I had seen the 2016 thriller Hush on a few lists dictating scary NetFlix movies that we all have to see. I read the plot description of a deaf, mute writer living in isolation suddenly terrorized by a masked home invader and was reminded of the spine-tingling classic, Wait Until Dark. I saw the thumbnail photo of a man in a white mask standing behind the leading lady and was excited for the chilling adventure this man could chase me down. 

Instead, the movie reminded me of Raiders of the Lost Ark in the scene when Indiana Jones shoots the showoff swordsman. “Oh how much faster the excessively movie-villain-esque home invader could have been warded off if the leading lady only had a gun,” I thought.

As I said before, Hush centers around a deaf, mute writer who lives in the woods by herself. Suddenly, a masked slasher stumbles across her unlocked backdoor, discovers she is deaf, takes her phone, then intentionally informs her of his presence while he is outside of the house to taunt her with “I can come in any time I want”.

I repeat. He goes inside the house where his prey is within his grasp; he takes her phone then leaves the house giving her ample time to lock him out and formulate a plan to thwart him.

Do you need to read that one more time? Okay. The slasher goes INSIDE the house with his PREY RIGHT FUCKING THERE then LEAVES the house to taunt her from OUTSIDE when he could have killed her within TEN MINUTES OF THE MOVIE. What? What? Fucking WHAT?

Now, he does cut the power and slash her car tires thus disabling her from escaping or calling for help, but wouldn’t these actions have been better served before he informs her of his presence? Don’t get me wrong, I would never root for the killer in a movie. But when the point is to feel threatened, and all he causes me to think of in my head is Frozone’s “Monolog-ing” rant from The Incredibles, then the writers need another draft.

            As the film dragged along, I began to compose this idea as a short in my head with a few alternate endings. The masked murderer stumbles across the house, noticing our heroine. While he is spending a little time acting as a peeping Tom, she forgets to lock one of the doors. Villain comes inside, she notices him at the last second then maybe he kills her. Or maybe, the ending takes a Pulp Fiction direction where she is the one with the twisted, bloody fetish and it ends with her dragging his unconscious body into the basement leaving the audience in suspense of what could be down there. But even if the plot remained unchanged, the film still would have better delivered as a short. When the villain is too simplistic for a children’s cartoon and most of the characters’ decisions make little sense, the 90 minute feature has a tendency to feel longer than it is. When it was ten minutes until the end, I began to get exasperated.

             Hush is by no means the worst thriller I have ever seen. Still, it is nowhere near in the running for best. The story idea has potential and there truly are good moments here and there. But it drags, it often feels forced, and I am still trying to piece together what the hype is about. I was not unable to sleep last night fearing home invaders. I was unable to sleep last night thinking about a movie I have not seen, Rosemary’s Baby. That’s a bad sign when for a thriller.