Hush (2016)

I miss this blog terribly.  I haven't given it the attention I used to, and thankfully, this year Scream King paid the hosting fees without asking me any questions.  I have been a mom for 18 months now, and it has given me so very much, but it has also taken away.  The horror thing was such a large part of my identity, and when my son came home, there was only room for so many identities, and the main one was "mom."

I still cook, and go to Crossfit, two other passions of mine.  I work full time, and I make time for my marriage.  But lately, I just feel like I'm on a low simmer, like I'm ready to jump out of my skin.  Writing has always been my outlet, and I realized I had really been missing it in my life.  I'm writing a mom blog these days, but it's not the same.  There's a lot of screaming in parenting, but not the fun kind ;)

So, onto Hush.  It has a ridiculously high rating on Netflix, so I'm intrigued.  Tonight I am not in the mood for ghosts and creepy crawlies, so a movie about a deaf woman with a psycho stalker is the perfect fit.  Maddie was not born deaf, but became so due to a sickness in her teen years.  Now she is a novelist living in a quiet rural area with a sassy neighbor.  With a modern twist on "the call is coming from inside the house," she soon realizes she is not alone.

With only the house as the setting for the movie, it manages to build up intensity and dread as the two play a cat and mouse game compounded by the fact that one person cannot hear the other. There is only 15 minutes of dialogue and 5 people in this whole movie, but somehow it manages to stay pretty fast-paced, and the short running time doesn't hurt either.  Maddie (Kate Siegel) is presented as a strong and competent female lead, while the Man (John Gallagher Jr.) is thoroughly creepy and manages to carry the whole storyline with seemingly no motive.  Maddie was able to convey so much emotion without saying a word.

This is also a great movie because it really makes you think of what you would do in that situation.  I live in the city, so I'm not as isolated as the character here, but if someone took away my phone and internet, I honestly do not know how the fuck I would contact anyone of importance or assistance. Smoke signals for Chrissakes?

New release Netflix horror gems are few and far between these days, so we can be very thankful for Hush.