Hush

Hush‘s madman makes himself visible and vocal to his prey from the get-go. As a result, Flanagan and Siegel both get to lay their cards on the table early, freeing up their characters to focus solely on how to outsmart one another.

Flanagan’s taut direction reinforces his rep as an up-and-comer we will hopefully be hearing much more from.

Hush isn't as original as it looks. But when things go bump in the night and one person can't hear them, the possibilities are endless, and this movie exploits as many as it can before running out steam.

If you enjoy thrillers, Flanagan expertly turns the screws here, and Kate Siegel makes a very appealing and capable hero.

Siegel’s likable perf keeps the audience on her side and highlights Maddie’s knack for thinking on her feet. Gallagher is even better as the mysteriously motivated antagonist.

Though less novel than Flanagan's previous pic, Oculus, Hush finds plenty of ways to flip roles in this cat-and-mouse game, letting his heroine get a bead on her stalker only to see the advantage taken away from her again.

Hush has a solid first half before the cat-and-mouse shenanigans begin to seem repetitive and prolonged. Still, at 82 minutes Hush is a concise and well-executed horror nightmare.

A whole new fresh take on the classic intruder subgenre of horror. The acting is terrific and the characterization is so strong that you will be rooting for Maddie the whole time!

A pretty average home invasion horror film if you ask me. It's not bad, but by the way some people talked about it you'd expect this to be some groundbreaking work of art. But like most Mike Flanagan films I've seen, it doesn't really offer anything new other than it being competently made.

The first half is, without a doubt, far more superior than the second half, which essentially dissolved into clichés. However, a sense of dread and anxiety lasts for most of the runtime.

This film didn't really hold my attention. There were one or two somewhat spooky moments but it had the look and feel of a budget b-movie for the most part and it features some cliches. I thought it was perhaps a bit like the TV film Duel, one of Stephen Spielberg's earlier films. Its not memorable and I wouldn't recommend it as such either, no.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]