Why Hush is the Best Independent Horror Film of the 2010s

Hush (2016) follows Maddie Young, a deaf and mute writer living in the woods with only her dog and neighbors to keep her company. Maddie is struggling with determining the perfect ending to her story when she becomes the latest prey for a killer stalking the woods. When this hunter sees that Maddie is deaf, he looks at her as someone who is vulnerable and easy to toy with, so this intense cat-and-mouse game begins.

Many aspects of this film made it stand out among the pack of indie-horror films that spanned the years 2010-2019. Here we will look at the different features that helped Mike Flanagan and his team take this film from the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival to air on Netflix.

Positive Representation

There is a lot of respect paid to the deaf community with the attention to detail provided in the depiction of Maddie. Maddie is never shown as someone who needs to rely on others in order to get by in life. In a modern-day setting, Maddie has access to technology such as a flashing fire alarm that alerts her to danger as well as a flashing and vibrating phone that helps her communicate with others. While the hunter does see Maddie as vulnerable prey, she holds her own using her cleverness. Consistently holding the hunter off with her quick thinking and distracting him by using her surroundings, Maddie may be targeted for her disability, but she's never seen as a pure victim, constantly standing up for herself despite the overwhelming odds.

Killer Without a Cause

Kate Siegel in Hush with killer behind her — Netflix

More often than not, in modern cinema, killers are often given some form of redeeming quality where they are depicted as not being downright evil. Even the sociopaths of contemporary horror are given some backstory that explains why they became the killers they are. The hunter is not given this trait. Showing up one night, the hunter proceeds to hunt one of Maddie's neighbors, chasing her through the woods before brutally murdering her on Maddie's doorstep. Here, the hunter would discover that Maddie was deaf as she failed to hear his assault and would begin toying with her. It would be easy for the hunter to sneak up on Maddie, as he displayed by secretly recording her and sending her the video. But he enjoys toying with Maddie and seeing the fear in her eyes as he continues his game. We are never told why he does this; we are only given the fear of the unknown, just as Maddie has.

Excellent Pacing

Some horror films tend to go for all-out action with an intense pace that never lets up. Some try to hide the killers from sight and leave the audience hanging for so long that they slowly become disinterested before the climax. Hush has such good pacing that audiences are hooked from the beginning. With just enough time to establish Maddie's personality and the surroundings of her home, the killer arrives, and the pacing immediately alters to a faster pace.

The film will go from a suspenseful chase to a calm moment of reprieve as Maddie prepares for another attempt to escape or defeat her pursuer. As the tension ramps up with events such as Maddie stealing the crossbow, John being murdered, and Maddie having her fingers brutally broken, there is never a dull moment in this film, with one of the best scenes coming towards the end when Maddie makes her last stand.

Simple Setting

Another impressive feat that the film pulls off is making excellent use of its only setting. With the entire film taking place around Maddie's home, the audience begins to learn the ins and outs of the house and begins to keep an eye out for the different ways Maddie could escape. Or worse, the ways the hunter could break in. Watching Maddie go over the scenarios in her head is similar to what someone would do if they were in a dangerous situation within their own home. The familiarity shared between the character and audience is unique and something built over the course of the film, primarily due to the fact that we aren't being jumped from scene to scene.

Underdog Story

Nothing gets an audience hooked quite like an underdog story. From the tale of David Vs. Goliath to films like Rocky (1976) & The Karate Kid (1984), the best stories are those that tell of a hero defying the odds to survive another day. Maddie's tale is just that, with our young heroine managing to evade the hunter and even steal his primary weapon. Even when it appears that she is set to be murdered, Maddie manages to discover the hunter's location and incapacitates him. After working tirelessly to survive through the night, Maddie manages to call the police, leave a note for her family in case she doesn't survive, and kills the hunter in self-defense.