CrawlerChunky
In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
Clarissa Mora
The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.
Keeley Coleman
The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
Joshua Bozeman
MAYBE some minor spoilers, but nothing too substantial. I had this movie sitting around for a bit, and I finally decided to watch it this afternoon. With so many movies, I end up watching in chunks, getting up to do other things that pop into my head as I'm watching, but this was one of those movies I started and couldn't pull myself away. The premise sounded interesting to me, a couple stuck on various British motorways, a menacing fella in a semi truck after them, the scares that come along with all of that. Tho they used many clichéd horror movie elements, they all seem to work here because the plotting is so well paced, the storyline makes so much sense. Some examples: The bad guy is always brooding around, his face just out of reach of the light, so you never see his face- this tactic is old, but it works as you use your imagination to paint the scariest face ever on this guy, even if it turns out he probably looks fairly normal. Definitely reminded me of the baddie from I Know What You Did Last Summer (Gordon's Fisherman rain coat and all). The cell phone signal that drops out at the worst moment. The cell phone that rings at the worst possible second. These are used here, but it seems to just make sense, and it's not overly done, so it doesn't get in the way of a good scare. Dumb characters making dumb decisions. This was the one that lowered the rating to an 8.5 or an 8 for me. Zakes' decisions in the start of the film were too much to overlook. You understand why they added them, because the story had to progress somewhere, but this was an area to work on. I won't spoil anything, but you kinda wanted to smack the guy a few times in the start of the film. They did a nice job of making you dislike him a bit in the beginning, that way later on you liked him all that much more. Direction was nice, with some really cool special effects shots on the rainy road, the acting was pretty spot on, and the photography was eerie throughout- nice scenery and locations here...the massive gas station complex/truck stop reminded me of the scenes from High Tension, especially the bathroom stuff. Always fun to see a game of cat and mouse in a horror film like this. Not a perfect film, but darned near it with a fulfilling ending, some really good scares, a lot of nail biting tension, and atmosphere to boot. A definite gem, and a high point of the 'stuck on the road with crazy guy after me' sub-genre. Highly recommended.
Theo Robertson
Like so many films I've seen on Film4's The British Connection this week HUSH seems to be a film of two halves . Some of the films such as LAYER CAKE get off to a great start then fail to keep up the momentum for the second half . Others such as KILL LIST seem to be two different films stuck together and Mark Tonderai's HUSH belongs firmly alongside KILL LIST in this respect The first half introduces the protagonist Zakes who is driving his girlfriend Beth on a British motorway late at night where he thinks he spots something disturbing in the lorry in front of them . Tonderai mixes the mundane with the indiscernible . We know something nasty is going to happen and this takes place amongst a background of drunken yobs and disinterested motorway service station staff . Something indeed nasty does happen because Beth disappears and the only place she could have disappeared to is inside the sinister lorry . If that's not bad enough Zakes finds himself facing a couple of jobsworth security menwho catch him in the ladies toilet It's at this crossroads of the narrative that Tonderai could have driven the story to several directions . I was hoping for a low budget British version of the underrated Kurt Russell star vehicle BREAKDOWN but this doesn't really materalise . What we get is a rather confused film that doesn't know what type of horror/thriller it's meant to be . A couple of times I was expecting to be watching some serious torture porn but again HUSH isn't really that type of film . It certainly contains very graphic violence which is somewhat alienating for someone hoping for a straight forward thriller. There's no real explanation as to why people are being kidnapped either which means the audience will be left shaking there heads saying " Is that it ? " In short this is yet another British film that had potential only to lose it in the home straits . It's a film uncertain as to who the target audience might be . I certainly hoped it was going to be a straight forward intelligent thriller while an out and out fan of graphic horror will probably be left similarally disappointed . It's probably summed up the song at the end which sounds like it'd be at home in another film such as a romantic comedy
John Seal
The British social phenomenon known as "white van man" - usually a middle-aged Caucasian with a clean-shaven head and a white van he uses to deliver goods and services around the country - gets the cinematic treatment in this decent thriller from writer-director Mark Tonderai. William Ash and Christine Bottomley play Zakes and Beth, a young couple who, whilst driving along Britain's main arterial road, the M1, espy a woman apparently being held against her will in the back of a truck. After stopping at a rest station to gather their thoughts, Beth is, in turn, snatched by the mysterious trucker. Will Zakes put on his man-pants and rescue her? Filmed on location in Yorkshire, this British blend of Duel and The Vanishing (with a tiny bit of Blow-Up for good measure) is a pretty decent effort, especially considering it's Tonderai's first feature film.
platesofevil
I ummmed and ahhed about renting this film for ages, mainly due to two early warning signs: 1) It's billed as a 'brilliant' British horror (yeah, right), and 2) It's produced by Screen Yorkshire (who also made that wonderful (SARCASM ALERT), ahem, other 'brilliant' British horror 'The Cottage'). How I wished I'd trusted my initial instinct! The acting is atrocious, the script is unbelievably bad, and the title has no bearing on the film whatsoever. It feels like Duel meets The Vanishing meets Breakdown meets... Coronation Street. The Labrador was nice though. Perhaps 'Hush' refers to the fact that after watching this tripe, you really won't want to talk about it with anyone....
