Hush

There are two types of movies I like to watch when I'm upset or in a bad place: comedy and horror. Comedy is a very likely choice, but horror is, too, in its own way. And let me just say, it hasn't been a great week for me. I think I've cried more than a waterfall, or Justin Timberlake's river. Naturally, I went in search of relief in the form of Netflix, and it would seem I was in dire need of...murder!

Hush was actually my second watch, but it did the job better than All Good Things, which I'll review later.

Set in the woods, a fancy cabin in the woods, Hush centers around Maddie, a deaf/mute woman who lives in isolation while working on her second novel. She's not completely alone, however; she has a cat and neighbors. You can tell Maddie feels safe out there; she leaves the sliding door open so that the cat can wander in (I'm a firm believer in locking everything, no matter where you live). Unfortunately, that also means a masked killer can come right in, as well.

It takes Maddie quite awhile to notice that anything is wrong, and, here's where the movie started to baffle me: she misses a murder that happens right in front of her. It's supposed to be because she's deaf, but...she's not blind, and I don't buy she wouldn't have caught a glimpse of it in her peripheral vision, if not full on, because, like I said, it was right in front of her.

If you can get past that, which I mostly did, then you'll be fine.

Once the killer realizes that Maddie is deaf, he decides not to kill her. Yet. He's probably never had prey like this, so he's going to have fun and mess around with her first. He's even so generous as to let her know he's there and planning to kill her in a horrific, bloody way. That's half the fun! But he doesn't think she has any chance of beating him; he's just enjoying walking around the house, tormenting her, knocking on windows, etc. In the end, she knows she has to try to escape, if not kill him.

I should also mention that her cat is outside this entire time, and you know that it's going to come back at some point, and the killer will be there, and...yeah. But, spoiler alert: the cat does NOT die!

All in all, Hush is a flawed but fun movie, and I recommend it for any horror lovers, especially horror lovers who like women who fight back (always fight back!). And fun fact, John Gallagher Jr., who plays the killer, also played Emmett in 10 Cloverfield Lane. He gave me a serious case of, Wait, haven't I seen him before?

My Grade: B