Tension In Mike Flanagan's Hush

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Blood, guts, and gore, common yet cliche aspects to horrors and thrillers, which horror movie fanatics seem to thrive on. Mike Flanagan, a fairly new player in the horror/thriller genre, goes against all these common thrills in his 2016 movie Hush. With no gore, no supernatural beings, no over-the-top sound effects or jump scares, Hush had many opportunities to fail miserably. However, Flanagan’s new take to this genre, brings something new and original to a cliche, predictable genre, leaving the audience on the edge, or should I say back, of their seats until the very end.

In Hush, Maddie (Kate Siegel) plays the female protagonist, who was afflicted with sense-crippling bronchial meningitis when she was just 13 years old which left her deaf and mute. The handicap of the main character was extremely unique and original. A very bold move for Flanagan as it put more pressure on the film as a whole, and on the actress having to play this character. After a tough break up and a struggle to finish writing her …show more content…

Flanagan used this skill cleverly, keeping the audience engaged throughout the film. With the man making his presence known in the beginning of the film, by stealing Maddie's phone and sending photos of her to her laptop, this allowed Flanagan to build up the tension between the two characters as they move toward the inevitable climax. The film becomes a one on one game of predator vs prey. However it doesn’t take long for Maddie to prove herself a capable heroine, turning the game from being cat vs mouse, to cat vs cat. The whole film involves the killer and Maddie trying to outsmart one another, creating thrill and suspense which is then multiplied during the final act when the killer and Maddie have a face of inside the

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