, distracting him and enabling the man to stab him in the neck.
As he bleeds out, John uses his remaining strength to put the man in a chokehold to give Maddie time to escape, but she realizes she can't run on her injured leg and that she's in danger of bleeding out. Maddie begins thinking through all her options to escape or hide and realizes that none will succeed. John dies and the man recuperates as Maddie makes the decision to fight back. She manages to load the crossbow and shoots the man, but it's not a fatal shot. While running back inside, her hand gets caught in her front door and the man stomps on it repeatedly, crushing it. He threatens to enter, and she taunts him back by writing "do it, coward" on the door with her blood. Maddie types her last words with a description of the man on her laptop. He manages to break in, and she uses spray insecticide and her specialized smoke alarm to blind and deafen him. After a brutal battle, the man begins choking her. On the verge of losing consciousness, she manages to grab a nearby corkscrew and fatally stabs him in the throat.
After calling 911, Maddie goes outside to sit on the porch and waits for the police to arrive. Her cat comes to sit with her. Police lights flash through the woods as she closes her eyes and smiles.
Cast
- Kate Siegel as Madison "Maddie" Young
- John Gallagher Jr. as The Man
- Michael Trucco as John
- Samantha Sloyan as Sarah Green
- Emilia Graves as Max
Production
Nothing was known about the project until September 2015, when it was revealed a buyers screening occurred at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.[5] It was revealed Mike Flanagan had directed and written the film, opposite Kate Siegel who also stars in the film.[6] It was also revealed Jason Blum, and Trevor Macy had produced the film under their Blumhouse Productions, and Intrepid Pictures banner.[6] In October 2015, it was revealed that The Newton Brothers had composed the musical score for the film.[7]
Release
The film had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 12, 2016.[8][3] Prior to the premiere, Netflix acquired worldwide distribution rights to the film, with a planned April 8, 2016, release.[9]
Reception
Hush holds a 100% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes based on 11 reviews and has an average rating of 7.5/10.[10] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 67 out of 100 based on 7 critics indicating "generally favorable reviews."[11] Audiences Everywhere called the film "a modern slasher movie classic that's not to be missed."[12] Benjamin Lee of The Guardian said that Hush "offers ingenious suspense" and awarded it four out of five stars.[13] Variety, though criticizing the film's third act, called it "one of the more inspired concoctions to emerge from the busy Blumhouse horror-thriller assembly line in recent years."[14] Michael Gingold of Fangoria gave the film 3.5/4 stars, calling it "a good old-fashioned truly scary movie".[15] Howard Gorman of SCREAM: The Horror Magazine rated the film 4.5 out of 5 stars, commenting on how, "Whilst the home invasion plot is nothing new per se, audiences will find themselves well and truly engulfed by the sum of all the film’s parts."[16]
Stephen King tweeted about the film on April 20th, 2016, saying "How good is HUSH? Up there with HALLOWEEN and -- even more -- WAIT UNTIL DARK. White knuckle time. On Netflix."[17]
See also
References
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